ABC's new half-hour sitcom, In the Motherhood debuted last Thursday to less than stellar ratings, but still came in third for the night, with American Idol and NCAA Basketball topping it for the half-hour. However, the new series, pulling in just over 6.7 million viewers, still did as well as Ugly Betty has been doing in the same timeslot (without Idol) and beat NBC's My Name is Earl for the night.
Despite how the ratings lined up for the night, which helped ABC come in second for the evening (to Fox), the Alphabet Network has decided to cut back on Motherhood. Originally, ABC ordered 13 episodes of the midseason replacement, but has announced that only 6 of those episodes will be seen this season. The decision came after ABC decided that it didn't have room for all 13 episodes, with Ugly Betty returning on May 7 to the Thursday night timeslot Motherhood is currently occupying. However, with the poor reviews the new series has received, and ratings that were less than ABC seemed to have been hoping for, the networks motivation seems clear. In the Motherhood airs on Thursday night at 8/7 p.m. C, and without the stiff competition of American Idol this week. It will be interesting to see how the show does in ratings with it's second episode, and if that will change anyone's mind at ABC.
Source: Variety & TVbytheNumbers.com
