Three Bars The Conners From Thursdays

Three is pulling its new Thursday night comedy The Conners from primetime after only two weeks on air.

The Roseanne spin-off will be replaced by a second episode of its lead-in, Modern Family, from February 21.

In the US, the show overcame the loss of its star, Roseanne Barr, to become a ratings winner, second in popularity only to Grey’s Anatomy on ABC’s schedule (which also is home to Modern Family).

But Three clearly doesn’t think it viable long-term for 8.00 Thursdays, even though it’s replacing The Conners with another sitcom that’s nearly as low rating.

Last night’s Modern Family and The Conners averaged only 1.8% of Three’s key audience, 25-54 year-olds, just behind The Project’s 1.9% but well shy of lead-out Fantastic Four’s 2.6%.

The two comedies were neck-and-neck in the 18-49 and 18-54 demographics, too, and both were down sharply on last week’s launch, when their season premieres respectively averaged 2.8% and 2.1% of 25-54s.

But then they faced weaker competition on TVNZ 1 whereas last night the network increased its 25-54, 18-49 and 18-54 shares with the relocation of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire from Tuesdays to Thursdays.

The Jeremy Clarkson-hosted game show won the 7.30 hour in the 25-54 and 18-45 demos opposite TVNZ 2 warhorses Police Ten 7 and Surveillance Oz.

Three can’t confirm if The Conners will resurface in primetime but even if it’s scarcely more popular, Modern Family is a more important property because of its longevity — it’s been renewed for an 11th and final season — and role in Three’s schedule, where re-runs air 5.30 weeknights.