Two ABC sitcoms aired without their usual lead-ins, with mixed results.
ABC: The season finale of SUBURGATORY had to be a self-starter last night, airing as a one-hour without either Modern Family or The Middle as a lead-in. The 8PM half-hour had a 1.5 that was down half a point from recent Middle ratings. But the show recovered a bit at 8:30PM with a 1.7 that was down only 0.1 from recent post-Middle airings. Meanwhile, this was the first time HOW TO LIVE WITH YOUR PARENTS (FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE) aired without a new Modern Family, and while it was down half a point from last week (and 0.9 from its debut 2 weeks ago), its 2.0 held all of its Family rerun lead-in. The 10PM hour had repeats on all the networks, and NASHVILLE was on the short end with a 0.9.
CBS: SURVIVOR held very steady at 2.6 (it’s been at 2.5-2.7 for the past 6 weeks), before a 1.7 CRIMINAL MINDS rerun. At 10PM the network switched things up a bit, with an ELEMENTARY rerun in the usual CSI slot, and won the hour (against other reruns) with 1.2.
FOX: AMERICAN IDOL climbed slightly to 3.3, giving FOX the night, and seems to have stabilized since its series low 2 weeks ago.
NBC: DATELINE had a 1.2, then reruns were at 1.1/1.0.
CW: Reruns at 0.4/0.5, which is where new episodes of the network’s bubble shows have been scoring.
Tonight, on the last Thursday before May sweeps, CBS and ABC (except for WIFE SWAP) are in reruns, while NBC, FOX and CW air fresh episodes.
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