Nellie Andreeva

With baseball games on Fox and TBS, the other broadcast networks faced rather atypical competition but survived mostly unscathed. Most series were flat or very close to their levels from last week, with four exceptions. On the plus side, ABC’s sophomore Happy Endings (3.3/8 in adults 18-49), which featured Megan Mullally as a guest star, grew 14% from its fast national number last week, while its lead-in, Modern Family, was virtually unchanged. ABC’s gains carried over to the 10 PM hour where Revenge (2.7/7, 7.9 million viewers) was up 8% from its 18-49 fast national last week. (Both series were adjusted in the finals.) In the negative column, NBC’s rookie Up All Night (2.0/6) was down 9% from last week’s fast national, while CBS’ veteran CSI (2.6/7, 10.8 million) was down 10% to a season low and slipped to second place in the 10 PM hour among 18-49 behind ABC’s Revenge. CSI still topped the time period in total viewers.

Also noteworthy last night — both repeats of freshman series slated in the wake of last week’s cancellations did better than the shows they replaced: NBC’s Whitney (1.3 vs. 1.0 for Free Agents last week) and Ringer (0.4 in 18-34 and 18-49, up 33% in 18-34 and flat in 18-49; 1.2 million viewers, up 9%). Here are the numbers for the rest of the rest of the series. (Time-adjusted ratings for Fox’s coverage of ALCS Game 4 from 8-10:32 PM will be available later.) ABC’s The Middle (2.8/9) was up a tenth from its fast national last week, flat with the national. Ditto for Modern Family (5.7/14, 13.4 million), the highest-rated program of the night in 18-49 and total viewers. The series that linked the two, freshman Suburgatory (3.0/8), was even with its fast national last week (down a tenth from the final). ABC (3.4/9, 9.1 million) is currently at No. 1 for the night in 18-49.

CBS’ Survivor: South Pacific (3.2/, 10.5 million) was up a tenth in the demo, while Criminal Minds (3.7/9, 12.7 million) was down by that much. CBS (3.2/8, 11/3 million) is projected to top the night in total viewers. NBC’s Harry’s Law (1.2/3, 7.6 million) and Law & Order: SVU (2.1/5, 7.2 million) matched their demo results from last week. The CW’s America’s Next Top Model (0.8/2 in 18-49, 1.9 million) was steady in 18-49 and up 7% in viewers.

TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.