Harry Connick Jr., don’t quit your night job yet.
The singer’s new daytime talk show “Harry” delivered some soft numbers during the week of its Sept. 12 premiere, according to figures released Tuesday.
“Harry” scored a 1.1 rating/3 share in 56 metered markets, covering the largest cities in the U.S. That amounted to a less-than-spectacular 900,000 households, according to Nielsen.
But the news was hardly all bad. “Harry” did far better than another new syndicated show, “T.D. Jakes,” hosted by the megachurch pastor. “Jakes” could manage only 300,000 households for a first week number of 0.7.
What’s more, “Harry” performed well in certain markets, such as Ft. Myers, where it served up 125 percent improvement in its time slot compared to a year ago.
“Harry,” which is syndicated by NBCUniversal, has faced its share of troubles in launching this season. The syndicated talk market is very crowded, with even established players like “Ellen” and “Dr. Phil” logging double-digit declines this month.
Connick also struggled to book guests for his early weeks, as TheWrap earlier reported. The singer and his producers leaned on his former colleagues at “American Idol” to help the launch.
Full national ratings for the premiere week of “Harry” are due to be released next week.