• by Wayne Friedman , May 29, 2019

Closing in on completing its TV season, top syndicated TV programs -- bucking viewing metrics of other top TV programs on broadcast and cable -- had mostly flat or modest single digit viewing declines versus a year ago.

One high-rated show had a slight rise.

The second-highest-rated U.S. syndicated show, CBS Television Distribution’s “Jeopardy” -- on a season-to-date basis looking at Nielsen data from September 3 through May 12 -- posted a 1% gain to 9.96 million versus the same time period a year ago.

Companion game show, CBS’s “Wheel of Jeopardy,” -- was third best overall -- is down 1% to 9.93 million. Leading all U.S. TV syndicated programming, CBS Television Distribution’s court show “Judge Judy” also showed a slight 1% decline to 10.0 million.

Other big TV shows showed had mid-single/low double-digit percentage declines: CBS’ “Family Feud” lost 6% to 9.5 million. Off-network sitcom Warner Bros’ “Big Bang Theory” was 11% lower to 6.9 million.

Twentieth Television’s “Last Man Standing” sitcom showed the biggest spike -- rising 30% to 3.4 million viewers. After years on ABC, first-run episodes of the show found a new home on Fox this past season.

“Standing” was the ninth-highest-rated Monday to Friday syndicated show. In 10th place, CBS’s court show “Hot Bench” slipped 3% to 3.2 million viewers.

Two longtime entertainment shows also posted low-single-digit percentage drops: CBS’ “Inside Edition” was down 3% for the season to 4.37 million and CBS’ “Entertainment Tonight” lost 6% to 4.29 million.

Talk shows: CBS’ “Dr. Phil” is down 14% to 3.89 million. Disney-ABC Domestic TV’s “Live with Kelly and Ryan” fell 6% to 2.96 million and Warner Bro. “Ellen DeGeneres” lost 8% 2.96 million.

The best-performing off-network drama was CBS’ “NCIS: New Orleans” -- in its first year in syndication -- 2.1 million viewers.