New seasons of “Ellen” and “Kelly Clarkson” open sharply higher

Review based on a national syndicated rating report for the week ending September 27, 2020.

The closely watched 18^th season opener for Ellen DeGeneres (1.2 live plus same day national Nielsen rating, up 50% from the week before) recovered from a series low and landed in third place among the syndicated talk shows in the session ending September 27. However, the program lost 29% and from the same week one year ago.

Hot on “Ellen’s” heels was the eagerly awaited second season premiere of Kelly Clarkson (11-week high 1.0, up 25%), which surged despite numerous preemptions for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s funeral services and breaking news in the Breonna Taylor case.

Leading the yak pack as usual was Dr. Phil (1.9, up 6%), closely followed by Live with Kelly and Ryan (1.7, down 11%), which lost its primary run in some markets due to news coverage.

The long-running Maury (1.0) and Steve Wilkos (0.9) were both unchanged.

Highly regarded Tamron Hall (0.8, steady) held 100% of its sophomore season premiere in its second week of the new year despite preemptions. That tied veteran Rachael Ray (0.8, down 11%) and Wendy Williams (0.8, up 14%), which began its 13^th season.

Judge Judy (11-week high 5.8, up 2%) continued to light up the Nielsen chart and was most-watched with approximately 8.5-million daily viewers, easily crushing all shows and finishing first overall for the fifth time in six weeks.

In access, the entertainment magazines heated up with lavish next day coverage of the 72^nd Primetime Emmy Awards. Entertainment Tonight (2.2, steady) held its ground at its season high.  Access Hollywood (1.0, up 11%) and Extra (0.7, up 17%) scored notable increases despite not airing in a number of markets due to Monday Night Football and game four of the NHL Finals.