• by Wayne Friedman , September 16, 2008

New syndication shows went through a fairly predictable opening week, according to most experts. There were no disasters, but room for improvement.

Shows like CBS Television Distribution's "The Doctors," NBC Universal Television Distribution's "Deal or No Deal," Warner Bros. Television Distribution's "The Bonnie Hunt Show" and Sony Pictures Television's "Judge Karen" all performed under the household ratings on their respective time periods on stations a year ago--which was expected.

Through the first four days of the new season, "The Doctors" was the best of the new batch of shows--with a 1.4 household rating/4 share, which is down 29% versus programming on stations in time periods of a year ago. "Deal" is off 8% to 1.2/3; "Bonnie Hunt" is 9% lower to a 1.0/3; and "Karen" is down 10% to a 0.9/3.

But the devil is in the details. Bill Carroll, vice president and director of programming for ad sales representative, Katz Television Group, says many of these new shows in major markets--the ones that get local people meter demographic results--are showing that women viewers, 18-49 and 25-54, are strong.

"Time periods are growing in the early going," he notes. Carroll says those key women demographics, which are advertisers' sweet spots in buying syndication, are up slightly for shows like "The Doctors" and "Bonnie Hunt." He also says demo numbers for "Deal" running in prime access time periods are "pretty decent."

"Where the show has a chance to be competitive, it's showing good performance," says Carroll. In addition, he notes, some pieces of stations' court show programming blocks are earning higher women demographic results.

Programming analysts say a better indication of syndication program performances will be found in the next few weeks. The first week of syndication had plenty of disruptions--the ceremonies around 9/11, as well as an unusual men's U.S. Open Final on Monday, all of which skewed ratings results a bit lower.