Nashville Beats Chicago Fire In The Ratings, Arrow Has A Solid Start

A good portion of the new fall comedies and dramas debuted last month, but we're still seeing some of the later premieres arrive. Last night, three new dramas made their debuts, and of them, it was ABC's Nashville that came out on top, with NBC's Chicago Fire falling behind. The CW's Arrow also premiered, and performed decently for the network, which typically draws a smaller crowd by comparison to the other major networks.

EW posted the numbers today, stating that Nashville earned 9 million viewers last night, with a 2.8 rating among adults 18-49. The drama follows a 40-year-old country singer (played by Friday Night Lights' Connie Britton) who's struggling to keep a hold on her career in the face of an up-and-coming younger singer (played by Hayden Panettiere). It's likely that Nashville benefited from its Modern Family lead-in. The ABC comedy, which skipped a week due to the Presidential Debate last week, returned last night with two back-to-back episodes airing right before Nashville made its debut. The comedy earned 12 million, 4.7 and 12.2 million, 4.9 for its two episodes last night.

Watch Nashville here. And check out the preview and some other post-premiere goodies here.

EW notes that, while Nashville came out ahead of NBC's Chicago Fire, the NBC firefighter drama, which premiered after Law & Order: SVU last night, didn't lose any of its demo rating between the first and second half-hour. Apparently, the same was not the case for the ABC drama, which could mean we should expect lower numbers for the Nashville's second episode. As for Chicago Fire, the series may have kept its viewers, but it posted significantly lower numbers over all, with 6.4 million viewers and a 1.9 rating. Of the two series in terms of watchability, I'd rank Nashville well above Chicago Fire, so I can't say I'm disappointed to hear that, but if audience retention is any indication, perhaps the NBC series will manage to hold most, if not all of those viewers come next week. And that'd be good news for those who liked what they saw.

Watch Chicago Fire here.

And lastly, there's the comic-inspired drama Arrow, which aired on The CW last night, earned 4 million viewers and a 1.3 rating. That's a solid start for a CW series. EW also notes that the series premiere helped the CW's veteran drama Supernatural in the ratings. The series aired the second episode of Season 8 last night to an audience of 2.6 million, which is its biggest in two years.

Find out how to watch Arrow online here.