RATINGS RECAP: 1/12/11

ABC
8:00 The Middle
Viewers: 10.1 million, 18-49 demo: 3.0
8:40 President Obama Speech at Tuscon Memorial Service
N/A
9:20 Modern Family
Viewers: 11.1 million, 18-49 demo: 4.2
10:00 Off the Map
Viewers: 7.6 million, 18-49 demo: 2.3

CBS
8:00 The Big Bang Theory (Repeat)
Viewers: 5.8 million, 18-49 demo: 1.5
8:40 President Obama Speech
N/A
9:20 Live to Dance
Viewers: 6.7 million, 18-49 demo: 1.5
10:20 The Defenders
Viewers: 6.8 million, 18-49 demo: 1.5

NBC
8:00 Minute to Win It (Repeat)
Viewers: 5.1 million, 18-49 demo: 1.5
8:40 President Obama Speech
N/A
9:20 Minute to Win It (Repeat)
Viewers: 4.9 million, 18-49 demo: 1.4
10:00 Law & Order: SVU
Viewers: 8.4 million, 18-49 demo: 2.5

FOX
8:00 Raising Hope (Repeat)
Viewers: 3.0 million, 18-49 demo: 0.9
8:40 President Obama Speech
N/A
9:20 Kitchen Nightmares (Repeat)
Viewers: 1.9 million, 18-49 demo: 0.7

Broadcast networks were on very odd schedules last night due to the late plan to carry President Obama's speech at the Tuscon Memorial Service. The speech ran from approximately 8:40-9:20 ET and different timezones carried things differently. On ABC, the East Coast saw just 10 minutes of The Middle at 8:30 and 10 minutes of Modern Family at 9:50 to bridge the gap. Before all the switching happened, ABC had great news from The Middle which hit a series high in viewers and the demo. It was up eight tenths in viewers and two tenths in the demo. This show just keeps growing which is great for ABC. After the Obama speech, ABC aired the planned new episode of Modern Family from 9:20-9:50 ET. Still despite that, it was down just seven tenths in viewers and six tenths in the demo. That is not bad at all considering the late start. Finally, ABC shuffled things around to make sure that new series Off the Map started on time but it did not have a strong debut. They will encore it again tonight at 10 instead of a new Private Practice to give it another sample but things don't look great for this show from those premiere numbers.

After airing a repeat of The Big Bang Theory and 10 minutes of Rules of Engagement, CBS cut to the Obama speech. After that, CBS yanked its Criminal Minds repeat and instead started Live to Dance late (at 9:20) and it was down a million viewers and three tenths in the demo from last week's Wednesday episode. I don't think it would have been much higher had it aired at the planned 8pm time. That was followed by the last Wednesday episode of The Defenders which hit series lows and was down a huge 3.5 million viewers and half a demo point. It may have suffered a bit without a Criminal Minds lead-in but remember that Minds was going to be a repeat. Either way, this performance doesn't send  The Defenders off to Friday on a good note.

NBC bookended the Obama speech with abridged repeats of Minute to Win It. It's still unclear as to if Chase was going to air at 9pm even if there had not been the preemption but we'll see next week. At 10pm, Law & Order: SVU was down a rough 2.2 million viewers and four tenths in the demo but it was the winner among the 10pm dramas. When the dust settles and things are normal again next Wednesday, expect the veteran drama to go up in its new 10pm timeslot. FOX bumped Human Target to Friday this week and aired repeats surrounding the speech.