Syndies mostly scrooged

During Christmas week people are too busy opening presents and gorging themselves to watch much TV. Syndicated game shows were no exception to this yuletide rule, especially in the access hour. Broadcasting & Cable decks the halls with the bad news for the week ending December 26...

Wheel of Fortune 6.7 - down five ticks, ouch
Jeopardy 5.5 - down six ticks, double ouch
Millionaire 2.2 - off a tick
Family Feud 1.8 - bucks the trend, up a tick
5th Grader 1.0 - flat
Lyrics 1.0 - flat

TV by the Numbers tells us the twin towers still pulled the best average viewership numbers among all syndies: Wheel of Fortune 10.9 million and Jeopardy 8.8 million. Not bad but clearly below normal standards.

In a bit of broadcast ratings news, Wednesday's Minute To Win It scored a 2.1 18-49 rating and 6.7 million total viewers. The household rating/share was 4.1/7. Pretty usual numbers for the stunts and silliness.

UPDATE: Thursday's Winter Wipeout certainly didn't, er, wipe out with Nielsen Media Research. The show with balls bounced to an impressive 3.8 18-49 rating (its second best ever) with 11.7 million total viewers and a household rating/share of 5.9/10. Look for more winter stunts in ABC's future. The show's not exactly my glass of iced tea, but it's nontoxic frivolity. Meanwhile, Million Dollar Money Drop drooped to a predictably dreary 1.4 18-49 rating and 4.6 million viewers.

And to get back to syndicated game shows for a minute, looks like the rumors about GSN's Baggage entering the syndie wars are true...at least in Jerry Springer's (and my) old home town, Cincinnati. Local Cincy media writer John Kiesewetter says a MyNetwork station, WSTR-TV, will pick up Jerry's datefest beginning next Monday at 7:30 PM. Kiesewetter identifies Baggage as "the highest-rated weekday Mon-Fri series in GSN history."

That's probably true in total viewers, at least. Kiesewetter also has some fun with Springer's own baggage from his tangled political past in Ohio. This is a first for GSN, one of its originals in syndication.