Halloween brought Disney-ABC’s Live With Kelly and Ryan a big treat in the form of a new season high 2.9 rating/10 share for the program’s annual costume-changing gala.
That’s a 26% jump from Monday and the show’s best weighted metered market household rating since Ryan Seacrest was announced as co-host on May 1. The episode was even with last year when Ripa shared the holiday with guest co-host Jerry O’Connell.
Among women 25-54, Live scored a 1.5/12 in the weighted metered markets, up 50% from the prior day and the show’s best demo performance since its Oscar after-show in February.
In Live’s home market, New York, the Halloween episode turned in a 3.7/13 in households on WABC at 9 a.m., up 32% from Monday. Among daytime's key women 25-54 demo, the show surged 93% from the day before to a 2.9/23.
As they do every year, the hosts went through several costume changes, dressing as Eleven and Mike from Netflix’s Stranger Things; their younger selves; Gamora and Peter Quill from Guardians as the Galaxy (and here they were joined by executive producer Michael Gelman as Dax the Destroyer and production executive and show creator Art Moore as Rocket Raccoon); a team of Wonder Women that included Property Brothers Drew and Jonathan Scott and, finally, as each other.
Several other shows staged Halloween episodes, although Live led the pack. Warner Bros.’ Ellen came in at a2.8/8 while NBC’s network talker, Megyn Kelly Today landed at a 1.8/6 among households in the weighted metered markets. Kelly joined the overall Today crew in costume, going as country crooner Shania Twain, while Matt Lauer again took a walk on the wild side and changed into Dolly Parton, Al Roker showed up as Willie Nelson and Hoda Kotb appeared as Blake Shelton, accompanied by the real Blake Shelton. Later, Twain herself appeared, dressed not as Megyn Kelly but as a cheetah, and taught viewers how best to bat a microphone around while singing.
Debmar-Mercury’s Wendy Williams averaged a 1.7/6 after the show’s host, dressed as Lady Liberty, fainted live on air on Tuesday. The fainting spell didn’t have any impact on the ratings, however, with the show remaining even with its Monday performance.
Related: Wendy Williams Faints During Live Halloween Episode
Williams addressed the incident during Wednesday’s show: “First of all. I was trending all day. Fabulous!,” with the talk-show host always keeping her eye on the prize. “A lot of people thought it was a joke. Me fainting on my set. You know I don’t want to fall. I’m a tall woman and it’s a long way down. I’m also a woman of a particular age and I’m not trying to break anything.”
