MODERN FAMILY: BIG OPENING ON ABC; SMALL OPENING ON USA

ABC’s Modern Family may have had a solid season debut Wednesday night, coming in at No. 1 among the 18-49 age group and No. 2 among total viewers (10.91 million versus 11.02 million for CBS’s Criminal Minds), but it is proving to be a disappointment as rerun cable fare. Today’s (Thursday) New York Post observed that the show, acquired by USA Networks for a whopping $1.8 million per episode, averaged only 1 million viewers each night over its first seven nights. Even more troubling was the fact that in the key 18-49 demo, Modern Family was down 36 percent from the previous week when reruns of CSI and Law and Order: SVU occupied the same time periods. Nevertheless, the Post quoted sources as noting that the poor results may have resulted from the fact that the show began airing on USA the same week that the broadcast networks kicked off premiere week, making it tough to compete. Returning to Wednesday’s broadcast ratings: Ironside, with Blair Underwood in the Raymond Burr role, had a mediocre opening on NBC, drawing 6.8 million viewers, down 17 percent from a year ago when Chicago Fire debuted in the same time period. And, aided by a strong Modern Family lead-in, the new