ABC's 'Suburgatory' solid in week two

ABC's new comedy ''Suburgatory'' held up well in its second outing, again building on its lead-in ''The Middle.'' The net's ''Modern Family'' was the night's top show in demos, while CBS' ''Criminal Minds'' and Fox's ''The X Factor'' also shined. Fox won the night among adults 18-49, edging out the three-hour averages of CBS and ABC, while the Eye had it in both adults 25-54 and total viewers, with its ''Criminal Minds'' standing as Wednesday's most-watched program overall for the first time this fall. According to preliminary national estimates from Nielsen, Fox remained strong on the night with a 90-minute edition of ''The X Factor'' (3.9 rating/11 in 18-49, 11.5 million viewers overall), which was on par with last week's performance and again won the 8 o'clock hour. Closing out the night, Fox aired a special original episode of Tuesday comedy ''Raising Hope'' (2.3/6 in 18-49, 6.2 million viewers overall), placing third in 18-49. At ABC, ''The Middle'' kicked things off (steady at 2.7/9 in 18-49, 9.0 million viewers overall), followed by the second week of ''Suburgatory'' (3.0/8 in 18-49, 9.1 million viewers overall), which was down 9% week to week but again was up in 18-49 rating over its lead-in and a nice improvement over last year's ''Better With You.'' ''Modern Family'' followed at 9 and was again the night's No. 1 show in demos (5.6/14 in 18-49, 13.1 million viewers overall), with the net then losing nearly half of that audience by 9:30 p.m. with ''Happy Endings'' (2.9/7 in 18-49, 6.9 million viewers overall). And at 10, new drama ''Revenge'' continues to perform reasonably well (2.5/7 in 18-49, 7.7 million viewers overall), down 7% week to week but still second in in demos for the hour and a good improvement over the net's performance in the slot last fall. CBS remained solid throughout the night, starting with ''Survivor'' (3.1/9 in 18-49, 10.5 million viewers overall), which was second to ''X Factor'' for the 8 o'clock hour. ''Criminal Minds'' was up at 9 p.m. (3.8/10 in 18-49, 13.3 million viewers overall), seemingly taking advantage of Fox's shift from ''X Factor'' to comedy at 9:30. And at 10, ''CSI'' remained the hour's leader (2.9/8 in 18-49, 11.8 million viewers overall), but was down a bit week to week. NBC started the night on a positive note as ''Up All Night'' (2.2/7 in 18-49, 5.7 million viewers overall) was up a tick week to week and again provided the net with time period improvement. But ''Free Agents'' held at its low level (1.0/3 in 18-49, 3.3 million viewers overall), and doesn't figure to remain in the 8:30 p.m. timeslot for much longer. The comedy hour was followed by ''Harry's Law'' (1.2/3 in 18-49, 8.2 million viewers overall), which held steady in the demo while growing in total viewers. And at 10, ''Law and Order: SVU'' (2.1/5 in 18-49, 7.9 million viewers overall) was flat while its drama rivals were both down. CW continues to struggle Wednesdays at 8 p.m. with ''Hater'' (0.4/1 in 18-49, 1.1 million viewers overall), while ''America's Next Top Model'' held at its sub-par level (0.8/2 in 18-49, 1.7 million viewers overall). Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: Fox, 3.5/10; CBS, 3.3/9; ABC, 3.2/9; Univision, 1.7/4; CW, 0.6/2. In total viewers: CBS, 11.9 million; Fox, 10.2 million; ABC, 8.9 million; NBC, 6.9 million; Univision, 3.7 million; CW, 1.4 million. Contact Rick Kissell at rick.kissell@variety.com