Wednesday was supposed to be the night ABC’s “Happy Endings” proved itself. Without help from an original “Modern Family” (a re-run aired instead), the comedy was going to prove if it could hang on its own.
Interestingly enough, it posted a series high 3.5 adults 18-49 rating with 8.3 million viewers.
A smashing success? Perhaps not quite so much. While this performance should do wonders for the show’s credibility at ABC, the “test” was not quite the “test” many envisioned. With no original competition in the timeslot, the re-run of “Modern Family” averaged a strong 4.4 adults 18-49 rating.
Though down from its 5.5+ level for originals, “Family” still provided an enormous lead-in. And, given the utter lack of competition, it can be argued that a 4.4 comedy lead-in in this environment means more than 5.6 lead-in when viewers have some real options at 9:30PM.
Still, “Happy Endings” needed to prove it could survive without lead-in support from an original installment of the biggest scripted show on TV, and one simply cannot argue that it did not do that.
Earlier in the night, ABC’s “The Middle” (3.1 rating, 10.2 million) and “Suburgatory” (3.4 rating, 9.8 million) were at season and series highs, respectively.
With lighter competition, “Revenge” posted a solid 2.8 with 8.7 million to win the 10PM slot.