Syndicated ratings were narrowly mixed in the week ending Feb. 2, which included the first two weekdays of the February sweeps period. PUT levels declined by an average of slightly more than 900,000 viewers from the week before. But CBS Television Distribution's (CTD) Judge Judy reached a milestone 700 consecutive weeks as the No. 1 court show.
Judy, which has now presided over the courts every week for more than 13 years, was the most dominant category leader in syndication with a 109% ratings advantage over its closest legal rival. Week-to-week, Judy dipped 2% to 4.8. It was up 2% from last year at this time. Season-to-date, it ranks first among all syndicated shows with a 7.2 GAA rating.
For the week, CTD's Judge Joe Brown was a distant second at an unchanged 2.3. Warner Bros.' People's Court was flat at 2.2. Warner Bros.' Judge Mathis fell 6% to 1.7. Twentieth's Judge Alex remained at 1.6. Twentieth's Divorce Court settled for a 6% decline to 1.5. Warner Bros.' Judge Jeannine Pirro trailed with a 1.1 for the seventh straight week.
At the top of the magazine rack, CTD's Entertainment Tonight rose for the third straight week, averaging a 4.9, up 2% from the prior week and 7% from last year at this time. Grammy coverage took ET's ratings up 13% to 5.4 on Feb. 1. CTD's Inside Edition lost 6% to 3.3. Warner Bros.' TMZ held steady at 2.2. NBCU's Access Hollywood was down 4% to 2.2. CTD's The Insider grew 6% to 1.9. Warner Bros.' Extra was flat at 1.9.
Among talk shows, CTD's Oprah inched up 2% to 5.6. CTD's Dr. Phil climbed 3% to 3.1, with a show on controlling husbands sending ratings u 10% to 3.3 on Feb. 3. Disney/ABC's Live With Regis and Kelly advanced 4% to 2.8. Warner Bros.' Ellen DeGeneres was even with the prior week at 2.6. NBCU's Maury eased 5% to 2.0. CTD's The Doctors also dipped 5% to 1.9. CTD's Rachael Ray remained at 1.8. NBCU's Jerry Springer slid 7% to 1.3. Steve Wilkos (NBCU), Bonnie Hunt (Warner Bros.') and Martha Stewart (NBCU) were all unchanged at 1.2, 0.9 and 0.6, respectively.
Among rookies in first run, Sony's Dr. Oz was flat at 3.0 but still held a commanding lead over Twentieth's Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader, which faded 6% to 1.7. Debmar-Mercury's Wendy Williams was unchanged at 1.2. Litton's Street Court remained steady at 0.6.
NBCU's The Office topped the off-net sitcom newcomers despite slipping 6% to 3.0. CTD's Everybody Hates Chris was up 5% to 2.0. Twentieth's My Name Is Earl was down 6% to 1.7.
Game shows did little. CTD's Wheel of Fortune slipped 1% to 7.5. CTD's Jeopardy was down 2% to 6.3. Disney/ABC's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire fell 4% to 2.6. Debmar-Mercury's Family Feud was flat at 1.4. NBCU's Deal Or No Deal dropped 8% to 1.2.
Off-net sitcoms were also flat to down slightly. Warner Bros.' Two and a Half Men was unchanged at 5.5. Twentieth's Family Guy downticked 3% to 3.5. Sony's Seinfeld and CTD's Everybody Loves Raymond were each off 3% to 2.8. Warner Bros.' George Lopez skidded 7% to 2.7. King of the Hill (Twentieth), Friends (Warner Bros.), King of Queens (Sony), Frasier and House of Payne were all flat at 2.4, 2.3, 1.7, 1.5 and 1.5, respectively.
