NEW YORK (AP) - It’s hardly the golden age of sitcoms, but ABC is now the second network to fill an entire night’s prime-time schedule with them.
ABC last week devoted its Wednesday night schedule to six sitcoms _ taking the idea from NBC, which does the same thing on Thursday nights.
On its first try, ABC had bragging rights. Its comedies delivered an average of 6.4 million viewers to NBC’s 4.7 million.
The Nielsen Co. said ABC’s “Modern Family” was the week’s most popular comedy for only the second time in the show’s history.
The networks’ experiments have less to do with the strength of comedies than with declining ratings for expensive dramas. Those typically fill the 10 p.m. Eastern hour on ABC, CBS and NBC.
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