This just in: Modern Family‘s a hit! The funniest new comedy of the fall attracted 12.7 million viewers in its debut last night. Cougar Town also performed strongly, drawing 11.4 million viewers. Both finished second to the season premiere of Criminal Minds (roughly 15.5 million). Among adults 18-49, Modern Family finished first in its time-slot while Cougar Town tied Minds. Other Wednesday highlights include CSI: NY (14.5 million), Eastwick (8.4 million) Mercy (8.2 million), Old Christine (7.6 million), Glee (6.5 million), and The Jay Leno Show (6.4 million). The CW’s Beautiful Life, meanwhile, sunk to less than 1 million viewers. I believe it’s time to stick a fork in that thing.
Sep 24
2009
11:41 AM ET
Ratings snapshot: 'Modern Family,' 'Cougar Town' open big!
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TV Finale Highlights
Five days at a glance*
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Tuesday, May 1
- The Biggest Loser NBC, 8-9PM
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Friday, May 4
- In Plain Sight USA, 10-11PM
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Sunday, May 6
- The Amazing Race CBS, 8-10PM
- GCB NBC, 10-11PM
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Monday, May 7
- Two Broke Girls CBS, 8-9PM
- Castle ABC, 10-11PM
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Tuesday, May 8
- Last Man Standing ABC, 8-8:30PM
- The Voice NBC, 8-10PM
- New Girl FOX, 9-9:31PM
- Unforgettable CBS, 10-11PM
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Wednesday, May 9
- CSI CBS, 10-11PM
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Thursday, May 10
- The Big Bang Theory CBS, 8-8:31PM
- The Vampire Diaries The CW, 8-9PM
- The Office NBC, 9-9:30PM
- The Secret Circle The CW, 9-10PM
- Parks and Recreation NBC, 9:30-10PM
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Friday, May 11
- The Finder FOX, 8-9PM
- Undercover Boss CBS, 8-9PM
- Fringe FOX, 9-10PM
- CSI: NY CBS, 9-10PM
- Blue Bloods CBS, 10-11PM
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Sunday, May 13
- Once Upon A Time ABC, 8-9PM
- Survivor: One World CBS, 8-10PM
- Desperate Housewives ABC, 9-11PM, SERIES FINALE
- American Dad FOX, 9:30-10PM
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Monday, May 14
- Bones FOX, 8-9PM
- How I Met Your Mother CBS, 8-9PM
- Gossip Girl The CW, 8-9PM
- Two and a Half Men CBS, 9-9:30PM
- Hart of Dixie The CW, 9-10PM
- Mike & Molly CBS, 9:30-10PM
- Hawaii Five-0 CBS, 10-11PM
- Smash NBC, 10-11PM
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Tuesday, May 15
- 90210 The CW, 8-9PM
- Cougar Town ABC, 8-9PM
- NCIS CBS, 8-9PM
- NCIS: Los Angeles CBS, 9-11PM
- Fashion Star NBC, 10-11PM
- Private Practice ABC, 10-11PM
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Wednesday, May 16
- Suburgatory ABC, 8:30-9PM
- Criminal Minds CBS, 9-11PM
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Thursday, May 17
- Missing ABC, 8-9PM
- Community NBC, 8-8:30PM, 9-10PM
- 30 Rock NBC, 8:30-9PM
- Rules of Engagement CBS, 8:30-9PM
- Awake NBC, 9-11PM
- Grey's Anatomy ABC, 9-10PM
- Person of Interest CBS, 9-10PM
- The Mentalist CBS, 10-11PM
- Scandal ABC, 10-11PM
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Friday, May 18
- Nikita The CW, 8-9PM
- Shark Tank ABC, 8-9PM
- Who Do You Think You Are NBC, 8-9PM
- Grimm NBC, 9-10PM
- Supernatural The CW, 9-10PM
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Saturday, May 19
- Saturday Night Live NBC, 11:29PM-1AM
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Sunday, May 20
- America's Funniest Home Videos ABC, 7-8PM
- The Cleveland Show FOX, 7:30-8PM
- Harry's Law NBC, 8-9PM
- The Simpsons FOX, 8-8:30PM
- Bob's Burgers FOX, 8:30-9PM
- Celebrity Apprentice NBC, 9-11PM
- Family Guy FOX, 9-10PM
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Monday, May 21
- Dancing With the Stars (Performance) ABC, 8-9PM
- House FOX, 8-10PM, SERIES FINALE
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Tuesday, May 22
- American Idol (Performance) FOX, 8-9PM
