RATINGS RECAP: 9/26/12

ABC
8:00 The Middle
Viewers: 9.2 million, 18-49 demo: 2.9
9:00 Modern Family
Viewers: 14.4 million, 18-49 demo: 5.5
9:30 The Neighbors
Viewers: 9.2 million, 18-49 demo: 3.2
10:00 Revenge: The First Chapter
Viewers: 5.2 million, 18-49 demo: 1.5

CBS
8:00 Survivor
Viewers: 10.3 million, 18-49 demo: 3.1
9:00 Criminal Minds
Viewers: 11.7 million, 18-49 demo: 3.1
10:00 CSI
Viewers: 10.8 million, 18-49 demo: 2.5 

NBC
8:00 Animal Practice
Viewers: 5.2 million, 18-49 demo: 1.4
8:30 Guys with Kids
Viewers: 4.8 million, 18-49 demo: 1.6
9:00 Law & Order: SVU
Viewers: 7.2 million, 18-49 demo: 2.1

FOX
8:00 The X Factor
Viewers: 9.6 million, 18-49 demo: 3.4 

On the third night of premiere week, ABC rebounded from a couple tough days to start the season with a good Wednesday performance. At 8pm, The Middle had an hour long season premiere. While slightly below last season's premiere, it got its best numbers since January 11. This unheralded show continues to be a great anchor for the night even though Modern Family gets all the attention. The best comedy winner Family returned to a very similar viewer count to last fall's premiere but it was down six tenths in the demo from last season's premiere so it skewed older. Still, it was by far the best debut for a scripted show in the demo this week (though The Big Bang Theory could top that) and the best performance for this show since February 8. At 9:30pm, the series premiere of The Neighbors followed. While the raw numbers are good, the retention and drop over the half hour were less promising. The good news is that it goes to 8:30pm next week where there is less pressure but it might spring a leak in the bridge between The Middle and Modern Family. We'll have to see. Suburgatory will follow Modern Family in a few weeks and might be the best partner the show has had yet. A Revenge special ahead of Sunday's season premiere at 10pm did ok for a clip show.

CBS was all new with premieres in the 9pm & 10pm hours. Numbers were good but way down in the demo from last fall's premieres. It seems to be a trend this week that shows are closer to their spring numbers than their fall numbers from last season. There was good news at 8pm for CBS though as Survivor was down just 1.1 million viewers and a tenth in the demo from last week's season premiere. The return of Criminal Minds and CSI both delivered good numbers but, like Modern Family, skewed much older. The 2.5 demo for CSI, a series in its 13th season, was way ahead of Hawaii Five-0 and tied the new Vegas when it comes to 10pm dramas on CBS.

NBC had no luck in the 8pm with its new comedies. Animal Practice had its first episode since the Olympics preview a month and a half ago and it was DOA. The show did nothing at 8pm and doesn't look like it will be here for long. The second episode of Guys with Kids followed and was down a bit in viewers but up in the demo from Practice. It also had real bad numbers but didn't look as bad when compared with Animal. I would guess that NBC might revive Whitney from Fridays and put it with the fellow multicam Guys with Kids in a few weeks. At 9pm, Law & Order: SVU had better numbers than it did in the spring and it had to contend with Criminal Minds and CSI. Not bad for a show in its 14th season. The X Factor held up really well against all the new competition as it was actually up a tenth in viewers and down just two tenths in the demo. Its numbers look a little better with each passing week.