The two-hour premiere of NBC’s variety competition series “America’s Got Talent” won Wednesday for the network in the adults 18 to 49 demographic and was the highest-rated show for the night in the demo.

“Talent,” which is hosted by Regis Philbin and produced by “American Idol” judge Simon Cowell, scored a 4.6 preliminary national rating in adults 18 to 49, a number that includes live viewing plus same-day viewing via digital video recorders, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Besides being up 84 percent over the time period average from last summer (4.6 versus 2.5), “Talent” is also up 44 percent from NBC’s average in the time period for the 2005-06 season (4.6 versus 3.2).

A two-hour version of Fox’s reality competition series “So You Think You Can Dance,” was the second-highest-rated show for the night with a 3.5 in adults 18 to 49. A repeat of CBS’s drama “CSI: NY” at 10 p.m. (ET) was third for the night in the demo with a 2.6. Tying for fourth place were NBC’s “Dateline” and CBS’s casting special for its summer reality series “Big Brother,” which both scored a 2.2 in the demo during the 8 p.m. hour.