‘ER’ has never been seriously challenged in its own time slot.

NEW YORK (AP) – The CBS Thursday night mystery “Without a Trace” has become a summertime success story in reruns and is proving a genuine threat to NBC’s longtime champ, “ER.”

Since the summer began, “Without a Trace” has reversed the advantage “ER” held during the TV season that ended in May and has been a regular in Nielsen Media Research’s weekly top 10, including last week.

The two shows compete in the same time slot.

“Our goal is to topple “ER,”‘ said Jonathan Littman, executive producer of the show for Jerry Bruckheimer Television. “Somebody wants to be the show that gets the bragging rights, that topples the king. At the same time, we want to satisfy our viewers and make a great show.”

“ER” was television’s top drama from its debut in 1994 until being toppled by CBS’ “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” in the 2001-2002 season. But it has never been so seriously challenged in its own time slot.

During the TV season that ended in May, “ER” averaged 20.1 million viewers and was the fourth most popular show of the year. “Without a Trace,” with 15.1 million viewers, was ranked No. 17.

Since rerun season began six weeks ago, “Without a Trace” has averaged 11.6 million viewers, ranking fifth for the summer. “ER” has slipped to 7.2 million, ranking No. 41.

“What we’ve seen is the benefit of “ER’ viewers who traditionally tune away in the summer months coming over and checking us out,” Littman said.

“ER” is a serial drama, with continuing story lines, and these traditionally do poorly in repeats. Meanwhile, “Without a Trace” is a self-contained drama.

“You can come into it any week and get a good story,” Littman said.

Last week, “ER” drew only 5.1 million viewers – believed to be the smallest audience in the show’s history. There were mitigating factors: it was a rerun aired the night before a three-day holiday weekend during what is traditionally the least-watched TV week of the year.

In the same time slot, “Without a Trace” had 9.3 million viewers.

The key question is whether “Without a Trace” can keep its lead when new episodes begin in the fall.

NBC executives note that “ER” really hasn’t lost much ground since last summer, when it also was beaten in its time slot several times. They downplay the success of “Without a Trace,” noting that it comes directly after “CSI,” a similarly themed mystery and the most popular show on TV.

“I’d love to … say “ER’ is dead, but I can’t,” Littman said. “It’s still a potent show and it’s got a very loyal audience.”

CBS narrowly won the week in prime-time, averaging 7.41 million viewers (5.1 rating, 10 share), as “CSI: Miami” topped the ratings for the first time. NBC averaged 7.36 million (4.9, 10), Fox had 5.4 million (3.5, 7), ABC 5 million (3.4, 7), UPN 2.9 million (2.0, 4), the WB 2 million (1.4, 3) and Pax TV 760,000 (0.5, 1).

A week after lodging its smallest audience in at least 10 years, the “CBS Evening News” repeated that number: 6.5 million viewers (4.6 rating, 10 share). The “NBC Nightly News” averaged 8.5 million viewers (6.1, 14) and ABC’s “World News Tonight” had 7.8 million (5.8, 13).

A ratings point represents 1,067,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation’s estimated 106.7 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.

For the week of June 30-July 6, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: “CSI: Miami,” CBS, 12.1 million; “Everybody Loves Raymond,” CBS, 11.5 million; “Law & Order,” NBC, 11.4 million; “King of Queens,” CBS, 11 million; “60 Minutes,” CBS, 11 million; “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” CBS, 10.8 million; Auto Racing: Daytona 400, NBC, 9.7 million; “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” NBC, 9.3 million; “Without a Trace,” CBS, 9.3 million; Movie: “Independence Day,” Fox, 8.9 million.

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On the Net:

http://www.nielsenmedia.com.

AP-ES-07-08-03 1639EDT

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