Top tier talkers shine in late summer doldrums

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

Most of the top five talk shows heated up in the late summer session ending September 2.

Category leader Dr Phil (seven-week high 2.8 live plus same day national Nielsen rating, up 12% from the previous frame) set the pace for the 104^th straight week.

Second place Live With Kelly and Ryan(1.9) did not air in full in some markets due to coverage honoring the late Senator John McCain at the US Capitol on August 27, but managed to hold steady week to week.

Ellen DeGeneres (1.6, up 7%) and repeats of Steve Harvey’s Steve (1.1, up 10%) were also strong performers in the big five.

Some of the week’s greatest increases were chalked up by the top firstrun sophomores.  Daily Mail TV (0.9, up 13%) surged despite being in reruns on all five days and Page Six TV (0.7, up 17%) ballooned to a five-week high.

Access (1.1, up 10%) scored the largest weekly growth among the magazines, which were heavily preempted by coverage of preseason football.

Judge Judy (12-week high 6.7, up 3%) very easily outperformed all first run and off-net programs for the fifth week in a row.

Meanwhile the earliest nationally syndicated debut of the new season in first-run, Face The Truth (premiere), boosted its stations’ time periods versus last year in key markets Los Angeles (up 75%) and Chicago (up 67%), among others.  The newcomer scored its highest metered market rating in Richmond, Virginia, where it clocked a 2.9/8, up 53% from last year.

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