ABC's 'Black

ABC, which has been looking for a suitable comedy companion to ' Modern Family' for years, just may have found one in ' Blackish.'

It's only one week, but the provocatively titled half-hour sitcom about an African-American family was impressive out of the gate on Wednesday, winning its timeslot in demos - and instantly looking like a better fit than the Alphabet's other attempts in the 9:30 p.m. timeslot, including the likes of 'Happy Endings,' 'Super Fun Night' and 'Mixology.'

ABC's 'Modern Family' was the night's top show among young adults despite more year-over-year erosion, but it was CBS - with its reality combo of ' Survivor ' (up vs. last year) and 'Big Brother' - that edged ahead to win the night in demos.

Also of note on the first Wednesday of the television season was a fairly good second-week performance by NBC's ' The Mysteries of Laura,' which had previewed behind 'America's Got Talent' one week earlier. The Peacock's trio of crime dramas took the night in total viewers.

Looking at the preliminary, 'live plus same-day' estimates from Nielsen, 'Black-ish' averaged a 3.3 rating/10 share in adults 18-49 and 10.8 million viewers overall in the 9:30 p.m. half-hour, retaining nearly 90% of its lead-in from 'Modern Family' (3.7/11 in 18-49, 10.9 million viewers overall). They were the top two shows of the night in 18-49, 25-54 and total viewers.

'Black-ish' performed a bit better in 18-49 than last year's premiere of 'Super Fun Night' (3.2), which enjoyed a stronger lead-in (4.2), and its retention of 'Modern Family' is easily the best of any show in the last four seasons.

Among all premieres to date this fall, the Anthony Anderson-fronted 'Black-ish' looks to be slightly ahead of CBS' 'Scorpion' and Fox's 'Gotham,' both of which logged 3.2 ratings in their Monday bows.

In Wednesday's opening hour, 'The Middle' (2.1/8 in 18-49, 7.4 million viewers overall) was down 16% from last year and placed second in 18-49. It was followed by the timeslot premiere of 'The Goldbergs' (2.3/8 in 18-49, 7.0 million viewers overall), which looked good by building on its lead-in and also finished second.

Closing the night for ABC was the third-season premiere of 'Nashville' (1.5/5 in 18-49, 5.6 million viewers overall). The country music-set soap tried to create some buzz with live musical performances during the show (on both coasts), but it was down 25% from its year-ago premiere (2.0), but above its May finale (1.3).

Over at NBC, 'Mysteries of Laura' (1.5/5 in 18-49, 9.9 million viewers overall) was down 25% from its week-earlier 10 p.m. premiere, and came in down 17% from last year's 'Revolution' premiere (1.8). In total viewers, 'Laura' drew about 3 million more than 'Revolution.'

The Debra Messing-fronted series was followed by the season premieres of 'Law & Order: SVU' (2.1/6 in 18-49, 10.1 million viewers overall) and 'Chicago PD' (1.9/6 in 18-49, 8.5 million viewers overall). The former was down 22% from its two-hour premiere of last year (2.7), while the latter nearly matched its series premiere of last January (2.0), and came in above its season finale from May (1.6).

Both crime shows figure to have a tougher time next week when CBS bows its tandem of 'Criminal Minds' and 'Stalker.'

At CBS last night, the 90-minute season premiere of 'Survivor' (2.7/9 in 18-49, 9.6 million viewers overall) remarkably was up about 13% from last year. And from 9:30 to 11 p.m., the season finale of 'Big Brother' (2.6/8 in 18-49, 7.0 million viewers overall) retained just about all of its young-adult lead-in.

Fox, which bowed its Wednesday lineup one week ago, finished deep in fourth place last night with 'Hell's Kitchen' (1.3/5 in 18-49, 3.7 million viewers overall) and week two of rookie 'Red Band Society' (1.0/3, 3.4 million viewers overall). The Gordon Ramsay cooking competition dropped 13% (0.2) from its week-ago performance, and the dramedy set in the pediatric ward of an L.A. hospital fell off by about 20% (from 1.3).

Though 'Red Band' premiered softly last week, Fox had been pleased with the repeat number for the show when it aired two nights later, and is hoping the additional sampling will help it in future weeks. Roughly 87% of the Friday audience was unduplicated (didn't watch the Wednesday episode); and 46% of the duplicated audience was teens 12-17, suggesting that many of them may have watched again with their families.

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