Wednesday, October 17, 2012 ratings — Season premiere(s): Suburgatory. New episode(s): The Middle, The Neighbors, Modern Family, Nashville, Animal Practice, Guys with Kids, Law & Order: SVU, Chicago Fire, Survivor, Criminal Minds, CSI, The X Factor, Arrow, and Supernatural. Repeat(s): none.

On ABC, The Middle started the night with a 2.5 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 8.35 million total viewers. Week-to-week, the sitcom was up 4% in the coveted demo. It was followed by newbie The Neighbors with a 1.9 rating (-5%) and 6.5 million.

At 9pm, Modern Family drew a 4.6 rating (-6%) with 12.1 million. The season premiere of Suburgatory then garnered a 2.8 demo rating with 7.6 million. Compared to the series debut a year ago, the network was down by 15% in the demo (vs a 3.3 rating) and down by 23% in viewership (vs 9.81 million).

At 10pm, Nashville took a big tumble with a 2.0 rating (-29%) with 6.8 million viewers. Not a good sign for this show’s future prospects.

On CBS, Survivor drew a 2.7 rating (-4%) and 10.1 million. Criminal Minds followed with a 3.1 rating (+3%) and 11.8 million. Then, CSI wrapped up the night with a 2.4 rating (-8%) and 10.6 million.

On NBC, Animal Practice fell again, to a 1.0 rating (-8%) and 3.8 million. Guys with Kids drew a 1.4 rating (0% change) with 4.29 million. Law & Order: SVU followed with a 1.6 rating (-11%) and 6.3 million. The second installment of Chicago Fire dropped 21% in the demo to a 1.5 rating with 5.9 million viewers.

On The CW, Arrow held steady with a 1.3 rating and 3.5 million. It was followed by Supernatural with a 1.0 rating (0% change) and 2.2 million.

On FOX, the numbers were messed up due to baseball overruns so it won’t be clear until the final ratings on how The X Factor did.

What do you think? Are you surprised by the declines of Nashville and Chicago Fire? How about Arrow’s performance? What were you watching last night?