Without Holzhauer “Jeopardy” falls to “Family Feud”

Review based on a national syndicated rating report for the week ending June 16.

It was close. But Jeopardy! (5.8 live plus same day national Nielsen rating, down 15% from the week before) was unable to finish first among the syndicated game shows for the first time in 11 weeks in the session ending June 16, its first full frame following the loss of super-contestant James Holzhauer.

The professional gambler from Las Vegas, who had recorded the 16 highest one-day winning totals in “Jeopardy!” history, was beaten for the first time June 3 after tallying 32 straight victories and nearly $2.5-million in prize money.

Family Feud (6.1, unchanged) had the distinction of dethroning “Jeopardy!” as the top quiz program while Wheel of Fortune (new season low 5.2, down 9%) rolled to third place in the category.

With the exception of one show (“Hot Bench”) every major program in syndication was flat to down week to week.

This was not unexpected as syndication was heavily preempted and faced killer competition in numerous cities from the Women’s World Cup, the NBA Championship and the NHL Stanley Cup finals. On top of all that, many daytime programs did not air in No. 1 market New York due to coverage of a helicopter crash in Midtown Manhattan on June 10.

The only top tier strip on the entire chart moving up from the week before was Judge Judy Sheindlin’s popular creation Hot Bench (2.2, up 5%). “Bench,” despite being partially in reruns, ranked as daytime’s third highest show behind only full season household ratings leader “Judy” (5.4) and “Dr. Phil.”

Dr. Phil (2.3, down 4%) was in repeats on all five days but was still the talk show champ for the 145^th week in a row.

Live with Kelly and Ryan (2.0 down 5%) was the second highest talker for the 16^th straight week over Ellen DeGeneres (1.8, down 5%).

The trial run for RuPaul (0.5/1 weighted metered market average) dropped 17% from its lead-in and was flat compared to its June 2018 time periods in the second week of a three-week test. In the key W25-54 demo, “RuPaul” posted a 0.2/1, sinking 33% from its lead-in and June 2018 time periods.

Returning to the nationally rated shows, most magazines held their own against the unusually strong sports competition.

Access (1.1, steady) vaulted ahead of TMZ (0.9, down 25%) and took over third place behind Inside Edition (2.6, down 4%) and ET (2.5, unchanged). Extra (0.9) and Daily Mail TV (0.9) were able to hold 100% of their prior week’s ratings and move into a three-way tie for fourth place with “TMZ” in the eight-show newsmag category.