‘Pauley Show’ starting slow

“The Jane Pauley Show” delivered less-than-spectacular numbers in its Monday debut, although it’s far too early to say whether the former NBC newswoman will take to her new daytime perch.

With heavy promotion from NBC Universal, which is syndicating the weekday series, Pauley had the strongest premiere of any daytime show in the last two years, according to preliminary data from Nielsen Media Research. But her premiere numbers were less than half of those for “Dr. Phil,” which debuted in September 2002. On KNBC-TV Channel 4 in Los Angeles, Pauley ranked fifth in the 10 a.m. time slot and slipped 23% compared with last year’s “The John Walsh Show.”

One encouraging sign for Pauley: Her show did a bit better than last year’s premiere of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” which has become a reliable performer.