Ratings: ABC’s ‘Modern Family,’ CBS’ ‘Survivor’ Top Wednesday

The first original “Modern Family” in a few weeks ruled as Wednesday’s top draw, teaming with a rising “The Goldbergs” to help ABC tie CBS for the night’s lead among young adults. The Eye’s “Survivor” remained strong, while its “Criminal Minds” was on the low side.

According to preliminary national estimates from Nielsen, ABC’s night opened with comedies “The Middle” (1.8/6 in 18-49, 7.7 million viewers overall) and “The Goldbergs” (2.1/7 in 18-49, 7.1 million viewers overall), with the former on the low side and the latter about average; if it stays in the nationals, this would be one of the biggest builds for “Goldbergs” on its lead-in. While “Middle” was down in the demo, a guest appearance by Dick Van Dyke seemed to bring some older viewers to the show, which drew its largest overall audience since the start of Daylight Saving Time.

“Modern Family” (2.9/9 in 18-49, 8.8 million viewers overall) was easily Wednesday’s top draw in 18-49 and 25-54 (3.9/10), down a smidge from its prior original. It was followed on ABC by “Black-ish” (2.1/6 in 18-49, 6.6 million viewers overall), which was up 0.2 from last week when it followed a “Modern” repeat, but down from the strong 2.4 it did the most recent time it followed an original. And at 10 p.m., “Nashville” looked a little healthier (1.3/4 in 18-49, 5.4 million viewers overall), up a tenth for a second straight week.

At CBS, “Survivor” (2.3/8 in 18-49, 9.8 million viewers overall) continues to impress in its 30th edition, up a tick from last week and sweeping the 8 o’clock hour; its advantage over Fox’s “American Idol” in 18-49 was a big 53% (2.3 vs. 1.5). “Criminal Minds” (1.9/6 in 18-49, 9.9 million viewers overall) didn’t seem to benefit from NBC’s airing another “Law & Order: SVU” repeat at 9, as the CBS vet was down 0.2 (though it’s poised to gain at least one tenth in the nationals and was the night’s most-watched program overall). At 10 p.m., rookie drama “CSI: Cyber” held steady (1.5/5 in 18-49, 8.2 million viewers overall) and again won its timeslot.

Fox’s “American Idol” (1.5/5 in 18-49, 7.4 million viewers overall) was up a tenth from its low of last week.

NBC’s numbers are subject due to revision because the preliminary numbers include the San Francisco Giants-Los Angeles Dodgers baseball game in the San Francisco market. The net’s only original was “The Mysteries of Laura” (1.0/4 in 18-49, 6.6 million viewers overall), which was up a tenth over its last original. It was followed by repeats of “SVU” (0.9/3 in 18-49, 4.3 million viewers overall) and “Chicago PD” (0.9/3 in 18-49, 4.2 million viewers overall), which will return next week as part of a three-show crossover storyline started Tuesday on “Chicago Fire.”

And at CW, “Arrow” (0.9/3 in 18-49, 2.7 million viewers overall) was even in 18-49 and up in total viewers for its most-watched episode since March 25. And compared with the same night a year ago, “Arrow” was up by more than 20% in every key category. “Supernatural” (0.7/2 in 18-49, 1.8 million viewers overall) was up a tenth from last week while also improving on the net’s performance in the timeslot on the comparable night a year ago (with “The 100″) in most key categories.

Telemundo has been above average this week thanks to event series “El Senor de los Cielos” (Lord of the Skies), whose third-season bow on Monday set a network record with a 1.4 rating in adults 18-49 and 2.68 million viewers in total. In prelims for last night, the drama did a 1.2/4 in 18-49 and about 2.5 million viewers overall.

Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: CBS, 1.9/6; ABC, 1.9/6; Fox, 1.5/5; NBC and Univision, 0.9/3; CW and Telemundo, 0.8/3.

In total viewers: CBS, 9.3 million; Fox, 7.4 million; ABC, 6.8 million; NBC, 5.0 million; Univision, 2.5 million; CW, 2.2 million; Telemundo, 1.8 million.

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