Ratings: Two Minds Are Better Than One?

Two Minds are better than one?

The premiere of Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior rounded up 12.9 million viewers in prime time's final hour Wednesday night, building slightly on the 12.8 million people who watched Criminal Minds at 9/8c, according to preliminary Nielsen figures.

The new show attracted the largest audience CBS has gotten in that time slot in more than a year.

VIDEO: Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior star calls new team a "grittier bunch"

The original Minds was up against the second hour of American Idol, which drew nearly 25 million people.

In its first hour, Idol had 20.7 million watching — far outpacing the debut of Survivor: Redemption Island, which snagged 11.2 million, its lowest-rated premiere ever. Its rating among 18-to-49-year-olds was down 29 percent from last spring's premiere.

Also at 8/7c, ABC's The Middle suffered lured nearly 8 million viewers (down from 8.8 million a week earlier), while Part 1 of Minute to Win It got nearly 3.8 million (down from 4.8 million) on NBC, and 1.3 million (down from 1.6 million) tuned into a Nikita rerun on the CW. Better With You, at 8:30/7:30, managed about 5.9 million

Read more of today's news

At9:30/8:30c, a lot of people un-friended Matthew Perry's Mr. Sunshine, as it lost more than a third of its premiere audience — at just 7 million viewers. Mr. Sunshine's lead-in, Modern Family,pulled in 10.5 million viewers — down from 13.1 million.

Also in prime time's second hour, the second part of Minute to Win It won 3.4 million viewers, and a rerun of The Vampire Diaries got 794,000.

At 10, NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit scored nearly 7.3 million viewers, and ABC's Off the Map plummeted to 4.3 million — and a series low 1.5 demo rating, down 21 percent from the previous week.