State of the Union address sinks some syndies

Review based on a national syndicated rating report for the week ending February 10.

Preemptions for President Trump’s 2019 State of the Union address – particularly in West Coast markets – dragged down many of the top syndicated shows in access during the session ending February 10.

Only four magazines in the top seven were able to resist the pressure to decline and avoid the downdraft: first place Entertainment Tonight (season high 3.3 live plus same day national Nielsen rating, up 3% from the week before); TMZ (1.4, unchanged); Daily Mail TV (series best 1.1, steady) and Page Six TV (season high 0.7, steady).

Family Feud (season high 6.7, unchanged) was the sole game show in the top four not to decline.

Elsewhere, the only court shows to hold their ground were overall syndication leader Judge Judy (season high 7.9, steady) and stable-mate Hot Bench (season high 2.6, steady). “Judy” was syndication’s most-watched (with well over 11-million viewers each day) and highest rated show by a wide margin for the 31^st consecutive week, while “Bench” ranked as the third highest strip in daytime – behind only ‘Judy’ and ‘Dr. Phil’ – for the fifth week in a row.

Among the top five talk shows Maury (1.5, unchanged) and Steve Harvey’s Steve (season high 1.4, steady) were the only strips to hold 100% of their prior week’s ratings. Dr. Phil (3.2, down 3%) easily topped the talkers for the 127^th straight week.

On the police blotter the off-net Dateline (1.4, steady) remained at its 10-week high and led the true crime genre for the 22^nd week in a row.