“Modern Family,” fresh off its fourth straight Emmy for best comedy, opened to strong numbers in its broadcast syndication premiere on Monday.

The 20th Century Fox Television comedy matched or slightly outperformed the 2011 bow of juggernaut “The Big Bang Theory” in key demos to become the top-rated off-net comedy premiere of the past five-plus seasons, according to Nielsen.

In adults 18-49, the premiere average of 0.8 for “Modern Family” ties it with the “Big Bang” bow of two years ago and puts it ahead of the launches of “The Office” (0.6), “House of Payne” (0.5) and “How I Met Your Mother” (0.5), among others. The last show to open better than “Modern Family” (and “Big Bang”) was “Two and a Half Men” in 2007.

Among adults 25-54, “Modern Family” (1.0) came in ahead of “Big Bang” (0.9) and others. And in households, its 1.5 opening-day average is second best to “Big Bang” (1.7) among all off-net comedy premieres since “Two and a Half Men.”

Faring especially well in the big markets, “Modern Family” averaged a 2.2 household rating with its back-to-back episodes in the 7 p.m. hour on Fox 5 in New York City — up about 37% on average from the year-ago time period. And in Los Angeles in the same hour, its 2.1 rating improved the time period by an average of more than 50%.

“Modern Family” kicks off its fifth season on ABC with an hourlong episode this Wednesday, and will air its 100th episode next month.

It officially begins its cable syndication run tonight on USA and will run five nights a week. The network rolled out six episodes on Sunday night, averaging about 1.1 million viewers opposite competition that included the Emmys.

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