'Oprah Winfrey Show' Fades in Ratings
For over two decades, the dominance of Oprah Winfrey's daytime talk show has just been one of the givens of life, right up there with death and taxes. But now, as the media mogul prepares to leave syndication and launch her own network (the appropriately titled OWN -- Oprah Winfrey Network) she finds herself in a new and unusual position: looking up at the competition.Yes, believe it or not, 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' is actually struggling in the ratings. According to TV By the Numbers, reruns of 'Oprah' crashed to an all-time low last week, pulling in just a 3.0 rating for the worst figures in the show's 24 year history. And before you blame the rerun factor, consider that during the same week last year the show was also in reruns but still pulled in 23% more viewers.
So who's the beneficiary of Oprah's woes? 'Judge Judy,' of course: the litigious lady pulled down a commanding 4.3 rating, meaning that with slightly over 6 million viewers, her afternoon courtroom dramatics attracted a full 2 million more fans than 'Oprah.' And this is starting to become a trend for 'Judge Judy,' which has trounced 'Oprah' in the ratings 12 out of the last 14 weeks.
Of course, It seems unlikely that viewers finally gotten tired of Winfrey after two and a half decades of unwavering devotion. So what's to blame for Oprah's struggles? It's hard to say for sure, but our guess is that the launch of OWN has something to do with it. While there hasn't necessarily been a noticeable drop off in quality for 'The Oprah Winfrey Show,' fans of Oprah are well aware that her main focus is on launching the network and many may simply be waiting for her new projects to kick off. In other words, with 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' coming to an end, the show seems a bit like a lame duck, with reruns being especially irrelevant.
Our guess is that once Oprah makes the move full time to her new cable home, her viewers will make the move with her and we'll see those numbers jump back up to their usual dominance. In the meantime, though, Oprah will just have to get used to the fact that for now, 'Judge Judy' is laying down the law of the land.
OWN is set to debut in January.

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