RATINGS RECAP: 9/22/10

At least one more pilot review today and many more starting tomorrow afternoon as I will have more time. For now, the ratings recap:

ABC
8:00 The Middle
Viewers: 8.8 million, 18-49 demo: 2.7
8:30 Better With You
Viewers: 7.9 million, 18-49 demo: 2.5
9:00 Modern Family
Viewers: 12.7 million, 18-49 demo: 5.7
9:30 Cougar Town
Viewers: 8.3 million, 18-49 demo: 3.4
10:00 The Whole Truth
Viewers: 4.9 million, 18-49 demo: 1.5 

CBS
8:00 Survivor
Viewers: 12.6 million, 18-49 demo: 4.0
9:00 Criminal Minds
Viewers: 14.1 million, 18-49 demo: 4.0
10:00 The Defenders
Viewers: 12.2 million, 18-49 demo: 2.9 

NBC
8:00 Undercovers
Viewers: 8.7 million, 18-49 demo: 2.1
9:00 Law & Order: SVU 
Viewers: 10.1 million, 18-49 demo: 3.2 

FOX
8:00 Hell's Kitchen
Viewers: 6.0 million, 18-49 demo: 2.6
9:00 Hell's Kitchen
Viewers: 7.2 million, 18-49 demo: 3.1

Night three of premiere week brought good news for some shows and bad news for others. There were a couple big winners but none more so than the Emmy-award winning Modern Family which posted series highs in viewers and the demo and easily took the night overall in the demo category (5.7). This critically acclaimed comedy seems to be growing which is good news for ABC. The alphabet network however was also home to the biggest flop in the series premiere of The Whole Truth which debuted with less than 5 million viewers. ABC just can't get anything to work in this timeslot and clearly this new drama was not the answer.

Other series debuts besides The Whole Truth was a mixed bag. ABC's Better With You had very strong retention from The Middle which is about all ABC could ask for. If it manages to keep this much retention, ABC will be happy with the live-audience comedy. NBC saw a ho-hum debut for Undercovers. Nearly 9 million viewers isn't bad for an 8pm NBC show but the demo was awfully low for a show that didn't seem like it would be. The amount of viewers that come back next week will speak a lot towards this show's survival. CBS had a good debut for The Defenders but it was well below CSI: NY's numbers last year at this time and it lost over a demo point from its lead-in. Next week will also be important for this dramedy.

It was mostly good news for returning shows last night. Along with Modern Family, The Middle also posted a series high in viewers and is clearly capable of leading off ABC's night of comedy. Cougar Town, however, continued to bleed Modern Family's audience and that was even with Jennifer Aniston guest starring. ABC needs to try a new comedy here soon. It reminds me of NBC keeping 30 Rock after The Office for so long. It's ABC's best real estate for comedy and they're blowing it on a show that has peaked. Survivor was dominant in the 8pm hour for CBS as the move to Wednesdays hasn't hurt it a bit and Criminal Minds came in with powerful season premiere numbers as it finally has a good lead-in. NBC had a strong 2-hour return of Law & Order: SVU which is still pulling some of NBC's best numbers even in its 12th season. And over on FOX, they had decent returns for Hell's Kitchen which was a solid demo performer. The fact that it grew in the more competitive 9pm hour is a good sign for FOX's alternative programming.