Ryan Murphy's 9-1-1 debuts as Wednesday's top show

Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk have done it again. The American Horror Story writer-producer team’s latest drama series, Fox’s first-responder drama 9-1-1, just debuted as Wednesday night’s top drama.

The first episode was watched by 6.8 million viewers and delivered a 1.8 rating among adults 18-49, edging out every other broadcast show on the air in the demo, including ABC’s usual night-leader Modern Family.

The show stars Angela Bassett, Peter Krause, and Connie Britton and received somewhat mixed reviews from critics. EW liked it well enough, giving the show a “B,” with Darren Franich writing that 9-1-1 is somewhat “ludicrous” but “feels like a professional attempt by eccentric creators to draft their own down-the-middle network series.”

The other premiere of note last night was The X-Files, which stands as the oldest prime-time drama series on the air. The season 11 return delivered 5.2 million viewers and a 1.4 rating among adults 18-49, which is a bit disappointing given the sci-fi dram’s very strong performance across its last batch of new episodes two years ago (which were fueled by a preview paired with the NFC Championship game).

The episode shocked the shows longtime fans with a twist that — spoilers below — revealed the true origin of Dana Scully’s son William. It turns out the Cigarette Smoking Man medically impregnated Scully during a road trip in season 7. Read our interview with showrunner Chris Carter explaining the reasons for the twist.