- Dancing With the Stars (Results) ABC, 9-11PM
- Glee FOX, 9-10PM
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Wednesday, May 23
- The Middle ABC, 8-8:30PM
- American Idol (Results) FOX, 8-10:07PM
- Modern Family ABC, 9-9:30PM
- Don't Trust the B— ABC, 9:30-10PM
- Revenge ABC, 10-11PM
- Law & Order: SVU NBC, 10-11PM
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Thursday, May 24
- Awake NBC, 10-11PM
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Tuesday, May 29
- Cougar Town ABC, 8-9PM
- The L.A. Complex The CW, 9-10PM
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Wednesday, May 30
- America's Next Top Model: British Invasion The CW, 9-10PM
*Times are Eastern Daylight and subject to change
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Happy to see Criminal Minds doing well, even if it wasn’t the best episode.
Modern family was a riot and has some real potential…I give it an A-. It reminds me alot of the woefully underapprecited Sons and daughters from a couple of seasons back. I love so many of the cast memebers from their previous work. Cougar Town was also pretty good..I give it a B.
I just want Courteney Cox to do well, even if I’m not into her show. I want someone besides Jennifer Aniston to break the Friends curse…
Hm, not sure Jennifer broke the Friends curse either, her last couple of movies really bombed adn unless she stars with dog or a bigger male costar, her career after Friends has been lukewarm at best. She’s had a great career, as Brad Pitt’s ex-wife though. At least Courteney lives or dies by her TALENT not her love life.
It’s not Jennifer Aniston’s fault that the press is obsessed with her love life – she has not done anything to exploit it, so that is an unfair slam.
Seriously – it’s others (in this case YOU) who brings up the Brad Pitt issue. And I’m sure Jen does not lie awake at night worrying about her next job.
Yeah, it’s NOT Aniston’s fault. She just mentions her divorce every now and then FOR WHAT REASON I CAN’T IMAGINE. This woman invited Access Hollywood to her birthday party while she gushed about Gerard Butler! She would NEVER use her love life to get people to pay attention to her. NO NEVER. Please. Her fans are really naive.
Has Jennifer Aniston *broken* the Friends curse? Sure she’s in the tabloids every day, but how much of her work actually has merit? Didn’t her newest movie just tank big time?
Aniston is one of the biggest female movie stars, deal with it! Marley & Me and He’s Just Not That Into You were both largely successful. And considering her latest opened on less than 2,000 screens, it was far from a flop. To call her career lukewarm sounds as though you have a personal distaste for her, which is fine and we are all entitled to our own opinion, but don’t talk numbers and say she is not bankable. Those who pay her upwards of $15m will have to disagree!
Jennifer Aniston has made a career out of playing herself, both in the tabloids and in her horridly unoriginal romantic comedies. If she could, just once, prove to me that she is anything more than a terribly overrated talentless actress, I would honestly be quiet about her. But all she has done in every single one of her movies is play the lovestruck ing’enue and cry and then find love… which sounds a lot like Jen Ann in real life. Sorry.
Marley and Me was a movie about a cute dog based on a famous book. It wasn’t an ANISTON movie. He’s Not Into You was an ensemble cast movie ALSO based on a famous book. Again–NOT AN ANISTON movie. She can’t carry a movie by herself and she gets paid 8 million not 15 per picture. I know the fans want her to be the biggest movie star in the world, but you guys are seriously delusional.
I realize that Jennifer Aniston is the biggest star that came out of the cast of Friends, but Matthew Perry has had a pretty good career in movies since the show went off the air.
Cougar Town is fun but could be funnier, so we’ll see. Courteney Cox is my favorite of the Friends cast, well, she and Lisa Kudrow (whose Web Therapy is the funniest online show ever.)
