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into sweeps pool
Few old favorites jelly-float, with the rest sinking
By Thomas J. Watson
It's February sweeps again, when local stations look to dazzling programming to pull them ahead of their competitors.
This year, as in recent years, they'll be looking beyond syndicated TV, whose wow factor seems to ebb lower with each quarterly rating period.
According to Nielsen ratings for the first week of sweeps, nothing much is working in syndication these days except off-network sitcom reruns and syndication warhorses five or more years of age.
Indeed, all but a handful of programs appear to be on the decline.
Nine of the current week’s top 10 shows have been in syndication two or more seasons.
Of those, only three notched household ratings that improved on scores of a year ago. All three were off-network sitcoms: "Friends," "Seinfeld," and "Seinfeld–Weekend Edition."
The one new-to-syndication program to break into the top 10 was "Everybody Loves Raymond," again an off-network repeat.
Industry experts do not expect things to change much in the coming months.
"Situation-comedy is the most universally accepted format on television," says Bill Carroll, vice president and director of programming for Katz Television Group.
"Those three shows--‘Friends,’ ‘Seinfeld,’ and ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’--are extremely well-written programs and showcase characters that the audience likes to watch over and over."
Sam Armando, director of TV research at Starcom Worldwide, agrees.
"I have always felt that sitcoms repeat better than dramas. We seem to be able to laugh over and over at the same characters in the same stories, but we are not as willing to watch dramatic programs again and again."
Also at work is the 9/11 factor.
"The tragedies of 9/11," says Deana Myers, analyst at Paul Kagan Associates, "drove a lot of people back to warm-and-fuzzy, family-oriented programming. ‘Friends’ and ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ did very well on network, and that popularity carried over to their syndicated repeats. People enjoy spending time with these shows and these characters."
So what about the syndicated shows that are not situation comedies?
Only the well-established shows seem to be succeeding.
"The old reliables are doing just fine," says Armando. "‘Wheel of Fortune’ and ‘Jeopardy’ still lead the top 10 list, even if they are off a tenth of a rating point or so from last year. ‘Oprah’ is still doing well, and so is ‘Judge Judy.’"
Meanwhile, "‘Live with Regis & Kelly’ has reinvigorated itself," says Carroll. "The household ratings have held steady, and the show is skewing younger this year. The show is working well."
Even the long-running "Inside Edition" magazine series seems to be holding its audience.
But building new syndicated fare into hits is something that has eluded syndicators in recent seasons.
"Syndication has not had a breakout new-to-television hit in at least five years," says Myers.
"The last new programs to rewrite the books were ‘Rosie O’Donnell’ and ‘Judge Judy,’" says Carroll, "and both have been on for a number of years now. Not that producers have not tried. Any number of shows, featuring big name talent, have failed miserably the past few years."
Even so, syndication companies insist they need a high-profile name on a show--or a network track record--to get a new program launched.
"A show almost has to have a pre-sold value to make the schedules these days," says Carroll. "It’s a monumental task to get a new show noticed, first by the stations and then by the home audience."
Most new programs, industry experts agree, are launched with the odds stacked against them.
"The new shows invariably get the worst time slots," says Carroll. "They go into what I call ‘broken’ time slots, the time periods in which something else failed last season. Normally the new shows are up against well-established hits."
Indeed, of the current week’s top 25 shows, only two--the aforementioned "Everybody Loves Raymond" and "King of the Hill"--are new-to-syndication properties, and both were pre-sold because of their previous network exposure.
"Syndication is still a very viable way to add needed reach to a media buy," says Armando. "But it is suffering right now from the lack of original programming. It needs an original hit."
Looking ahead to next year, the industry is again betting on programs or concepts that have a history or track record.
"The new ‘Dr. Phil’ program is something of a spin-off from ‘Oprah,’" says Carroll. "It and the syndicated version of ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?’ are getting a lot of attention from the buying community."
At least four off-network sitcoms will be entering the marketplace: "Dharma & Greg," "Will & Grace," "That '70s Show," and "The Hughleys."
Of the four, Armando gives the edge to "Will & Grace."
"The show is still very hot on NBC," he says, "and it is still the topic of watercooler conversation. As much as I love ‘Dharma,’ the show peaked in popularity a few seasons ago. It is not doing great numbers on the network, and it will not do great numbers in syndication."
"The bottom line," says Myers, "is that mediocrity or ‘the same old thing’ does not make it anymore--in syndication or anyplace else.
"People do not have to watch ‘just anything.’ They have many sources for entertainment: the broadcast stations, cable networks, the internet and all the new technologies. Only truly entertaining vehicles will survive."
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TOP 25 SHOWS |
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| Rank | Program | HHAA |
HHA last year |
% chg |
| 1 | Wheel of Fortune | 10.8 | 10.9 | -1 |
| 2 | Jeopardy | 8.9 | 9.6 | -7 |
| 3 | Friends | 7.9 | 6.2 | +27 |
| 4 | Seinfeld | 7.3 | 5.5 | +33 |
| 5 | Everybody Loves Raymond | 6.4 | ||
| 6 | Entertainment Tonight | 6.4 | 7.2 | -11 |
| 7 | Judge Judy | 6.4 | 6.6 | -3 |
| 8 | Oprah | 6.2 | 6.5 | -5 |
| 9 | Seinfeld – Weekend | 5.8 | 3.5 | +65 |
| 10 | Live with Regis & Kelly | 4.0 | 4.0 | +/-0 |
| 11 | Entertainment
Tonight – Weekend |
3.8 | 5.1 | -25 |
| 12 | Judge Joe Brown | 3.7 | 3.7 | +/- 0 |
| 12 | King of the Hill | 3.7 | ||
| 14 | Frasier | 3.6 | 4.9 | -27 |
| 14 | Maury | 3.6 | 3.7 | -3 |
| 16 | Friends – Weekend | 3.4 | 3.4 | +/- 0 |
| 16 | Everybody Loves
Raymond – Weekend |
3.4 | ||
| 18 | Inside Edition | 3.3 | 3.1 | +6 |
| 19 | The X-Files | 3.2 | 3.9 | -18 |
| 19 | Stargate SG-1 | 3.2 | 2.7 | +19 |
| 21 | Hollywood Squares | 3.1 | 3.9 | -21 |
| 22 | Andromeda | 2.9 | 3.9 | -26 |
| 22 | Montel Williams | 2.9 | 3.5 | -17 |
| 22 | Access Hollywood | 2.9 | 2.8 | +4 |
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*Source: Nielsen Media Research Feb 4-10,2002; Feb. 5-11,2001 |
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February 26, 2002 © 2002 Media Life
-Thomas J Watson is a Los Angeles writer and a contributor to Media Life.
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