Empire (1.7 demo rating, 5.52 million viewers) claimed Wednesday’s top spot in the key adults 18-49 demographic in primetime, down 29% compared to its second spring telecast last year.

Week 2 of ABC’s new 8:30 PM comedy Alex, Inc. (0.9, 3.83M) retained a shaky 69% of its The Goldbergs (1.3, 5.38M) lead-in, down from previous week’s 79%. On the bright side, ABC claimed Wednesday’s only series showing week-to-week growth in Modern Family (1.5, 5.5M).

Fox

While Empire outstripped Survivor: Ghost Island (1.6, 8.24M) in the demo, CBS’ reality stalwart blew past the Fox musical drama in total viewers to clock its sixth consecutive Wednesday as the most-watched primetime program.

At 9 PM, ABC’s Modern Family bested Fox’s Star (1.3, 4.30M), CBS’ NCIS repeat (0.7, 537M), NBC’s Law & Order: SVU (0.7, 3.85M) rerun and the CW’s Life Sentence (0.2, 440K). But American Housewife (1.2, 4.64M) fumbled that lead at 9:30 PM, tying Star for the time-slot top spot in the demo and conceding total viewers to CBS’ NCIS replay.

At 10 PM, CBS’ Criminal Minds (1.0, 5.87M) finished first in both metrics and nabbed the night’s No. 2 spot in overall crowd, beating ABC’s Designated Survivor (0.7, 3.87M) and NBC’s Chicago PD repeat (0.7, 4.22M).

Fox (1.5, 4.91M) took the night in the demo. CBS (1.1, 6.49M) claimed the total-viewer win and came in second in the demo, followed by ABC (1.0, 4.51M). NBC (0.8, 4.48M) finished fourth in both metrics, trailed by the CW (0.2, 503K).