RATINGS RECAP: 10/19/11

ABC
8:00 The Middle
Viewers: 9.1 million, 18-49 demo: 3.0
8:30 Suburgatory
Viewers: 8.8 million, 18-49 demo: 3.1
9:00 Modern Family
Viewers: 13.0 million, 18-49 demo: 5.7
9:30 Happy Endings
Viewers: 6.8 million, 18-49 demo: 3.0
10:00 Revenge
Viewers: 8.0 million, 18-49 demo: 2.5

CBS
8:00 Survivor
Viewers: 11.2 million, 18-49 demo: 3.3
9:00 Criminal Minds
Viewers: 13.2 million, 18-49 demo: 3.9
10:00 CSI
Viewers: 10.8 million, 18-49 demo: 2.6

NBC
8:00 Up All Night
Viewers: 5.6 million, 18-49 demo: 2.1
8:30 Whitney (Repeat)
Viewers: 4.1 million, 18-49 demo: 1.2
9:00 Harry's Law
Viewers: 8.4 million, 18-49 demo: 1.3
10:00 Law & Order: SVU 
Viewers: 7.7 million, 18-49 demo: 2.2

FOX
8:00 MLB World Series Game 1
Viewers: 14.2 million, 18-49 demo: 4.2

ABC had another really strong Wednesday night with its lineup of comedies and Revenge. At 8pm, The Middle was up two tenths in viewers and a tenth in the demo. A 3 demo is great considering this show was getting high 1s and low 2s in its first season. At 8:30pm, Suburgatory was down a tenth in viewers but even in the demo for a third consecutive week. This show has displayed an extremely good hold in its first couple weeks as The Middle and Modern Family fans have responded well to this show. At 9pm, Modern Family was down seven tenths in viewers and two tenths in the demo but it will certainly be the top demo draw of the week for scripted programming, finally surpassing Two and a Half Men this week. The weak link though continued to be Happy Endings which was down half a million viewers and two tenths in the demo, losing a huge chunk of Family's audience. A 9:30pm sitcom that follows the biggest hit comedy on TV should not be getting the same demo numbers as an 8pm sitcom. At 10pm, fresh off a full season pickup, Revenge was up a tenth in viewers but down two tenths in the demo. This is a huge improvement over anything ABC has put in this slot in recent years. 

Over on NBC, Up All Night was up four tenths in viewers and even in the demo with last week. As I keep saying, a 2.1 demo at 8pm against tough competition is a win for NBC. At 8:30pm, a repeat of Whitney was almost equivalent in total viewers to its new episode performance last Thursday. Maybe NBC will move the show here so they can try something else after The Office. At 9pm, Harry's Law was up six tenths in viewers and a tenth in the demo. After starting the season with four straight 1.2 demos, it went up this week. Even though the demo is terrible, NBC should not move Harry's Law because they couldn't do anything close to this in total viewers last year at this time. At 10pm, Law & Order: SVU was up four tenths in viewers and two tenths in the demo. So at least NBC was up.  

On CBS, the ever steady Survivor led off the night and was up half a million viewers and a tenth in the demo. At 9pm, Criminal Minds was up three tenths in viewers and a tenth in the demo. 9pm on Wednesday is such a fiercely competitive hour! I didn't figure it out but I'd bet this might be the most watched hour of the entire week (excluding football). And Minds is an always solid performer there. At 10pm, CSI was down a tenth in viewers but even in the demo as it has been an improvement on the night over The Defenders and Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior for the most part. FOX had Game 1 of the World Series which did solid but not spectacular numbers. About the same as what The X-Factor probably would have gotten in the demo while doing better in total viewers.