Syndication Ratings: Kelly Clarkson Makes Best Debut Since 2012

NBCUniversal's new talker The Kelly Clarkson Show officially got off to the best start of any new first-run strip in the week ended Sept. 15, opening at a 1.6 live plus same day household rating, according to Nielsen Media Research. That's the best premiere for a new first-run show since Disney's Katie Couric premiered in 2012.

Disney's Tamron Hall also premiered that week and debuted at a 1.0, the best start, besides Clarkson, of any first-run show since NBCU's Harry in 2016. (This does not count the three-day first-week average for NBCU's 2017 reboot of Steve Harvey's talker, Steve.) Among daytime's key demographic of women 25-54, Tamron Hall registered a 0.4.

Both Kelly Clarkson and Tamron Hall faced preemptions that week, which included Sept. 11 and the many memorials that are broadcast on that day.

Kelly Clarkson finished fourth among the 14 talkers, behind CBS Television Distribution's Dr. Phil, Disney's Live with Kelly and Ryan and Warner Bros.' Ellen DeGeneres. Among women 25-54, Kelly Clarkson claimed a 0.7, again behind only the top three.

Related: Syndication Ratings: Kelly Clarkson, Tamron Hall Get Week One Under Their Belts

SPT's The Mel Robbins Show debuted on Sept. 16 with a 0.4 rating/2 weighted metered market average for its first week's primary runs, down 50% from its year-ago time period. Among women 25-54, Robbins premiered at a 0.2/2, off 33% from last year.

Jerry Springer's Judge Jerry also debuted at a 1.1 live plus same day national household rating, the best debut for an original court show since CTD's Hot Bench in 2014.

Meanwhile, CTD's Judge Judy launched its 24th season with a 10% increase to a 16-week high 6.7 to lead all of syndication for the seventh straight week.

Hot Bench made its sixth-season debut with a 5% dip to a 1.9, but still tied Live and Ellen as daytime's third-highest ranked show after only Judy and Phil.

Warner Bros.' People's Court climbed 25% to a 1.5. Warner Bros.' Judge Mathis moved up 11% to a 1.0. Twentieth's Divorce Court remained at a 0.7 for a fifth consecutive week. Debmar-Mercury's Caught in Providence held at a 0.5 for the 13th straight week.

Dr. Phil remained at the top of the talkers with a 5% advance to a 2.3 in the first week of season 18, leading the category for the 158th week with five ties. Among women 25-54, Phil also was first with a 1.0.

Live with Kelly and Ryan, which did not air in home market New York on Sept. 11, held steady at a 1.9, tying Ellen. This marked the 29th week in a row that Live has snagged second place in talk, now with one tie.

Ellen, which now has Kelly Clarkson as its lead-in in more than a dozen large markets including all of the top six, raised the curtain on its 17th season with a 36% spike to a 1.9.

NBCU's Maury, NBCU's Steve Wilkos, CTD's Rachael Ray and Debmar-Mercury's Wendy Williams all were unchanged at a 1.2, 1.0, 1.0 and 0.9, respectively. SPT's Dr. Oz opened its 11th season and perked up 13% from series-low levels to a 0.9, tying Wendy.

CTD's The Doctors were stable at a 0.5, tying Warner Bros.' The Real, which rebounded 25%. NBCU's out-of-production syndicated run of Jerry Springer slid 25% to a 0.3. NBCU's Steve, CTD's Face the Truth and Disney's Pickler & Ben all ended their runs.

In access, many shows were hampered by preemptions on Sept. 12 for the Democratic presidential debate, which ran from 5 to 8 p.m. PT.

The only gainer among the magazines was NBCU's Access Hollywood, which had been called just Access for the past two seasons. Access Hollywood hit the ground running with its 24th season opener and the debut of new host Mario Lopez, surging 27% to a 1.4, its best rating since the week ending March 10. The show also climbed 17% from last year, the most of any magazine.

At the top of the genre, CTD's Inside Edition and Entertainment Tonight both were unchanged at a 2.6 and a 2.5, respectively.

Warner Bros.' TMZ remained at a 1.1. Warner Bros.' Extra, which moved to Fox stations in the top five markets and in six of the top eight, ran into sports preemptions 15 times in the top-20 markets alone and was penalized 10% to a 0.9.

Related: Entertainment Mags Look for a Comeback

CTD's DailyMailTV relinquished 11% to a 0.8. Twentieth's Page Six TV posted its final edition, with a 20% decline to a 0.4. Trifecta's Celebrity Page stayed at a 0.2 for the 11th straight week.

Elsewhere, the race for game-show supremacy was a much closer call than usual. Debmar-Mercury's Family Feud was flat at a 5.7 in the final frame of its 2018-2019 season but held on to the category lead for the 14th straight week. CTD's Jeopardy! jumped 20% for its 36th season opener to a 5.5, while CTD's Wheel of Fortune forged ahead to a 5.3 with its 37th season premiere.

Related: Jeopardy!s Alex Trebek Back in Chemotherapy

Further back, Entertainment Studios' Funny You Should Ask remained at a 0.5 for the 27th straight week, while Disney's Who Wants to be a Millionaire concluded its 17-year run.

Disney's RightThisMinute, which was relinquished to late-night slots in many markets to make room for Tamron Hall, lost 33% to a new series-low 0.8.

Related: Parkinson-Jones, Scher Join Disneys Tamron Hall

NBCU's Dateline stayed at a 1.2 to remain atop the crime genre. SPT's off-A&E Live PD Police Patrol was unchanged at a 1.0, while NBCU's scripted procedural Chicago PD eroded 11% to a 0.8. Dropping out of the national ratings was off-Investigation Discovery's True Crime Files.

Warner Bros.' The Big Bang Theory imploded 22% but still led the off-network sitcoms even though it fell to a new series-low 2.9. Twentieth's Last Man Standing and Modern Family were flat at a 2.1 and 1.5, respecti

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