As expected, ratings for syndicated shows in the week ended March 22 were largely up as viewers stayed home amid the coronavirus pandemic. That held true even though preemptions were common throughout the week due to breaking news coverage, and even though many shows were in repeats due to production being halted as people were sent home across the country.
Similarly, game shows also benefited with CTD's Jeopardy! jumping 12% to lead all of syndication with a new season-high 7.3 live plus same day national household rating, according to Nielsen Media Research, and just edged stablemate CTD's Wheel of Fortune, which accelerated 16% to a new season-high 7.2. Debmar-Mercury's Family Feud forged ahead 10% to a new season-high 6.6.
Jeopardy! has its annual college championship starting April 6:
Entertainment Studios' Funny You Should Ask was unchanged at a 0.5 for the seventh straight week.
Among the rookie games, Fox's 25 Words or Less recovered 10% to a 1.0, while Sony Pictures Television's off-GSN America Says improved 14% to a 0.8.
Also in first-run, Disney's internet video show RightThisMinute remained at a 0.8 for the eighth consecutive week.
Magazines, which were the hottest performers in the prior frame, were again big gainers across the board. CBS Television Distribution's Entertainment Tonight was the top-rated magazine for the 10th time in the past 11 weeks, including one tie, with a 10% gain to a new season-high 3.3 live plus same day national household rating, according to Nielsen Media Research.
Close behind, sister show CTD's Inside Edition also added 10% to a new season-high 3.2. NBCUniversal's Access Hollywood, which hit an eight-week high and matched its season best in the prior week, was broken out on all five days and thus did not have a rating to report for the week.
Warner Bros.' TMZ climbed 17% to a new season-high 1.4. Warner Bros.' Extra, which was the only syndicated strip of any type to hit a new season high in the prior week, shot up 9% to yet another new season-high 1.2, its strongest showing since November 2018. Extra has now seen a 33% surge across two weeks with extensive coverage of the pandemic.
CTD's DailyMailTV delivered a 13% improvement to a 13-week-high 0.9 and matched its best rating of the season. Trifecta's Celebrity Page stayed at a 0.2 for the 38th straight week.
In daytime, CTD's Dr. Phil grew 14% to a 2.4 to top the talkers for the eighth straight week. That marks the 181st time in the last 185 weeks that Phil has finished first or tied for first in the category. Among women 25-54, Disney's Live with Kelly and Ryan led with a 1.1, although the show had only a fraction of its week counted due to preemptions for virus news.
Back in households, Live rose 10% to a second-place 2.2, equalling its season high.
Warner Bros.' Ellen DeGeneres, in third place, remained at a 1.8.
SPT's Dr. Oz, the star of which has been on many news programs in the past several weeks talking about the pandemic, ballooned 33% to a new season-high 1.2.
Related: Dr. Oz Suspends Production After Staffer Tests Positive for Coronavirus
Debmar-Mercury's Wendy Williams eased 8% to a 1.1, tying NBCU's unchanged Maury and CTD's Rachael Ray, which recovered 10% to a 1.1. NBCU's Steve Wilkos rebounded 11% to a 1.0. Warner Bros.' The Real retreated 17% to a 0.5, tying CTD's The Doctors, which stayed put for the seventh straight week. NBCU's out-of-production syndicated run of Jerry Springer sank 25% to a 0.3.
Among the rookie talkers, NBCU's Kelly Clarkson spiked 8% to an eight-week high 1.4, despite airing mostly repeats and getting hit with preemptions. That put Kelly Clarksion in fourth place overall among the talkers.
Disney's Tamron Hall, which has replaced executive producer Bill Geddie with The View's Candi Carter, was not producing new episodes due to the pandemic and slipped 10% to a 0.9. Tamron Hall started producing new episodes with Hall at home that began airing March 30.
Related: Bill Geddie Exits Tamron Hall as Executive Producer
SPT's Mel Robbins, which is not returning after this season, remained at a 0.5.
CTD's Judge Judy led the courts with a 12% increase to a three-week high 6.6.
CTD's Hot Bench barrelled ahead 16% to a 2.2, matching its season high and tying Live as daytime's third-highest rated show.
Warner Bros.' People's Court was a consistent 1.4 for the eighth time in nine weeks. Warner Bros.' Judge Mathis moved up 13% to a 0.9. Fox's Divorce Court climbed 17% to a 0.7. Debmar-Mercury's Caught in Providence stayed put at a 0.4.
Related: Faith Jenkins Is Divorce Courts New Judge
Among the court rookies, NBCU's Judge Jerry, greenlit for year two, was in repeats for the entire week but strengthened 13% to a 0.9 in households. MGM/Orion's Personal Injury Court and Trifecta's Protection Court each were steady at a 0.5 and 0.3, respectively.
Among the off-network crime shows, NBCU's Dateline stayed at a 1.2 for a second week, while SPT's off A&E Live PD Police Patrol popped up 25% to a 1.0. NBCU's scripted procedural Chicago PD was unchanged at a 0.9.
Warner Bros.' The Big Bang Theory led the laffers with a 13% leap to a new season-high 3.5. Disney's Last Man Standing sprinted 5% to a 2.2. Disney's Modern Family, Warner Bros.' Two and a Half Men and Disney's Family Guy all were on par with the prior week's 1.6, 1.4 and 1.2, respectively. SPT's The Goldbergs gave back 8% to a 1.1, tying SPT's Seinfeld, which added 10%. Warner Bros.' Mom and Disney's Black-ish both broke even at a 1.0, tying Warner Bros.' Mike & Molly, which moved ahead 11%.
