On day two of its three-week test, the ratings for
Debmar-Mercury's The Fran Drescher Show
declined 13% to a 0.7 rating/2 share, according to Nielsen Media Research, on Monday,
Nov. 29. That's also a 13% drop from both
the show's lead-in and its year-ago time period average.
The show began its test run on Friday, Nov. 26, on six Fox-owned
stations and one CBS affiliate, Weigel-owned WDJT Milwaukee. The test will
continue through Friday, Dec. 17. Testing a show during the winter holiday
season is unprecedented in the syndication marketplace, making it hard to
predict whether audiences will be more or less receptive to new programming
during what can be a hectic time.
Overall, the show has improved time periods in New York and
Los Angeles, held steady in one market, and is down year-to-year in four markets.
On WNYW New York at noon, Fran was in fourth place at a 0.9/3, up 29% from the show's
year-ago time period average. That was up a tenth of a point from premiere, and
also an improvement among households, women 25-54 and women 18-49 in the time
period, in which Warner Bros.' Judge
Jeanine Pirro regularly airs.
On KTTV Los Angeles at 2 p.m., Fran came in sixth at a 0.8/2, up 100% from last November, and up a
tenth of a ratings point from Friday. Fran
also outperformed Twentieth's Divorce Court
and Pirro among households.
On WTXF Philadelphia at noon, Fran came in fifth at a 0.5/2, and was down 44% from last year.
On KSAZ Phoenix at 1 p.m., Fran came in sixth at a 0.5/2, down 62% from last November.
On KMSP Minneapolis at 1 p.m., Fran came in seventh at a 0.3/1, down 75% from last year, although
the show was up from both Friday and from the time slot’s November 2010 average
among younger female demographics.
On WOFL Orlando at 11 a.m., Fran came in fifth with a 0.3/1, even with both last year and this
year. Divorce Court regularly airs in
the time slot.
On Weigel's WDJT at 3 p.m., the show is doing a 0.7/2, down
63% from last year.
Regardless of whether Debmar-Mercury and Fox decide to go
forward with Drescher's talk show -- and it's early yet -- she's pressing forward on other TV projects.
On Tuesday, Deadline.com reported that Drescher and her producing partner and
ex-husband, Peter Marc Jacobson, have sold a sitcom pilot to TV Land called Happily Divorced. The show is based on
Drescher's real life, and she could potentially star in it.
