ABC’s ‘Mistresses’ finale, penultimate episode shifted; season 2 chances increase?

If you are a ratings junkie like we are, then you may especially find the following bit of news notable. In a rare scheduling shift for a show that is so close to airing its finale, ABC has decided to bump “Mistresses” up an hour for the final two episodes of the season. This means that the show is going to air now at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time rather than 10:00, which they are hoping will do something to help to improve the show’s subpar ratings for season 1.

One of the biggest struggles for the show the past few weeks has been that “The Bachelorette” is no longer around as a lead-in. In addition to that, it is up against the Monday-night titan known as CBS’ “Under the Dome.” Moving to 9 at least solves one of those two problems, and it also means that some early birds may not have to DVR it anymore.

Ultimately, though, we expect the improvement for the show to be marginal at best. The ratings have stayed steady for the show all summer long, which is a good thing when it comes to having a loyal following. It’s a bad thing when you’re expecting a bump this late in the game. Right now, we’d give the show around a 40% chance of survival for a season 2, based mostly on the fact that they did renew “Rookie Blue” for another year, but that show is helped somewhat by it being a Canadian production that ABC simply chooses to air here over the summer. (We do find the title now slightly ironic, given that they are not a rookies anymore.)

Do you think that this could actually help “Mistresses” to a certain degree? You can check out our most-recent episode review here, just in case you’re wanting to catch up.

Photo: ABC