At 8pm, ABC’s The Middle towered over the season premiere of NBC’s Whitney, leading its comedy competition by 4.5 million viewers and by 79% in Adults 18-49. In fact, the ABC comedy tied CBS’ Survivor: Philippines in Adults 18-49 for the 2nd straight week and paced within 2-tenths of a rating point and tied the audience share for Fox’s The X Factor. Additionally, The Middle finished #1 in the half-hour with Men 18-49 and Teens 12-17.
At 8:30pm, ABC’s The Neighbors dominated its freshman comedy competition, beating NBC’s Guys with Kids by 76% in Total Viewers and by 46% in Adults 18-49.
Shooting up from its lead-in (+142%) to take full control of the 9pm half-hour in Adults 18-49, ABC’s Modern Family beat out CBS’ Criminal Minds by 59%, The X Factor by 59% and NBC’s Law & Order: SVU by 207%. In addition to standing as Wednesday’s #1 TV show with Adults 18-49 for its 7th straight telecast, Modern Family was also the evening’s top-rated program with Adults 18-34 and Adults 25-54 for its 5th straight broadcast.
In the 9:30pm half-hour against the conclusion of The X Factor, ABC’s Suburgatory defeated NBC’s L&O: SVU by double-digit percentages in viewers (+14%) and young adults (+33%), while standing as the #1 scripted show in its slot with Teens 12-17. Suburgatory attracted a larger audience to its time period for ABC year to year (+4%), topping original comedy programming on the same night last year.
During the 10 o’clock hour, ABC’s Nashville once again registered as the #1 freshman series in its slot with Total Viewers and Adults 18-49, beating out NBC’s Chicago Fire. In addition, the ABC freshman drama ran # 1 in its time period with Adults 18-34 (2nd straight week) and Women 18-34 (3rd straight week), outdelivering drama competition on CBS (CSI) and NBC (Chicago Fire). The ABC drama retained 100% of its Adult 25-54 audience week to week. Nashville continues to see huge increases from its L+SD to L+7 numbers, jumping by 57% in Adults 18-49 (+1.3 rating) and by 43% in Total Viewers (+3.15 million), making it the 2nd-biggest young adult gainer this season among both new shows and 10:00 p.m. series.
