ABC's 'Modern Family' is Wednesday's #1 Scripted TV Show in Adults 18-49

ABC ranked #2 on Wednesday to Fox with a 2-hour American Idol among Adults 18-34, beating season premiere/debut programming on CBS (Survivor/Criminal Minds/Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior) and an all-original schedule on NBC (Minute to Win It/Law & Order: SVU). Surging year to year, ABC was up over the year-ago evening by 76% in Total Viewers and by 53% in Adults 18-49.

Opposite Idol and the season opener of Survivor: Redemption Island, ABC's The Middle more than doubled the numbers of NBC's Minute to Win It in Total Viewers (+116%) and Adults 18-49 (+130%). In addition, The Middle beat out the Survivor premiere by 28% with Women 18-34.

At 8:30pm like its lead-in, ABC's freshman Better With You dominated NBC's Minute to Win It, leading by 1.9 million viewers and by 64% in Adults 18-49.

Building on its lead-in at 9pm opposite the third half-hour of Idol, ABC's Modern Family took full control of its scripted competition, beating CBS' Criminal Minds by 39% among Adults 18-49. The ABC sophomore comedy qualified as Wednesday's #1 scripted TV show in Adults 18-49 for its 15th straight first-run telecast this season. Modern Family posted its 2nd-best-ever numbers against American Idol in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49.

At 9:30pm up against the final half-hour of American Idol, Mr. Sunshine finished #2 with Adults 18-34, beating the second half of Criminal Minds by 20% and the final hour of NBC's 2-hour Minute to Win It by 167%. The new ABC comedy also earned second to Idol with Men 18-34 and Women 18-34.

In the 10 o'clock hour against the series debut of CBS' Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior and NBC's Law & Order: SVU, ABC's Off the Map continued to deliver strong year-over-year gains for the Network, improving the hour in both Total Viewers (+1.4 million) and Adults 18-49 (+25%) from the same night last year.