Suburgatory Proves to Be No Ratings Limbo; The X Factor Down

Suburgatory scared up 9.81 million souls, according to preliminary Nielsen info.

The new ABC sitcom at 8:30/7:30c grabbed a 3.3 rating among 18-to-49-year-olds, marking a 27 percent improvement over last year's tenant of the time slot, Better With You. The comedy, starring Jane Levy and Jeremy Sisto, follows The Middle, which was down to 8.55 million from last week's 9.35 million. Similarly, most of Wednesday's ratings were lower than last week, though to varying degrees.

Read our recap of The X Factor

The X Factor, which opened to a 12.14 million viewers and a 4.2 demo rating a week ago, brought back 11.51 million and 3.9 — down 11 percent — as it filled both hours on Fox. But CBS eked out a victory for the night, averaging 11.58 million viewers with its lineup of Survivor: South Pacific, (10.46 million), Criminal Minds(12.62 million) and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (11.64 million) — the last two winning their respective time slots at 9/8c and 10/9c.

Also at 8/7, NBC'sUp All Night fell to 5.34 million in its third week and Free Agents furthered its bid to be the first show axed with just 3.11 million. The CW's H8R had to love its uptick in viewers to 1.43 million.

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Emmy-winning comedy Modern Family garnered the most viewers in prime time's middle hour (13.24 million viewers), and the return of Happy Endings that followed on ABC posted a series high with 7.38 million against Minds, and two shows that enjoyed a little growth in audience -- NBC's Harry's Law (7.44 million) and America's Next Top Modelon The CW (1.71 million).

In the final prime-time hour, ABC's Revenge fell to 8.55 million (vs. 10.15 million for its premiere), and Law & Order: Special Victims Unitsnared 7.14  million (compared with 7.60 million for last week's 13th season premiere).