The heyday of the dating show on broadcast television has certainly come and gone. The same can now be said for such shows in syndication. 
   The number of dating shows on syndication has dwindled from six in 2002 to two, and both are struggling. In July, “Blind Date” and “Elimidate” averaged a 0.8 and 0.9 household rating, respectively. 
   Season to date, “Elimidate” has averaged a 1.1 household rating, down 21 percent compared to the same period in 2004. “Blind Date” has declined even more, down 25 percent this year versus last, with a 1.2 household rating.
   “I believe there were too many dating shows, and that accelerated viewer burnout,” says Peter Koeppel, president of Dallas-based agency Koeppel Direct. “I feel that the dating shows may be an outdated concept.”
   There was certainly a time, some years back, when dating shows were all the rage. In 2002, there were about half a dozen in syndication alone. Shows like “Change of Heart,” “Shipmates” and “Fifth Wheel” featured even more ways of pairing people up and splitting them apart, such as bringing in a third person to spice things up. 
   Compared to ratings that year, when the genre was thriving, “Elimidate” is now down 31 percent and “Blind Date” off 37 percent. 
   “It’s a case of too much of a good thing,” says one syndication insider. “The networks got into the act, and the whole genre burned out.”
   There’s been a similar decline for dating shows on network television. The granddaddy of dating/relationship shows, ABC’s “The Bachelor,” is down nearly 50 percent from its peak in 2002. 
   NBC’s fourth edition of “Average Joe” was down 59 percent from season one in 2003. And most recently, ABC’s five-part documentary “Hooking Up” chronicled the online dating scene in New York City and delivered a weak 3.2 household average.  
   
   In other daypart ratings in the week ended Aug. 21:
   Some 400,000 viewers still separate “Today” and “Good Morning America.” Both were down a tenth of a point among households for the week, to a 4.3 for "Today" and a 3.9 for "GMA" while “Early Show” was up 0.1 to a 2.4. 
   “Tonight Show” increased its lead over “Late Show” to 2.2 million total viewers for the week. Leno was up 3.8 percent, to 5.4 million, while Letterman was down 11 percent, to 3.2 million. “Last Call with Carson Daly” lost some 100,000 viewers to tie “Jimmy Kimmel Live” in last place among late-night shows with 1.3 million viewers.
   In syndication, “Wheel of Fortune, “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and “Everybody Loves Raymond” remained the top game show, talk show and comedy, respectively. 
   ABC once again led in daytime and full day ratings among women 18-49, while CBS remained tops with total viewers.
   The week ended Aug. 28 was a down one for evening network news, with all three showing losses in total viewers. CBS’s “Evening News” was down the least with less than a 1 percent drop to 6.4 million viewers, while NBC’s “Nightly News” fell almost 3 percent to 8.1 million.