“Judge Judy” juggernaut crushes all competition as November sweep begins

Review based on a national syndicated rating report for the week ending October 28.

Syndication mainstay Judge Judy (new season high 7.3 live plus same day national Nielsen rating, up 6% from the week before), now in year 23, blew away all first-run and off-net competition with more than 10.3-million daily viewers as the November sweep got underway in the session ending October 28.

The numbers show “Judy” was 20% or more ahead of the ratings for anything else in a frame that included preemptions for the World Series and coverage of the arrest of a Florida man suspected of mailing 13 bombs to prominent figures.

The only gaveler other than Judge Judy able to score an increase was Hot Bench (2.3, up 5%), which matched its season high and ranked as the number three show in daytime.

Topping the talkers for the 112^th consecutive week was Dr. Phil (four-week high 2.9, up 4%).

Following “Phil,” Live with Kelly and Ryan (2.2, up 5%) matched its season best and cemented its standing as the second highest talk show in households while Ellen DeGeneres (2.0, unchanged) finished third.

In crime time, true crime leader Dateline (1.4, up 8%) equaled its season high and freshman scripted police procedural Chicago PD (new season high 1.0, up 11%) surged 25% in the key W25-54 demo and clocked its strongest performance yet in its fifth week on the syndication beat.

The magazine race heated up with Entertainment Tonight (new season high 3.1, up 7%) taking command. Inside Edition (3.0, unchanged) and Access (1.2, down 8%) were next in line.

Moving up in the rankings Extra (1.1, steady) held fast at its season high and outperformed TMZ (1.0, down 17%) for the first time in 2018.  In addition sophomore Daily Mail TV (1.0, steady) tied TMZ for the first time ever.