The CW kicked off its Wednesday lineup last night, watching veteran superhero series “Arrow” slip in the debut of its fifth season and new drama “Frequency” struggle to catch traction.

“Arrow” drew a 0.7 ratings among adults 18-49 and 1.9 million total viewers — down 36% in the demo and 30 % in viewers from last fall’s season four premiere. “Frequency” followed with a 0.4 in the demo and 1.2 million viewers,. It shed 42% of “Arrow’s” demo rating and 37% of its total viewership. Following a higher-rated “Arrow” debut last fall in the same timeslot, the season premiere of “Supernatural” showed greater retention, losing only 18% in the demo and 26% in total viewers.

On Fox, “Empire” was down 11% from last week with a 3.3 rating in the demo — only one tenth of a point higher than the show’s series low from a Thanksgiving-week episode last season. At 8 p.m. “Lethal Weapon” drew a 1.7, down 15% from last week.

One bright spot on a night when nearly all broadcast offerings were down was ABC’s freshman comedy “Speechless” which drew a 1.8, even with last week’s performance and with its lead-in, “The Goldbergs,” which was down one tenth of a point from last week. “Modern Family” was down one tenth at 2.2. “Black-ish” was also even at 1.6. “Designated Survivor” was down 11% at 1.8.

NBC’s “Blindspot” was even with last week at 1.3. “Law & Order: SVU” was down 19% at 1.3. “Chicago PD” was down 13% at 1.3.

Fox was the night’s top network, averaging a 2.5 and 9 share in the demo. ABC averaged a 1.8 / 6, followed by CBS at 1.4 / 5, NBC at 1.3 / 5, and the CW at 0.5 / 2.

More to come …