“The Ellen DeGeneres Show” returned steady in TV ratings on Monday, the Season 18 premiere that will forever be better known as “the apology episode.”
Steady these days is a win.
“Ellen” drew a 1.9 overnight rating, flat with the prior September’s premiere. That was good enough to finish second to “The View” (a 2.7 rating in these earliest-available Nielsen numbers, which focus on 56 metered markets).
“Ellen” was able to grow a bit year over year among adults 25 to 54, posting a 0.9 rating. That was up from a 0.8 last year.
Daytime talk shows skew more towards women, and DeGeneres beat or tied the competition among those categories. “Ellen” led the ranks on Monday with a 0.6 rating among women 18-34 and a 0.8 rating among women 18-49.
Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show tied with “The View” among women 25-54 — both got 1.1s.
DeGeneres’ on-air mea culpa, which was not a hit with everyone, was intended to address reports from the summer about a toxic work environment at the Warner Bros. talk show.
WarnerMedia’s subsequent investigation into multiple accusations of workplace and sexual misconduct, as first reported by BuzzFeed News, resulted in “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” removing three of its top producers: Ed Glavin, Kevin Leman and Jonathan Norman.
In a memo to staff back in July, DeGeneres said she was “disappointed” to learn that employees felt mistreated while working on her show and committed herself to “ensuring this does not happen again.”
“If you’re watching because you love me, thank you. If you’re watching because you don’t love me, welcome,” DeGeneres joked at the top of her Monday monologue, which was delivered in front of a virtual audience.
“As you may have heard, this summer there were allegations of a toxic environment here at our show,” she said. “And then there was an investigation. I learned that things happened here that never should have happened. I take that very seriously and I want to say I’m so sorry to the people who were affected.”
Watch the Season 18 premiere’s monologue here.