Wednesday, October 10, 2012 ratings — Last night we had three premieres — Arrow, Nashville, and Chicago Fire — as well as original episodes of The Middle, The Neighbors, Modern Family, Animal Practice, Guys with Kids, Law & Order: SVU, The X Factor, Survivor, Criminal Minds, CSI, and Supernatural.

On ABC, The Middle drew a 2.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 7.8 million total viewers. Week-to-week, the sitcom was up by 9% in the demo. It was followed by The Neighbors with a 1.9 rating (0% change) and 6.3 million, and two episodes of Modern Family. The first drew a 4.7 rating (-15% change) with 12.0 million and the second attracted a 4.9 rating (+4%) with 12.2 million.

At 10pm, it was the series premiere of Nashville. That attracted a 2.8 in the demo and 8.98 million viewers. It was first in its timeslot in the demo but second in viewers to CSI.

Year-to-year, compared to Revenge’s premiere in the same timeslot, the network was down by 15% in the demo (vs a 3.3 rating) and down by 10% in viewership (vs 10.02 million). This wasn’t a terrible start but, considering the glowing reviews, it was disappointing.

On CBS, it was business as usual. Survivor drew a 2.6 rating (-13% change) with 9.6 million. Criminal Minds followed with a 3.0 rating (-3%) and 11.4 million. The night ended with CSI which drew a 2.6 demo rating (+4%) and 10.6 million.

On NBC, Animal Practice garnered a sad 1.1 rating (-15%) with 3.9 million viewers. It was followed by Guys with Kids and a 1.4 rating (-13%) and 4.2 million. Law & Order: SVU followed with a 1.8 rating (-14%) and 6.2 million.

At 10pm, NBC presented the pilot of Chicago Fire. It attracted a 1.9 rating with 6.4 million total viewers. It was last in its timeslot in both categories. Compared to last year’s Law & Order: SVU’s season premiere in the same timeslot, the network was down by 21% in the demo (vs a 2.4 rating) and down by 16% in viewership (vs 7.63 million). This certainly wasn’t a great start for this new series. On the positive side, almost everyone who started watching the pilot episode stuck with it until the end. That’s kinda rare these days, particularly for a 10pm show.

On FOX, we had The X Factor with a 3.4 rating (-3%) and 9.4 million viewers.

And on The CW, it was the series premiere of Arrow. Comparatively, this had the best debut of the night. It attracted a 1.3 in the 18-49 demographic with 4.0 million total viewers. Year-to-year, compared to H8R’s premiere in the same timeslot, the network was up by 116% in the demo (vs a 0.6 rating) and up by 210% in viewership (vs 1.29 million). This was a very promising start for the new series. It beat NBC’s Animal Practice in the demo which is impressive for tiny CW network and sad for the peacock.

Supernatural followed with a 1.0 rating (+25%) and 2.6 million. The venerable series certainly benefited from having a strong lead-in.

What do you think? How do you think the three new shows will perform for the rest of the season? What were you watching last night?