Anderson Cooper's Talk Show Has Mediocre Ratings Debut

Against pre-emptions in three markets and coverage of the U.S. Open championship, the premiere episode of Anderson Cooper's Anderson performed mediocre in the ratings.

It wasn't a splashy debut, even with the appearance of Amy Winehouse's family, who discussed the late singer; primary runs of the talk show averaged a 1.1 in households in 53 overnight metered markets. Anderson also was down slightly from its lead-in average of 1.2 and also off from the September 2010 time-period average of a 1.3.

Among the women 25-54 demographic, the premiere drew a 0.6 rating, on par with its lead-in average (0.6) but down from the same time last year (0.7). Still, Anderson was the top program among the demo in its time period in Dallas, Washington D.C., Minneapolis, Orlando, Sacramento and Pittsburgh.

With no competition from Oprah Winfrey, Live With Regis and Kelly ranked first among all syndicated talkers on Monday, averaging a 2.9 rating, followed by The Ellen DeGeneres Show (2.6).

The Dr. Oz Show, which inherited the most time slots from The Oprah Winfrey Show, was the most-improved talk show, coming in at No. 3 with a 2.0. Rounding out the top five were Maury (1.3) and The Talk (1.9)

Email: philiana.ng@thr.com