The Bachelor Bumps Samantha Who From Schedule

ABC has decided to keep airing two-hour episodes of The Bachelor for the rest of its run this winter. This move bumps Samantha Who?, which had been scheduled to return to ABC’s Monday lineup next week, from the schedule. The network says an announcement about the show’s future will come in the next few days. ABC’s decision is based on ratings, thanks to some good numbers for current Bachelor Jason Mesnick. ABC has played on the appeal of the single dad, who was the final rejectee on The Bachelorette last summer, and the ratings suggest it was a good move.

The audience for the show has grown in each of the past three weeks, starting with 8.7 million viewers for the January 5 premiere, improving to 9.06 million the following week and hitting 9.9 million on Monday (Jan. 19) while winning all the key female demographics. Monday’s improvement is all the more impressive considering the stiffer competition the show faced this week, with FOX’s new Monday night lineup featuring House and 24 as well as new episodes of CBS’ comedies. By comparison, the most recent edition of The Bachelor, starring Londoner Matt Grant, and The Bachelorette both averaged 7.9 million viewers over their runs.

Samantha Who? had been doing above average ratings this year. But those numbers were mostly the result of airing after Dancing with the Stars; when it didn’t have the reality hit as a lead-in, its audience dropped below 7 million viewers.