'Whitney' ratings as great as 'Animal Practice'

She’s back!

C’mon everybody, aren’t you excited? NBC’s Whitney returned Wednesday night. How’d she do? Would you believe Whitney pulled 4.2 million and a 1.4 among adults 18-49? Why, that’s as good as the launch of Animal Practice in this time period earlier this fall … what do you mean, Animal Practice was cancelled?

Ohh. Well. Whitney also tied its series low. Lead-out Guys With Kids (3.8 million, 1.3) was down a tick from its last original, which is a shame because the hope was that these two would boost each other. There was also NBC’s Chicago Fire (5.7 million, 1.6), which you’ll recall last week shot up to a series high with a special Voice lead-in. Last night it fell 27 percent back down to the same rating as a couple weeks ago to rank third at 10 p.m.

Overall, Modern Family (11.9 million, 4.6) was the night’s top-rated show, and nearly steady with last week. The rest of ABC’s lineup dipped a bit, including 10 p.m.’s Nashville (5.9 million, 1.8) which slipped 10 percent after receiving its full-season order earlier this week. Over on The CW, another freshman drama, Arrow (3.8 million, 1.2), ticked back down in the demo, though enjoyed its largest overall audience since its premiere.

Did anybody climb among adults 18-49? Yes. Fox’s X-Factor (8.1 million, 2.9), not having to face The Voice this week, bounced 12 percent. Also, CBS’ CSI (10.8 million, 2.4) ticked up 4 percent.

New and improved chart! Now sorted by program: