• by Wayne Friedman , October 15, 2008

New syndication shows have had some mixed viewership results in the last several weeks.

The best new first-run show continues to be NBC Universal's "Deal or No Deal," which is now at a Nielsen 1.6 household rating for the week ending October 5. "Deal" dropped some 6% in the week September 29 to October 5 from the week before.

CBS Television Distribution's "The Doctors," which started out strongly a few weeks ago, has now settled in with a 1.3 rating, up 8% versus last week's numbers.

Next comes Sony's court show "Judge Karen"--now at a 1.0 household rating, the same as its previous week. Those below the 1.0 rating mark include Warner Bros. talker "Bonnie Hunt" at a 0.8 rating--the same as a week ago--and Program Partners' "Family Court with Judge Penny" at a 0.6, also the same as the previous week.

Debmar-Mercury's new game show, "Trivial Pursuit: America Plays," debuted the first week in October, but came in under "Penny" at 0.5.

Some of the already well-branded TV shows debuting in syndication this season--new off-broadcast network or off-cable network shows--have had better results.

NBC Universal's "House," the Fox network show, shot up 23% from the previous week to a 2.7 rating. Twentieth Television's "Boston Legal," from ABC, picked up a healthy 24% to a 2.1. NBC Universal's "Monk," which runs on USA Network, is at a 1.7--the same as the week before.

Losing ground is Debmar-Mercury's "House of Payne," a big hit on TBS that is now at a 1.5 rating, down 25% from the week before. Litton Syndication's "Storm Stories" from Discovery Channel debuted at a 1.0.