The ratings doldrums at the networks has spread to the syndication world as well, as just one show in the entire first-run market saw a year-over-year jump in national household ratings for the recently-completed May sweep period.
For the April 26-May 23 sweep, Entertainment Tonight’s minuscule 2% increase to a 5.0 gave the magazine the only bump in the marketplace.
ET
won the sweep in its category as it has every time since July of 1990, while Inside Edition (3.4) and Access Hollywood (2.5) were the only other shows not to see a drop, both even from last year.
Live with Regis and Kelly
(3.3) was the only one of the top five talk shows to hold steady, with the others all down.
The news wasn’t much better in court, where Judge Mathis held steady at a 2.3 while the other top gavelers all fell.
All four game shows were down on the year, and in off-net sitcoms the major declines continued. Everybody Loves Raymond was down 18% to a 4.5, Seinfeld was off 19% to a 4.2 and Friends fell 27% to a 3.3.