So people tune into the first half of Dangerous Minds and don’t stick around to see who the killer is?
Loved both Family and Cougar.
Dangerous Minds? Where Annie Potts portrayed the Michelle Pfeiffer character?
LOL! I forgot that was made into a TV show.
YAY! I am happy modern family was a hit… HILARIOUS
How long before they finally cancel TBL – it is just awful.
I wonder if Fox considers Glee a success at 6.5 million…it got crushed by ABC and CBS, though it was at least competitive with NBC…
Glee did pretty great in the demos, which isn’t mentioned in the article. The networks pay more attention to that than they do total viewers.
Yes, but didn’t get Glee get over 10 million just last week? If so, it’s bleeding viewers big-time.
I love Glee. It was one of the best shows of the night.
Glee held steady for the second week (6.5). Another factor to consider is their music, which is selling usually around 50,000 downloads on iTunes. And Don’t Stop Believing was number one over the summer. So that’s another source of money for the show.
These shows premiered last night whereas Glee is done with its 3rd episode. I’m sorry I missed Modern Family but could only tape Criminal Minds while Glee SYTYCD was on.
“Modern Family” is being repeated on Friday or Saturday. Check your listings and watch (or record) then.
The thing about Glee is that it is going to be a lot like Gossip Girl. The night ratings may not be that great, but tons of tweens will be downloading the episodes. Hopefully that will be enough for Fox.
I didn’t watch Modern Family but i’m hearing good things about it. I watched Cougar Town because of Courtney Cox and she’s was amazing. I just hope that these shows have time to develope before people make snap judgements.
Both shows were very funny.
I didn’t make it through Modern Families. I hate this “mockumentary” crap. I don’t need the damn jokes spoon fed to me. Make a real show that the humor is not so forced. Sorry to see Ed O’neil sink so low. Sucks! Sucks! Sucks!
I think it’s ironic that you consider mockumentary “spoon-feeding” jokes when it’s a more realistic style where they just kinda happen, whereas traditional sitcoms have a freakin’ LAUGH TRACK that TELLS YOU what’s funny. If that’s not spoon-feeding, I don’t know what is.
What are you talking about? It’s the old laugh-track/studio-audience sitcoms that are telling you when to laugh and force-feeding you the jokes. These newer single-camera sitcoms (like The Office, etc), that come without a laugh track are the exact opposite – they treat the viewer as a mature adult who knows when to laugh, and doesn’t have to be told when to laugh by the laugh-track.
Oh man… I I totally agree. Actually thought most of Modern Family was pretty painful and embarrassing to watch. I’m kinda surprised by all of the praise. MockuMockumentry. Just watched the first 60 seconds of Cougar Town and had to pause it and walk away. Got real nervous for Courtney Cox real fast.
I agree with John and Alan. These laugh tracks have to tell what’s funny because it’s so NOT funny that you wouldn’t have otherwise known you were just told a joke.
You have to be smarter than the show to appreciate the humor
I still have to watch “Modern Family”, but “Cougar Town” was very fun. Not perfect, but a lot of potential and Cox was fantastic.
Great numbers for “Old Christine” as well. Way higher than the premiere last season.
OMG loved them both. Esp. Cougartown it was awesome.
Wow, Glee isn’t doing that good. Maybe they should have called it Glee SVU to get an extra 10 million viewers.
It’s demos are very good. Much better than SVU.
I found both funny and think they have potential – but MF was hysterical, especially when the mall rent-a-cop told him “mall walkers on the right” hahahaha NICE. CougarTown had me from the pool lounger and her ex interuppting with “HEY you said you hated doing that” lmao refershing to see how 40+ women handle post-divorce and resulting cougardom! MF: A- and CT: B+
Lets not abbreviate Modern Family. Just saying.
Haha! I wonder if they thought of that when they were coming up with the name.
LOL aj! I agree, but if we do it should be ModFam
Glee is successful, the only reason ratings were less successful compared to previous weeks was because of the premieres of other new shows. on a side note TBL needs to be canceled.