• by Wayne Friedman , September 12, 2007

The syndication TV season opened on Monday with two clear winners on day one: Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution's tabloid magazine show "TMZ" and NBC Universal Television Distribution's Jerry Springer-spinoff, "Steve Wilkos."

"TMZ" was the highest-rated new first-run syndication show, earning a Nielsen Media Research weighted overnight-metered market 2.0 household rating/4 share. The negatives: the show was down 17% from its lead-in and off 9% from programs in the time periods it replaced in September 2006.

"Wilkos" did better with this last measure--although it captured lower overall ratings. The show's 1.1 rating/4 share was up some 22% from an average 0.9/3 lead-in, and even against the show in the time periods it replaced in September 2006.

The second-best in holding its lead-in and last-year ratings was Sony Pictures Television's "Judge David Young." It earned a 0.9/3, identical to its lead-in ratings, and down 10% from the programs it replaced in those time slots of a year ago.

New off-network comedies didn't shine that much over the first-run shows in overall ratings, but they didn't lose much ground to their respective lead-ins or the shows they were replacing of a year ago.

Warner Bros.' "Two and a Half Men" took a 2.0/4--the same as its lead-in program average. It was down 13% from programs in the same time period last September.

Twentieth Television's "Family Guy" earned a 1.9/4, the same as its lead-in program average, but down 5% versus programs in the same time period in '06.