When the new fall season rolls around, the most hotly contested night of the week among the broadcast networks will be Wednesday. Fox is expected to assume the lead once "American Idol" returns in January, so the real struggle will be over which network is No. 2.

And media buyers, looking over the fall primetime lineups, believe ABC is poised to take that position, edging out CBS, based on a revived lineup that includes “Private Practice,” a spinoff of its most-watched scripted series, “Grey’s Anatomy,” and among the most talked-about new shows at the spring upfront previews.

Until “Idol” comes back, ABC will be No. 1, followed by CBS, NBC, Fox and the CW, then Fox will shoot ahead.

NBC will likely rank No. 4 for the full season, behind CBS in third, and the CW will be in last place in 18-49s but No. 1 among young viewers.

But it will be close between ABC and CBS. “On adults 18-49, we’re predicting ABC and CBS will be neck and neck,” says Susan Hajny, broadcast research manager at GSD&M.

Much will hang on "Private Practice."

“The spinoff will give ABC a bump on the night. There hasn’t been a good recent history for spinoffs. They don’t typically have the same punch as the original. But, having said that, it’s ABC’s strongest program, and it will carry ABC to that competitive position.”

ABC should have won Wednesday last season, based on the momentum of "Lost," but then it committed a serious blunder when it took the serialized hit off the air from November to February in an attempt to limit the number of repeats it would have to air to fill out the season.

That short span off the air lost a number of viewers, and they did not return when "Lost" returned a few months later in a new timeslot. ABC’s rating on Wednesday tumbled 21 percent from the 2005/06 season and the network slid from No. 2 to No. 3 in the 18-49 demographic behind Fox and CBS.

This new season, ABC will lead off the night at 8 p.m. with “Pushing Daisies,” a new drama about a guy who brings dead things back to life. Researchers say it will do well against NBC’s older-skewing “Deal or No Deal,” CBS’s new reality show featuring kids called “Kid Nation,” Fox's comedies and the CW’s “America’s Next Top Model.”

Then at 9, ABC will air the show it's counting on to pull the night, "Practice," and media people think it will be strong. "'Practice' will be solid for ABC,” says Shari Anne Brill, senior vice president and director of programming at Carat. “I think there will be a lot of sampling for it.”

At 10, ABC will open the season with the new legal drama “Dirty Sexy Money," which is not expected to do as well. In January it likely will leave the schedule for the returning “Lost.”

“'Dirty Sexy Money’ is their weak spot, but I love ‘Pushing Daisies,’” says Brill. “It’s a really good show to open up the night.”

CBS will remain strong with the returning “Criminal Minds” at 9 p.m., despite the upcoming departure of lead actor Mandy Patinkin, and “CSI: NY” at 10.  It isn’t likely to do well at 8 p.m. with “Kid Nation,” a show in which 40 kids get to create their own society.

NBC will trail ABC and CBS with “Deal” at 8, a remake of “Bionic Woman” at 9, and at 10, “Life,” a drama about a detective who was wrongly jailed for six years.

“We have NBC coming in about 10 percent below [ABC and CBS] in the ratings,” says GSDM's Hajny.

Until “Idol’s” return, Fox will rank No. 4 with the new Kelsey Grammer sitcom “Back to You” at 8 and the returning “’Til Death” at 8:30 and “Bones” at 9.

The CW will lag in the 18-49 demographic but do solidly with its younger target viewers with “Model” at 8 and at 9 a new show, “Gossip Girl,” based on a book series about Upper East Side girls who get the latest gossip from an unknown person sending text messages. The show has been generating positive buzz since the CW’s upfront presentation in May.

“I think because of ‘Gossip Girl’ and ‘Top Model,’ they have a very strong shot at dominance in 12-34s and teens,” says Brill.