While the 8PM hour was down for CBS’ comedy lineup, 9PM improved over last week and remained in a competitive second place behind ABC’s “The Bachelor.”
The Eye opened its night with “How I Met Your Mother,” which has experienced a cooling off since the pivotal episodes involving Marshall’s father’s death. At just a 3.4 adults 18-49 rating with 9.27 million viewers, “Mother” gave control of the 8PM timeslot back to FOX’s “House” and is looking less than desirable ahead of the return of “Dancing with the Stars” later this month.
By no means is “How I Met Your Mother”‘s future in jeopardy at CBS, and it remains a lauded performer and one of Monday’s standouts in the adults 18-49 demo, but the hope was that the string of 3.8-4.0 performances would hold all the way to the return of ABC’s “Dancing,” giving the show a good chance of staying above a 3.5 once the mammoth reality series returns.
The third episode of “Mad Love” garnered a 2.7 with 7.96 million viewers. Though the lessened sandwich effect resulting from the loss of “Two and a Half Men” originals hurts a bit, there is little to celebrate about the “Mad” performance. It simply is not as strong as “Rules of Engagement” was in the slot.
At 9PM, however, things still looked acceptable with an impressive 3.2 rating and 11.57 million viewers for a re-run of “Men,” which has been benched for the season due to the Charlie Sheen controversy. “Mike & Molly” moved up to a 3.4 and 11.416 million afterwards, showing it can survive without “Men” originals.
That hour, too, could be vulnerable to the “Dancing” threat, depending largely on how CBS structures the 9-9:30PM slot now that “Men” is definitely not returning this season.
That being noted, it is still a rare and unfortunate situation when ABC’s “The Bachelor” (3.8 rating with 11.91 million viewers for the 9PM hour–the second hour of its two-hour telecast) tops CBS’ flagship 9PM comedy hour.