'Cougar Town' Rating Free-Falls In New Time Slot

Oh, my. There is no joy in "Cougar Town," folks. A mighty comedy has struck out.

The Courtney Cox-led sexy suburbs hit resumed its third season Tuesday night, but alas, marked the occasion by watching its rating nosedive 47 percent to a series-low 1.8 among adults 18-49 years old. The fact that only 4.8 million viewers tuned in might suggest the grass was really greener when it was led in Wednesday nights by "Modern Family" before taking a hiatus. To put it into truly cringe-worthy perspective, the last two shows keeping the current "Cougar Town" slot warm, "Man Up" and "Work It," debuted respectively with 2.4 and 2.0 ratings.

Both have since been cancelled.

New lead-in "Last Man Standing" pulled in 7.6 million viewers and earned a not-much-better 2.0 mark.

Creator Bill Lawrence actually saw this coming.

"Here's what I really think will happen: I think the show will not premiere as high as people hope," he told Entertainment Weekly previously. "And what I hope will happen is what always happened on 'Scrubs' when they brought it back. The first week, the numbers are always lower than their predecessor . . . but what would happen then, as people became educated that the show was back on, each week it would be higher. The next week, the gap would be closed."

Here's hoping. Because as funny as "Cougar Town" is, between the rating coming in low and "The River" (1.7, a 29-percent drop) and "Body Of Proof" (1.2) also not delivering viewers, CBS' lineup ran away with the night.

"NCIS" brought in a 3.9 rating and "NCIS: Los Angeles" a 3.2 mark to become America's valentine's, while "Unforgettable" chipped in a 2.3 - all ratings, anywhere from 3-7 percent slips from the previous week.

FOX made a good run at CBS, though, with "Glee" bringing home a 2.8 (a 15-percent fall) and "New Girl" another strong 3.2 rating, despite its own 9-percent drop. "Raising Hope" chipped in a 2.1 mark.

NBC aired "The Biggest Loser" to a season-low 2.0 and "Parenthood" for a 1.6 rating. Sarah Michelle Gellar and "Ringer" had the worst night of the lot, watched by a mere 1.1 million viewers and diving 40 percent to a series-low 0.3 rating.

Photo source: ABC