The second Wednesday night of the official TV season saw the debut of two more ABC comedies — the Kelsey Grammer-led Hank at 8 p.m. and the Patricia Heaton-starring The Middle at 8:30 p.m. And you know what? Both won their time slots, besting shows such as NBC’s Mercy, CBS comedies The New Adventures of Old Christine and Gary Unmarried, as well as Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance and The CW’s America’s Next Top Model. Not a bad showing, but we’ll see how they hold up in subsequent weeks.
The two new ABC comedies that debuted last week — Modern Family at 9 p.m. and Cougar Town at 9:30 p.m. — both dropped, as is usual after a premiere. Modern Family lost 21 percent of last week’s audience, while Cougar Town fell by 19 percent. Not too alarming, but they’ll have to keep up to be deemed a success. Both placed second in the 9 p.m. hour, behind CBS powerhouse Criminal Minds, which lost 2.2 million viewers from its premiere last week but was still the most-watched show of the evening. In the same hour, Fox’s buzzy Glee actually rebounded from its low of 6.6 million viewers last week, adding 700K gawkers who tuned in for Kristin Chenoweth’s guest appearance.
In the 10 p.m. hour, CBS was also the winner with CSI: NY drawing 12.9 viewers, which lost 15 percent of its premiere-week audience. Second was ABC’s Eastwick, which fell by 22 percent. And finally, at the bottom of the heap was The Jay Leno Show, which drew just 6.0 million viewers.
| Time | Show | Viewers (in millions) |
|---|---|---|
| 8 p.m. | Hank (ABC) Mercy (NBC) The New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS) So You Think You Can Dance (Fox) America’s Next Top Model (The CW) |
8.5 7.3 7.2 6.7 3.3 |
| 8:30 p.m. | The Middle (ABC) Gary Unmarried (CBS) |
8.6 7.1 |
| 9 p.m. | Criminal Minds (CBS) Modern Family (ABC) Law & Order: SVU (NBC) Glee (Fox) Melrose Place (The CW) |
13.6 9.9 7.9 7.3 1.1 (repeat) |
| 9:30 p.m. | Cougar Town (ABC) | 9.1 |
| 10 p.m. | CSI: NY (CBS) Eastwick (ABC) The Jay Leno Show (NBC) |
12.9 6.6 6.0 |
Source: Nielsen
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I have a hard time picking which Wednesday show will get cancelled first.
I agree, I can’t choose between Mercy or Hank.
Will NOT be Criminal Minds!!
It has already happened. The Beautiful life was canceled after airing only two episodes.
And for next canceled show, survey says…..Mercy. A.K.A. Nurse Jackie rip off.
Mercy is the worst piece of cr** put on this season. I started watching it last night but turned it off in aggravation half way through. This show won’t last. It is stupid.
Love Glee though. Kristen was awesome!
Yay Glee!
‘Modern Family’ is the best new Wednesday show. Very, very funny.
Love Kristin Chenoweth. Loathe ‘Glee’.
I actually like Mercy, but i hate that cougar town and glee compete in a time slot i love both shows, and I also am enjoying eastwick. I did not bother watching Hank or the Middle… they look so bland.
i randomly watched Modern Family on Hulu and cracked up from the dad in the “conventional” family and the whole lion king thing. will definitely keep watching!
Die Jay Leno Show! Die!
I just wish Glee and Modern Family didn’t start at the same time. I have a DVR but in the land of quick cancellations I try to watch those two live.
Isn’t it funny how all these shows are doing well, yet EW chooses to push CW shows in every ish of its mag… Must be because the are part of the Warner family.
Looks like not even having EW push Gossip Girl each week can get that stinker into the top 10.
GLEE is amazing!!
I hope more people will watch it.
Im sick of shows like CSI:Atlanta or NSI:Phoenix or Criminal Minds: Denver
I’ve read that Modern Family dropped 12 percent not 21 percent.
accidentally saw The Middle – very funny stuff
I find it funny that they are already showing repeats of melrose place. Which one should we show the first one or the second one or maybe we’ll show the episode from the night before. God If it were not for Supernatural I would block the CW from my sat.
I’m very happy for Criminal Minds and CSI:NY. Definitely a potent 1-2 punch IMO. Both episodes last night were awesome! I also like Modern Family. The “conventional family” dad has me laughing my butt off!!!
looooved the middle. hilarious. must keep watching!