• by Wayne Friedman , September 26, 2013

Day three of the new season brought more even competition among TV networks -- with no networks averaging under 10 million viewers for Wednesday night, and ABC ultimately winning the night.

The big four networks had mostly even results on the night -- with ABC on top with a Nielsen preliminary 2.8 rating/8 share among 18-49 viewers -- thanks to its still strong “Modern Family” at  9 p.m., which premiered with a Nielsen preliminary 4.1 rating/11 share among 18-49ers.

While this kept pace --- mostly with the high-rated network shows that started out the beginning of the week -- it was still down 25% from its 5.5 rating of a year ago.

The next best showing came from CBS’ “Criminal Minds” season premiere --  2.8/8 down a bit from a 3.1 rating a year ago. Then came NBC’s “Law & Order: SVU” premiere (from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m.), a 2.7/7, up a some from a year ago.

NBC’s high-flying rookie show of a year ago “Revolution” could only muster a 1.8/6 in its premiere for its new 8 p.m. Wednesday time slot. Much of this was probably expected from its strong “Voice” lead-in last season. Probably what wasn’t expected was that three other network shows would perform better in the time period. Fox’s “X Factor” (2 hour version), a 2.5/7; ABC’s “The Middle”, 2.4/8; and CBS’s “Survivor: Blood vs Water”, a 2.3/7.

ABC’s new comedy on the night, “Back in the Game”, at 8:30 p.m. fare okay -- a 2.2/7 at 8:30 p.m.

At 10 p.m. CBS’ “CSI” and ABC’s “Nashville” tied,  each with a 2.1/6.

For the night, after ABC leading among 18-49 viewers, Fox was at a 2.5/7; CBS and NBC, each had a 2.4/7; and CW, a 0.3/1 .