Ratings: ‘MasterChef’ down versus season 3; ‘Chicago Fire’ finale fails to catch fire

The ratings are in for Wednesday, and overall the best way to describe it is as varying degrees of “meh.” Despite there being some season finales on the schedule, not all of the shows decided to really take advantage of the opportunity at all.

There are a few major offenders here, beginning with the biggest surprise of all in “Modern Family.” Despite not having competition from “American Idol,” the comedy still failed to crack 10 million viewers, and posted a strong, but not-as-strong 3.6 rating in the 18-49 demographic compared to last year. “How To Live With Your Parents” followed that up with a 2.2, which makes us genuinely feel that ABC made a mistake in canceling a show that was at least drawing solid numbers for them.

As for the rest of the finales, “Nashville” and “Chicago Fire” failed to make much of an impression in posting a 1.9 and 1.7 rating, respectively, for each of their finales. It’s possible that a two-hour “Criminal Minds” (2.7) may have played some sort of contributing factor in that. Both this show and “Law & Order: SVU” (1.6) posted decent numbers compared to recent performances, but nothing to really write home about with great jubilation.

Wednesday night also has the return of “MasterChef” to Fox, which drew ratings that were pretty solid, considering that most shows lose around 10% of their ratings on broadcast from one year to the next. If the show draws a 2.1 all summer long, they will surely be thrilled with that given that most of their comedies got that sort of rating all year long.

What’s your take on the ratings, and do you believe that ABC made a mistake with some of their renewal decisions? As always, we want to hear your thoughts below!

Photo: Fox