The Network TV Ratings War for Thursdays

The battle for ratings marches on, an while only imaginary lives are lost as programs come and go, the war for the attention of viewers is as heated as any armed conflict.

With the departure of William L. Petersen from "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," and the finale of "ER," the champion of prime time programming for Thursdays is up for grabs.

Hollywood uses primetime Thursday to lure audiences to the theaters. Add to this the dominance of cable programming on Sundays, and "America Idol" on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and Thursday becomes one of the few nights networks can still compete for viewers.

Twenty years ago, NBC owned the night, first with "The Cosby Show" and "Cheers" in the 80s, and "Seinfeld" and "Friends" in the 90s. CBS took control of the night at the dawn of the millennium with "Survivor." While many viewers have migrated to cable, the time has come for networks to take risky moves with their Thursday night lineups.

The economic downturn has hurt networks where it counts, in their wallets.

Advertising revenue drops have caused major management changes in the program development departments of several major networks. While the shakeup is intended to bring new life to network programming, what is predictable is we will see more of the same formula sitcoms, hospital and crime dramas, and spinoffs.