Earlier this season “Modern Family” was the highest-rated comedy on TV. But CBS’ Thursday king The Big Bang Theory has since climbed to top the weekly chart hitting recent season highs, and Modern Family has slipped to No. 2 and relinquished its crown.

What’s behind the slippage? EW thinks it might be the lead-in show Neighbors , the competition with Fox’s American Idol, and Modern Family’s rather ambitious and creatively complex with a large cast.
What do you think?

Fox won Wednesday night, though Idol took a noticeable hit in the numbers. Modern Family returned big, giving a boost to Mr. Sunshine. Not to be outdone, the dramas of CBS had their best night of 2011 so far.

The number two show of the night was ABC’s ‘Modern Family’. The Valentine’s Day episode scored a 5.0 (+0.4, 3 weeks), the highest rating the sophomore comedy has received since its Halloween episode. The premiere of ‘Mr. Sunshine’ benefited from this boost, scoring an impressive 3.7 with 10.57 million watching.

Source: TV Latest

At 9pm, ABC’s repeat Modern Family won its half-hour by 17% in Adults 18-49, dominating Fox’s original Idol-fueled Human Target.  In factABC’s encore Modern Family stood as the #1 scripted television program on Wednesday in the key young adult sales demo, finishing as the #2 TV show overall on the night to Idol.

• For the 2nd week running, Modern Family put up the series’ best-ever repeat numbers, eclipsing the prior week’s results by 26% in Total Viewers and by 35% in Adults 18-49.

Source: TV by the numbers

The hit series “Modern Family” from Twentieth Century Fox Television airing on ABC will hit syndication in major markets on the Fox Television Stations. The series will begin airing in syndication in 2013.

Modern Family has been sold to the Fox O&Os in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Washington, D.C., Houston, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Orlando and Baltimore.

“As we approach the 2013 syndication premiere of ‘Modern Family’ on the Fox Television Stations, we are confident that viewer devotion to this hilarious and poignant portrayal of the modern American family will only continue to elevate and garner more success,” said Paul Franklin, EVP, General Sales Manager, Broadcast of Twentieth Television, which is handling syndication.

Read the rest of the story in RBR

FOX started the night in first with a 4.7/8 for “Human Target,” which also won the hour in the key demo with a 2.2 rating. CBS’ “The New Adventures of Old Christine” and “Accidentally on Purpose” both averaged a 4.0/7 for CBS (with “Accidentally” improving on its lead-in in the key demo). NBC’s “Minute to Win It” had a 3.6/6 for third, edging out ABC’s repeats of “Modern Family” and “The Middle.” The CW’s new “America’s Next Top Model” did a 2.3/4 for fifth.

“American Idol” had an 11.3/18 for FOX in the 9 p.m. hour, also doing a 6.5 rating in the key demo. CBS’ “Criminal Minds,” featuring Forest Whitaker auditioning for a spinoff, did a 7.7/12 for second. NBC’s repeat of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” beat the 2.9/5 for repeats of “Modern Family” and “Cougar Town” on ABC. New episodes of “Fly Girls” and “High Society” had a 0.8/1 for The CW.

Source: HitFix

Fox dominated a mostly low-key holiday-week Wednesday behind “American Idol” and rookie drama “Human Target,” which was on the rise, while ABC’s “Modern Family” continues to hold up nicely opposite the music megahit.
ABC, which edged NBC for second place on the night, was paced as usual by “Modern Family” (3.8/11 in 18-49, 9.3 million viewers overall), which was up week to week and pulled to within 5 shares of “Idol” for the 9 o’clock lead in 18-49 and to within 3 shares in adults 18-34. “Modern” doubled its lead-in from “The Middle” (1.9/6 in 18-49, 6.2 million viewers overall), which was lower than usual and seemed to be affected by its special lead-in from “It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown” (1.4/5 in 18-49, 4.9 million viewers overall).

Source: Variety

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Of course FOX easily won another Wednesday night  as American Idol cruised at 9pm.  Still  with a 7.5 adults 18-49 rating, Idol was down 12% versus last Wednesday, but FOX notes Idol retained 96% of the adults 18-49 audience from the comparable night in 2009.

Even against Idol, ABC’s comedy block held up.  Modern Family was up 9% versus last week to a 3.7 adults 18-49 rating and with a 2.6 rating in adults 18-49, Cougar Town was up 13%.

Source: TV by the Numbers

ABC’s Replay “Modern Family” is the No. 1 Scripted Show at 8pm In Adults 18-49, Finishing 13% Ahead of NBC’s Original “Mercy”.

Surging 66% in Adults 18-49 from its Lead-in Against Fox’s 2-Hour “Idol,” ABC’s “Modern Family” is the No. 1 Scripted Show in its Slot for its 4th Straight Original

“Modern Family – WED 8PM” (8:00-8:30 p.m.)
Opposite the opening half-hour of Fox’s 2-hour “American Idol” (Top 10 female performances), ABC’s rebroadcast airing of “Modern Family” finished as the No. 1 scripted show at 8:00 p.m. in Adults 18-49 (1.7/5), beating NBC’s original “Mercy” by 13% (1.5/4) and tying CBS’ original “Old Christine” (1.7/5).

“Modern Family” (9:00-9:30 p.m.)
On its first original airing in 3 weeks, ABC’s “Modern Family” surged from its lead-in by 67% in Adults 18-49 at 9:00 p.m. against the third half-hour of Fox’s 2-hour “Idol.” Beating out CBS’ “Criminal Minds” in Adults 18-49 (3.5/9 vs. 3.4/9), ABC’s “Modern Family” registered as the No. 1 scripted program in its time period for its 4th straight original telecast.

The ABC freshman comedy stood as Wednesday’s No. 1 scripted TV show in Adults 18-34 (3.1/9) for its 4th first-run telecast in a row.

Source: RBR

“American Idol” took its usual spot at the top of Wednesday’s ratings, but ABC’s comedy ”Modern Family” posted some of its best ratings of the season opposite “Idol”.

We say – Tivo Idol and watch Modern Family, lets do even better next time!

9 p.m.

FOX: “American Idol” (25 million, 13.5/20)
CBS: “Criminal Minds” (14.8 million, 9.0/13)
ABC: “Modern Family” (10.1 million, 5.9/9)/”Cougar Town” (6.7 million, 4.1/6)
NBC: “Law & Order: SVU” rerun (4.45 million, 3.2/5)
The CW: “Gossip Girl” rerun (655,000, 0.5/1)

18-49 leader: “American Idol” (9.5)

Source: Zap2It