RATINGS RECAP: 10/27/10

ABC
8:00 The Middle
Viewers: 9.5 million, 18-49 demo: 2.9
8:30 Better With You
Viewers: 7.7 million, 18-49 demo: 2.5
9:00 Modern Family
Viewers: 13.1 million, 18-49 demo: 5.1
9:30 Cougar Town
Viewers: 8.2 million, 18-49 demo: 3.3
10:00 The Whole Truth
Viewers: 4.4 million, 18-49 demo: 1.1

CBS
8:00 Survivor
Viewers: 11.8 million, 18-49 demo: 3.5
9:00 Criminal Minds
Viewers: 13.9 million, 18-49 demo: 3.4
10:00 The Defenders
Viewers: 9.8 million, 18-49 demo: 2.1

NBC
8:00 Undercovers
Viewers: 5.4 million, 18-49 demo: 1.4
9:00 Law & Order: SVU (Repeat)
Viewers: 4.8 million, 18-49 demo: 1.3
10:00 Law & Order: Los Angeles (Repeat)
Viewers: 4.5 million, 18-49 demo: 1.2

FOX
8:00 MLB World Series Game 1
Viewers: 15.0 million, 18-49 demo: 4.7

On the last night before November Sweeps, ABC got great news from its Halloween-themed comedy lineup. The Middle was perhaps the most impressive as it hit a SERIES high in both viewers and the demo. This comedy is gaining strength in its second season and was up a million viewers from last week and three tenths in the demo. Better With You followed and had the best numbers since its pilot episode. It was up nearly a million viewers from last week and almost half a point in the demo. Modern Family also hit a SERIES high in total viewers and was back over a 5 in the demo. The total viewers number was up over a million from last week. Finally, Cougar Town followed and posted its best numbers since the season premiere though it had the smallest leaps from last week of the four comedies. Overall, this was an excellent showing for ABC's sitcoms and they were even against tougher competition on FOX. The news wasn't so good for the canceled The Whole Truth which is burning off episodes. Despite the improved lead-in, it was down in both viewers and the demo, which was a series low. Will ABC really leave this on through November Sweeps?

CBS took a hit from last week, perhaps due to World Series competition and the better ABC numbers. Survivor hit a season low in viewers and tied its low in the demo. It was down half a million viewers and a tenth in the demo from last week. A Halloween-themed Criminal Minds was also down, a little more than half a million viewers and three tenths in the demo. The demo number was a season low. It had World Series competition but was against an SVU repeat on NBC so that is disappointing. The Defenders was down two tenths in both viewers and the demo, hitting a series low for the demo. CBS announced that the new Paula Abdul competition series Live to Dance will air at 8pm Wednesdays in January during Survivor's hiatus. Will the Criminal Minds spinoff come to 10pm for a very different looking night?

NBC mostly took a break on Wednesday right before sweeps though new series Undercovers was new and hit a series low in viewers, down half a million from last week as well as a tenth in the demo. With so many midseason shows, it's hard to imagine NBC keeping this around all season, particularly in this slot. They followed that with repeats of the Law & Order shows, which were low as expected. However, they weren't much below the new Undercovers and it's encouraging that the Los Angeles repeat was very close in numbers to the SVU repeat. FOX aired Game 1 of the World Series to decent numbers, it was down from last year which was expected due to smaller market teams but it still did well.