As expected, Katie Couric‘s new daytime talk show “Katie” was the strongest freshman talker last week, premiere week for most syndicated talk shows. “Katie” averaged a 2.3 rating/7 share, putting it about on par with its “General Hospital” lead-in and with the same time period last year. While that is strong, Disney was likely looking for more of a ratings bounce with a host as well-known as Couric.

B&C’s syndication ace Paige Albiniak has the details on how “Katie” and the other freshman performed, including a surprisingly strong performance form “Steve Harvey.”

Among daytime’s key women 25-54 demographic, Katie averaged a 1.2/7 for the week, popping back up on Friday to a 1.1/7 after dropping to a 0.8/5 on Thursday. After one week on the air, that’s down 14% from last year’s 1.4/8 and down 20% from its 1.5/9 lead in.

In fact, Steve Harvey, which Endemol USA produces at NBC’s WMAQ Chicago, was the only rookie to improve over both September 2011 time periods and over its lead-in among women 25-54, averaging a 0.9/6 for the week in the demo. That’s up 80% over last year’s 0.5/3 and up 28% over its 0.7/4 lead-in.