The Middle, Modern Family, and Cougar Town: ABC Sitcoms Get Second Seasons

Kelsey Grammer’s Hank didn’t last a full season and Eastwick was cancelled after 13 episodes but the rest of ABC’s original Wednesday night schedule seems to be performing just fine for the alphabet network.

At the ABC portion of the TCA press tour, network president Steve McPherson announced that he would be renewing The Middle, Modern Family, and Cougar Town for another season.

The Middle revolves around a struggling family from the Midwest. Reminiscent of FOX’s Malcolm in the Middle, it stars Patricia Heaton, Neil Flynn, Charlie McDermott, Eden Sher, Atticus Shaffer, Chris Kattan, Peter Breitmayer, and Brian Doyle-Murray.

Modern Family centers on three families and their various misadventures, as seen through the lenses of a documentary camera. The single-camera sitcom stars Ed O’Neill, Sofia Vergara, Rico Rodriguez, Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and Eric Stonestreet.

Which comedy do you like best? Cougar Town The Middle Modern Family None. Yuck. View Results  Loading ...

Cougar Town follows Jules Cobb (Courteney Cox), a recently divorced mother who’s struggling to get back into the dating game. It also stars Christa Miller, Busy Philipps, Dan Byrd, Josh Hopkins, Ian Gomez, Brian Van Holt, and Carolyn Hennesy.

Of the three sitcoms, only The Middle was looking like it would be on the bubble for renewal with its average rating of 2.19 in the 18-49 demographic. The network is likely cutting the series some slack after having a poor lead-in for much of the season. ABC also typically shows some faith in one or two struggling freshman shows by giving them second season renewals.

Though the ratings for Modern Family and Cougar Town slipped from their initial numbers, they’ve hit the ground running 2010 and are both still strong players. Modern Family is averaging a 3.6 rating and Cougar Town is averaging a 3.14 rating in the all-important 18-49 demographic.

Two more episodes of Cougar Town were recently ordered and today, McPherson said that all three shows will have more than 22 episodes this season. The additional episodes will be used to fill the void left by cancelled Hank.

What do you think? Are you glad to hear these shows have been renewed? Which, if any, are worth watching?