• by Wayne Friedman , December 21, 2005

Take your bad weather, mix it with TV viewing, and you've got yourselves some nice ratings. The reason: everyone needs to stay indoors and be entertained.

Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution's "Ellen" fed off of this, showing her best all-time rating--a Nielsen Media Research 2.6 for the week ending December 11. This is 15 percent higher than the same week a year ago.

Buena Vista Television's "Tony Danza" got off the mat, with an 18 percent increase to a 1.3 rating versus the week before. But the show isn't out of the woods. The show is still flat versus a similar week a year ago. Buena Vista's other show, "Live with Regis & Kelly," earned its best number of the season so far, with a 3.9 rating.

Game shows did well. King World Productions' "Jeopardy!" earned a 7.2 rating; Buena Vista Television's "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire" earned a 3.3 rating, and Tribune Entertainment's "Family Feud," a 2.1 rating. All grabbed season high ratings.

Rookie shows also continued to do well. Twentieth Television's "Judge Alex" matched its series high at a 2.4 rating; NBC Universal Television Distribution's "Martha" moved up to a 1.9 rating; Warner Bros.' "Tyra Banks" was also up to a 1.8 rating. Twentieth Television's "Geraldo at Large" fell 18 percent to a 0.9 rating.

A mixed rating picture showed for established talk shows.

King World's "Oprah" dropped 6 percent for the week to a 7.2 rating; Paramount Television's "Dr. Phil" was unchanged at a 5.3 rating; NBC Universal's "Maury" sank 3 percent to a 2.8 rating; Paramount's "Montel Williams" was up 10 percent to a 2.2 rating. NBC Universal's "Jerry Springer" was up 11 percent to a season high of 2.1.

Court shows also were up and down. Paramount's industry leader "Judge Judy," was down 4 percent to a 4.9; Paramount's other court show, "Judge Joe Brown," was up 3 percent to a 3.4.