ABC Throws Its Hat into the Spin Contest

A couple weeks ago, I posted about the ridiculous means NBC was going to in the press release announcing the renewal of some of the shows to make their ratings look good. I thought that was insanely ridiculous. Turns out, that's only because I've never seen an ABC press release. Boasting that The Middle repeats bested an original Minute to Win It, a show barely getting 1.0 demo ratings (which, for those of you who don't know, is very, very bad), by 'sizeable margins' (.6 of a demo point), that Mr. Sunshine 'surged' week to week in total viewers and demo points (.6 million viewers and .2 of a demo point, last week ABC didn't even mention Mr. Sunshine in its press release, which is REALLY saying something), and that Off the Map 'improved its time period year to year), compared to whatever complete failure of a show they had there last year, it really just seems like an excuse to work the word 'improved' in there somewhere. Anyways, here's the whole press release for your enjoyment:

via press release:

ABC’s Back-to-Back “The Middle” Repeats from 8-9pm Continue to Defeat NBC’s

Original “Minute To Win It” by Sizeable Margins in Viewers and Young Adults

ABC’s Replay “Modern Family” Towers Over its Repeat Competition on NBC, Generating Improved Year-to-Year Returns in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49

ABC’s “Mr. Sunshine” Surges Week to Week in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49

During its Freshman Season Run, ABC’s “Off The Map” Improves its Time Period

Year to Year for the Net by Double-Digit Percentages in Viewers and Adults 18-49

“The Middle”/”The Middle” (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
From 8:00-9:00 p.m., against the first hour of Fox’s “American Idol” and CBS’ “Survivor: Redemption Island,” ABC’s back-to-back repeats of “The Middle” continued to outperform NBC’s original “Minute To Win It” by wide margins, outdelivering the NBC gamer by 39% in Total Viewers (4.6 million vs. 3.3 million) and by 30% in Adults 18-49 (1.3/4 vs. 1.0/3).

“Modern Family” (9:00-9:30 p.m.)
At 9:00 p.m. opposite the third half-hour of “Idol” and CBS’ original “Criminal Minds,” ABC’s encore “Modern Family” defeated its repeat competition by big advantages, besting NBC’s “Law & Order: SVU” in Total Viewers (+77% – 5.3 million vs. 3.0 million) and Adults 18-49 (+150% – 2.0/5 vs. 0.8/2).

• The “Modern Family” replay was up year to year in both viewers and young adults (5.1 million and 1.9/5 on 4/7/10).

“Mr. Sunshine” (9:30-10:00 p.m.)
In the 9:30 p.m. half-hour, despite going up against the “Idol”-fueled debut of “Breaking In,” ABC’s “Mr. Sunshine” surged week to week by 15% in Total Viewers (4.6 million vs. 4.0 million) and by 14% in Adults 18-49 (1.6/4 vs. 1.4/4).

• “Mr. Sunshine” boosted the time period year to year for ABC by 28% in Total Viewers and by 14% Adults 18-49 (3.6 million and 1.4/4).

“Off The Map” (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
On average during its freshman season run in the 10 o’clock hour against stiff drama competition on CBS and NBC, “Off The Map” improved the time period year to year for ABC by double-digit percentages in Total Viewers (+17% – 6.3 million vs. 5.4 million) and Adults 18-49 (+10% – 2.2/6 vs. 2.0/5) over original drama programming last season (“Ugly Betty”).