North America Stories
13/11/2026
The UIM E1 Series wraps its third season this week with the Bombay Sapphire E1 Miami GP, Nov. 11-14, on Biscayne Bay at the Miami Seaplane Base on Watson Island...
13/11/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
13/11/2026
Singer-songwriter Benson Boone will headline entertainment for the Discover NHL Winter Classic between the Utah Mammoth and Colorado Avalanche at Rice-Eccles St...
13/11/2026
Blackmagic Design has announced the Blackmagic Ambisonic Microphone, a 7th order ambisonic microphone array that captures spatial audio for immersive video prod...
13/11/2026
SMPTE has announced that The Studio B&H and Riedel Communications will provide the video infrastructure and communications technology for the Solutions Hub at t...
13/11/2026
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has announced the theme and program focus for the 2027 HPA Tech Retreat, which takes place Feb. 14-18, 2027, in La ...
13/11/2026
Football Manager 27 Touch is available on Apple Arcade starting today. The game ...
13/11/2026
MotoGP has announced a two-year media rights agreement with ESPN covering the Un...
13/11/2026
Apple Sports, the free iPhone app, has added the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to its lineup of supported sports, in time for Saturday's UFC 334. The...
13/11/2026
The NBA and Fanatics Studios, the joint venture between Fanatics and entertainme...
13/11/2026
ESPN held its annual EDGE Innovation Conference last night and offered up an ove...
13/11/2026
Regional sports network gives Ithaca College, SUNY Cortland students a platform to thrive
One of the biggest games in Division III college football will be pla...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Blue Lucy, the workflow orchestration and integration platform for broadcasters, rights owners and localisation companies, today announced an integration with c...
13/11/2026
Krotos announces Black Friday offers on Studio Pro and Studio Max
Brie Clayton November 12, 2026
0 Comments
First-year annual plans start at US$195.99...
13/11/2026
Blackmagic Design Announces Blackmagic Ambisonic Microphone
Brie Clayton November 12, 2026
0 Comments
New 7th order ambisonic microphone with 108 MEMS...
13/11/2026
Meet the Berklee Student Setting Planetary Motion to Music With his compositional platform SoniKosmos, Javier Roqueni aims to make the universe the ultimate i...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , er...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , er...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Amagi, the media industry cloud company, today announced a partnership with Golden Times Media Technology (stock code 920021.BJ), a Beijing-based media and tech...
13/11/2026
CGI (TSX: GIB.A) (NYSE: GIB), one of the largest independent IT and business consulting services firms in the world, together with its Malaysian partner, Cedar ...
13/11/2026
SMPTE, the home for media professionals, technologists and engineers, today announced that The Studio B&H and Riedel Communications will provide the video infra...
13/11/2026
iWedia, a global leader in connected TV software solutions, will present its software-first approach to DRAM optimization at Android TV APAC Summit 2026 in Bang...
13/11/2026
From pediatric research to smart hospitals, AI is helping care teams spend less time on routine tasks and more time with patients.
Health systems and startups...
12/11/2026
Industry leaders examine how Dynamic Media Facility, Media eXchange Layer, and c...
12/11/2026
The junior Tar Heel is embracing the technical and creative challenges of live production while emerging as a leader and mentor in the control room...
12/11/2026
Gracenote, Nielsen's content intelligence business, has released its fifth a...
12/11/2026
RTL Deutschland will bring the NHL to free-to-air TV in Germany starting Nov. 30...
12/11/2026
Clear-Com supported On Air 2026, a 24-hour student-led broadcast connecting 45 u...
12/11/2026
uniqFEED has opened a Remote Operations Center (ROC) in Madrid, Spain. It is already operational, delivering virtual advertising for LaLiga matches. The ROC is ...
12/11/2026
Disney, ESPN and the NBA will present Dunk the Halls, the third real-time animated NBA game using Sony's Beyond Sports data visualization technology, on Chr...
12/11/2026
Van Wagner has launched Van Wagner RELAY, a digital platform for official athlet...
12/11/2026
Deal brings together two of the industry's most established graphics brands and significantly expands Vizrt's footprint in U.S. sports and regional broa...
12/11/2026
Euro TV Production GmbH of Austria has upgraded its outside broadcast vehicle with Lawo technology. The mc 36 Classic console in service since 2019 was replaced...
12/11/2026
Tagboard has launched Spark Resize, an AI-assisted tool now in beta that takes an existing graphic and produces a new version for a different aspect ratio or sc...
12/11/2026
Ben Winston, Glenn Weiss, and FIFA's Jenni-Lee Van Gelder headlined a day fo...
12/11/2026
Free interactive platform visualizes team tendencies, formations, and schemes, updated weekly...
12/11/2026
Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer Charlie Jablonski's broadcasting career is...
12/11/2026
Gracenote's 2026 State of Play report signals a rising retention risk: More ...
As expected, ratings for syndicated shows in the week ended March 22 were largely up as viewers stayed home amid the coronavirus pandemic. That held true even though preemptions were common throughout the week due to breaking news coverage, and even though many shows were in repeats due to production being halted as people were sent home across the country. 
