“Kelly Clarkson,” “Tamron Hall” debuts score big in overnights

Review based on a national syndicated rating report for the week ending September 1.

While Dr. Phil (nine-week high 2.3 live plus same day national Nielsen rating, up 15% from the week before) continued to lead the talkers for the 156^th week in a row in the pre-holiday session ending September 1, two highly regarded newcomers made splashy debuts.

Kelly Clarkson (1.9/6 weighted metered market average) and Tamron Hall (1.4/5) both lit up the overnight ratings with their premieres on September 9. Although national ratings for the two shows will not appear until September 24, “Clarkson” clocked the highest first day ratings for any first-run syndication launch in seven years and improved its vast station lineup by a whopping 73% compared to its year-ago time periods. Meanwhile “Hall” also opened with a bang, sending year-ago time periods skyrocketing 44% to a first place 2.3/9 in top market New York and up 71% in Los Angeles. Overall, Hall’s debut was the highest for any talker in five years other than Clarkson’s.

Back in the national ratings for the week ending September 1, Live with Kelly and Ryan (1.9 live plus same day Nielsen, up 6% from the week before) aired repackaged episodes while on hiatus but still snared second place for the 27^th straight week, behind only “Dr. Phil.”

Further down the list of talkers, the third and final week of the Jerry O’ test was seen on the Fox O&Os in Wendy Williams’ time periods. The blended 0.9 national rating for “Jerry O” originals and “Wendy” repeats was unchanged from the previous frame.

Syndication’s No. 1 show of the season Judge Judy (12-week high 6.4, up 5%) was in a league of its own as the sole program to surpass the 6.0-rating level. “Judy” creamed all competition and finished well ahead of the pack for a fifth consecutive session, even though it was partly in repeats.

Elsewhere, most shows were flat to down.

Among game shows, Family Feud (5.8, down 3%), Wheel of Fortune (4.8, down 2%) and Jeopardy (4.4, down 8%) all lost ground.