There's nothing official yet, but there's widespread speculation that NBC is about to yank "Coupling" off the air — at least for the duration of the upcoming November sweeps.

The Americanized Britcom has done so poorly that it's dragging NBC's once invincible Thursday lineup down with it. "Coupling" is not the only offender — "Friends" is down more than 10 percent from a year ago, and "ER's" ratings last week were 15 percent lower than a year ago — but "Coupling" is the worst offender.

How bad is it? After just three weeks on the air, NBC yanked Thursday's episode in favor of a "Whoopi" rerun.

A week ago, "Coupling" finished third in its time slot (behind "CSI" and a baseball playoff game), something that was absolutely unheard of for years for one of NBC's Thursday-night shows — even for a long line of sitcom losers that includes "Jesse," "Stark Raving Mad," "Veronica's Closet," "Union Square," "Suddenly Susan," "The Single Guy," "Madman of the People" and "Fired Up."

Last week, more than a quarter of the households that watched "Will & Grace" on NBC didn't stick around to watch "Coupling." Which explains why ABC's "Extreme Makeover" has higher ratings in its second half-hour than it does in its first.

That chortling you hear is coming from the KSL-Ch. 5 executives who decided not to air the show. (It can be seen Thursdays at 10 p.m. on Ch. 30.)

Maybe NBC Entertainment president Jeff Zucker was wrong when he opined that "America is ready" for all the naughtiness in "Coupling." It's more likely that Americans simply recognize "Coupling" for the bad show that it is.

That wouldn't have mattered not so long ago. NBC was so strong that the other networks would put up only token resistance against the "Must-See TV" Thursday juggernaut.

That's no longer true, at least not in the case of CBS, which rules Thursdays from 8-9 p.m. with a seemingly unstoppable juggernaut of its own — "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," the No. 1 show on television. And CBS has done what no one thought was possible — put on a three-hour Thursday-night lineup that competes quite favorably with NBC's.

NBC continues to lead among the advertiser-friendly 18-49 demographic for the night (winning the 7-8 p.m. and 9-10 p.m. hours, but losing to "CSI" from 8-9 p.m.). But CBS leads in households and total viewers.

Thursdays are the biggest night for both networks. Last week's top 10 includes No. 1 "CSI" (CBS), No. 2 "Friends" (NBC), No. 3 "ER" (NBC), No. 4 "Survivor" (CBS) and No. 10 "Without a Trace" (CBS).

It's not all good news for all the networks. ABC, Fox, the WB and UPN are battling for the crumbs left by CBS and NBC.

But with "Friends" in its final season and a weakened NBC lineup from top to bottom, Thursdays could become even more competitive.

BIG CHANGES: As expected, the fact that "Without a Trace" repeats destroyed "ER" repeats in the ratings over the summer did not instantly translate into "Trace" winning when the two shows began airing new episodes this fall. But the gap has narrowed considerably.

On Oct. 10, 2002, "ER" did an 18.2 rating, 64 percent higher than the 11.1 rating for "Without a Trace." On Oct. 9, 2003, "ER" did a 15.4 rating, 18 percent higher than the 13.1 rating for "Without a Trace."

Looks like a trend.

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