“Judge Judy” Surges in Final Season

Review based on a national syndicated rating report for the week ending May 2, 2021.

Going out with a bang in its 25^th and final season in first-run, Judge Judy (six-week high 5.1 live plus same day national Nielsen rating, up 19% from the week before) overtook everything in syndication except for Family Feud (5.5, unchanged).

Finishing behind “Judy” were such formidable prime access programs as Jeopardy (4.8, down 6%) with Anderson Cooper at the podium for a second week, and Wheel of Fortune (4.8, down 6%).

Besides “Judy,” which has led the court shows for the past 1,284 weeks (or every week for more than 24 years), the only other top three strip in the legal category getting a favorable ratings verdict was Hot Bench (seven week high 1.6, up 7%).

Talkers Dr Phil (1.7, up 21%) and Live with Kelly and Ryan (1.7, down 6%) finished in a first place tie for the fourth time in five weeks. For the full season “Live” leads the genre in both households and the key W25-54 demo.

Other talk shows on the rise this week were sophomores Kelly Clarkson (six week high 0.9, up 13%) and Tamron Hall (0.8, up 14%), which grew 33% among W25-54. Also moving higher was veteran Wendy Williams (0.9, up 13%).

Elsewhere coverage of the 93^rd Academy Awards buoyed the entertainment magazines. Compared to the week before Entertainment Tonight (2.3) rose 5%, Access Hollywood (1.0) jumped 11% and Extra (0.8) shot up 33% with recaps of the Oscars on Monday, April 26. Meanwhile Daily Mail TV (0.6) scored a 50% week-to-week increase in the advertiser-coveted W25-54 age group.