‘Dr. Phil’ Bags Big Ratings For Interview With ‘Miracle in Cleveland’ Survivor

TV’s most popular daytime talkshow, “Dr. Phil,” only padded its advantage this week with big numbers for its exclusive interview with one of the three young Cleveland women who returned home earlier this year after being held captive more than a decade.

According to Nielsen’s metered-market overnights, Phil McGraw’s two-part interview with Michele Knight averaged the identical 4.0 household rating/11 share on both Tuesday and Wednesday — a season high. “Dr. Phil” was up 38% from the comparable day a year ago (2.9/8) and doubled its average lead-in (2.0/6).

As you might expect, the ratings in Cleveland were huge. Wednesday’s episode of “Dr. Phil” did a big 16.9 rating/34 share, nearly four times the show’s average from November of last year (4.3/9). The station will re-air both part of the interview on Saturday night.

Total viewer estimates won’t be available until later this month, but this week’s two-part interview figures to easily surpass 5 million. Through last week, CBS TV Distribution’s “Dr. Phil Show” averaged a 2.8 weighted metered-market rating this season, which has translated into an average viewership of 3.81 million.

Now in its 12th season, “Dr. Phil” is ahead of “Live With Kelly and Michael,” “Ellen DeGeneres Show” and others to remain the No. 1 daytime talkshow.

Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus vanished without a trace in separate cases that plagued the city’s police and media for years. They escaped from the clutches of Ariel Castro in May, aided by a neighbor who broke open a locked door. Castro was found dead in his prison cell on Sept. 3.

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