• by Wayne Friedman , September 25, 2013

The second night of the 2013-2014 TV season brought more good news for new TV dramas. ABC’s “Marvel’s Agents of “S.H.I.E.L.D.” scored some major viewing numbers in its debut.

The action drama -- based on the movie franchise “The Avengers” -- tallied a large Nielsen preliminary 4.6 rating/14 share among 18-49 viewers. (It pulled in 11.9 million overall TV viewers.)

The night before, NBC’s “The Blacklist” at 10 p.m. pulled in a large 3.8/10, getting 12.6 million viewers. “Blacklist” benefited largely from a big viewership lead-in from “The Voice.”

“S.H.I.E.L.D.” tied the second night of “The Voice” for top Tuesday honors, which also earned a 4.6/14. Both shows ran in the 8 p.m. time period. A two-hour Tuesday version of “The Voice” was about half a rating point lower than its initial outing on Monday.

CBS’ “NCIS” season premiere was also in the hunt at 8 p.m. -- but not quite up the levels of the “S.H.I.E.L.D.” and “Voice," getting to a 3.4/10 -- down 17% versus its premiere of a year ago. At 9 p.m. ABC continued its winning ways with “S.H.I.E.L.D.” giving a hefty start to new comedy “The Goldbergs,” which took in a 3.2/9, winning the time period. CBS’s “NCIS: Los Angeles” was next at a 3.0/8, down 12% from last year’s start.

NBC’s “Chicago Fire” grew almost a full rating point at 10 p.m. to win the time period with a 2.8/8 -- thanks to big lead-in from “The Voice." CBS’ “Person of Interest” was down around a half rating point to a 2.3/6.

While ABC did well in the early part of the evening with new programming, its later-evening programming fared less well: “Trophy Wife” was at a 2.3/6 at 9:30 p.m. and its new 10 p.m. show “Lucky 7” could only get to a 1.3/4.

In week two, the three Fox comedies “Dads,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine," and “The Mindy Project” all came in under the 2.0 rating mark. Only “New Girl” at 9 p.m. scored above a 2.1/6. All of Fox’s Tuesday programming was down from their openings a week before.

For the night, among preliminary Nielsen results, NBC averaged a 4.0/11 among 18-49 viewers; CBS and ABC, tied at 2.9/8; Fox at a 1.7/5; Univision with a 1.2/3; and CW at a 0.4/1 .