Branding the franchise — CSI and Law & Order step up the competition this fall

That's the sort of comment that sets Wolf and NBC Universal president Jeff Zucker off. Yes, "Law & Order's" audience declined — but it's not the show's fault. " 'Law & Order's' ratings were down last season, but that was really a function of a much-lower lead-in from 'West Wing,' " Zucker said. "The fact is the ratings for 'Law & Order' last season were exactly where they were four years ago before 'West Wing' became a phenomenon and actually drove up the whole night."

Wolf didn't exactly go out of his way to praise the competition, but he did say "CSI: NY" is "absolutely" the strongest competition "Law & Order" has had in its 14 seasons on the air. I mean, I'd be retarded if I didn't know that. There is no question about it."

Zucker added, "I think, obviously, this is the biggest competition that 'Law & Order' has faced in a long time. And 'CSI' is obviously an incredibly powerful franchise, and that's a terrific show. So it'll be a very strong duel between the two."

And the battle between the two shows shapes up as not only among the most interesting but certainly among the most important in the ongoing war between the networks for the upcoming season. Moonves compared it to what CBS did on Thursday nights, where the original "CSI" went in at 8 p.m. and beat NBC's sitcoms — something no one had been able to do in almost two decades. And then, CBS set up "Without a Trace" as the first serious threat to "ER" in that show's history.

" 'Law & Order" is a powerhouse on Wednesday night. It has dominated that time period," Moonves said. "When you have a weapon like 'CSI,' we finally . . . can go in there and do some business, which is a time period we haven't done business in for many, many years."

Not that anybody at CBS or "CSI" is predicting victory. Zuiker all but canonized Wolf as a patron saint of network TV. "I have such a high regard for Dick Wolf," said Zuiker, who declined when offered a chance to swipe back at Wolf for his earlier comments. "Six years ago I was on a tram at the Mirage making $8 an hour. And for years prior to that, I was a huge television fan and a huge 'Law & Order' fan. And I always dreamed one day to have something on the air and to do something like Dick Wolf has done."

Zuiker said he feels fortunate to have three shows on the air and to just have a chance to compete against Wolf. "The one thing I learned about this whole situation is, there's no such thing as competition — there's just good company. And he's been on for, what, 14, 15 years? If we can emulate one-tenth of what that man has done, we would be in great shape.