Up-and-Down Week for New Talkers

The tale of the national syndicated ratings for the week ending Sept. 25 was a sharp gain for Tyra and a drop for Martha in the second week for both new talk shows.

Tyra Banks was up 18% to a 1.3 in households compared to the week before. Tyra was also up 25% in women 18-49 to a 1.0, and up 33% to a 1.2 in women 18-34.

Martha was down 15% from its premiere week to a 1.7. In women 25-54, Martha was down 18% to a 0.9, and down 11% among women 18-49 to a 0.8.

Comparing the two new talkers in key demos, they are tied in woman 25-54, Martha's key demo, at a 0.9. Tyra is ahead in women 18-49, 1.0-0.8, and ahead among women 18-34, 1.2-0.5, Tyra's target demo.

Judge Alex, the third new first-run strip to debut this season, was down 5% from its premiere to a 2.0 and flat or down in key female demos.

Among returning first-run strips, coverage of the Emmy awards helped power the top three entertainment news magazines to their best ratings in at least three months.

The perpetual No. 1 magazine, ET, had its best week since the May sweep, up 11% from the week before to a 4.9, and up 2% over last year, also an Emmy week.

The Insider was up 4% to a 2.6, its best rating in 15 weeks, up 13% over last year, the biggest improvement of any mag.

Access Hollywood was up 14% to a 2.4, its best rating since the week ending May 29, but off 4% from last year.

Extra was unchanged at a 2.2, down 4% from last year.

Inside Edition, the No. 2 mag, was up 6% from the week before to a 3.3, but down 3% from last year.

In returning talk, Oprah launched her 20th season with a 7.0, up 9% from the week before but down 4% from last year at this time.

Dr. Phil was up 6% to a 5.3; Live with Regis & Kelly was up 3% to a 3.3; Maury was unchanged at a 2.7; and Ellen was also unchanged--at a 2.2--but recorded the largest year-to-year gain of any talker, up 22%.

In the off-net action, both My Wife and Kids and Bernie Mac were up 5% to a 2.1 in their second week of national syndication. Sex and the City premiered with a 2.0 and South Park debuted at a 1.4.

On the weekend, four new-to-syndication dramas debuted: Alias premiered at a 2.5, while Smallville and Stargate: Atlantis each opened at 1.7, while Star Trek: Enterprise landed at a 1.2 in what, at the moment, would be the last syndicated debut for that storied franchise.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.