Syndicated shows soar after turkey week

Review based on a national syndicated rating report for the week ending December 2.

Following a sluggish Thanksgiving week stuffed with preemptions, syndication ratings surged in the session ending December 2.

Dr. Phil (2.9 live plus same day national Nielsen rating, up 26% from the week before) had the largest increase of any syndicated strip and easily extended its winning streak in the talk genre to 117 weeks.

There was a mild surprise in the game show race as usual category topper Family Feud (6.3, up 17%) only finished in a dead heat for second in the genre with Wheel of Fortune (6.4, up 16%), which was just behind Jeopardy (6.4, up 16%).

Most magazines moved sharply higher. Inside Edition (3.1, up 11%) just held off Entertainment Tonight (3.0, up 20%), while not far behind Access (1.2, up 9%) tied TMZ (1.2, up 20%) for third place in the eight show group.

Also coming on strong Daily Mail TV (1.1, up 10%) grew the most of any magazine from last year, improving 10% and matching its season high. Extra (1.0, steady) maintained its rating despite numerous preemptions for NBC’s annual Christmas tree lighting special, while Page Six TV (0.7, up 17%) equaled its best Nielsens of the season.

Other notables in daytime included Ellen DeGeneres (2.4, up 4%) which ran second among talkers behind “Dr. Phil” and landed just ahead of Live with Kelly and Ryan (2.3, steady). In addition Steve (1.4, steady) and Maury (1.4, up 8%) tied for the No. 4 spot out of the 14 talk shows.

Judge Judy (7.6, up 3%), the November sweep champion, improved 6% from last year and continued to outperform all of syndication in households for the 18^th straight week. Sister courtroom Hot Bench (2.5, up 4%) ranked as the No. 3 daytime show behind only “Judy” and “Dr. Phil.”