The year of the sitcom keeps marching along. Most of the attention has been towards new hit sitcoms like New Girl, 2 Broke Girls, Suburgatory, Up All Night, and Last Man Standing. But it's worth pointing out how well long-running sitcom hits are performing. Not one, not two, but three sitcoms posted a demo in the 5s this week. By comparison, no show did that during this same week last year. ABC's Modern Family was tops with a mammoth 5.7 (though that was actually down week-to-week). CBS's Two and a Half Men has come back from its heights at the beginning of the season but was still up year-to-year significantly with a 5.3. And CBS's The Big Bang Theory posted its best Thursday numbers ever with a 5.1. To be only the third best performing sitcom with a 5.1 demo means things are going well. Sitcoms are back in a big way this fall and these three are leading the pack.
ABC is trying desperately to make this show a hit but it's not working. Yes, a 3 demo looks good on paper but it is following the top rated sitcom on TV (Modern Family) and is struggling to keep half of its audience. Cougar Town was blasted for not holding the audience of Modern Family but it was actually doing better at this point last season and its lead-in was not as big. Take a look at this:
10/20/10
Modern Family: 12.0 million viewers, 4.7 demo
Cougar Town: 7.4 million viewers, 3.1 demo
10/19/11
Modern Family: 13.0 million viewers, 5.7 demo
Happy Endings: 6.8 million viewers, 3.0 demo.
That should tell you all you need to know, it's not working and it might even be hurting new drama hit Revenge at 10pm. ABC should find another family sitcom and make the entire block of comedies a family block.
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