It's a hit!

Her version of THE APPRENTICE may not be doing as well as expected but her daytime show is a bonafide hit!
==============================================================================

Martha Stewart came back from her five-month stay in prison with a bang, beating last year's time period numbers by a gaudy 41% with the Monday premiere of the syndicated "Martha."
The other high-profile syndicated talkshow debut, Warner Bros. Domestic TV's "The Tyra Banks Show," averaged a more modest 1.3 rating, which was 24% lower than the lead-in rating and 13% below last year's September timeslot average. These numbers are based on overnight ratings from the 56 markets metered by Nielsen Media Research.

A third firstrun-syndication premiere, 20th TV's half-hour court show "Judge Alex," averaged a 1.7 household rating, which was a 13% improvement over the 1.5 rating delivered in the time period in September 2004. But "Judge Alex" was off by 6% from its lead-in average of 1.8.

For "Martha," distributed by NBC Universal Domestic TV, the 2.4 rating it chalked up was 4% higher than the show's average lead-in. NBC U's competitors pointed out, however, that 17 of the 53 markets feeding data on "Martha""Martha" were stuck with the failed "Jane Pauley Show" in the time period a year ago, a program that got off to a flying stop.

NBC U said that "Martha" put together the best opening day for a new show since "Dr. Phil" broke out of the starting gate in September 2002.

On WNBC-TV New York, however, "Martha" lost 38% of its lead-in audience from "Ellen," averaging a 2.6 rating to the 4.2 harvested by "Ellen." But the WABC-TV competition for "Ellen," "The Tony Danza Show," was a lot milder than the ABC network "The View""The View" opposite "Martha."

For "Tyra," Warners wasn't crying the blues over the show's household numbers because it scored big in the key women demos. Among femmes 18-34, "Tyra" was up by an eye-popping 125% over the time period a year ago, and it was 100% higher among women 18-49.

--Variety



Professional Jayne Mansfield fanatic/lover™ since 1980.