'Grey's' could be best buddy of 'ER'

This is the story of "Grey's Anatomy" and "ER," which both air Thursday nights.

"Grey's" has been seen by an average of 24 million viewers this season. Before this, ABC hadn't had a No. 1 hit on Thursday night in nearly 30 years, when "Laverne & Shirley" briefly nested there during the 1979 season.

"ER" was TV's big kahuna in the 1995, '96 and '98 seasons and has been a top-10 stalwart for almost each of the past 13 seasons. In terms of commercial potency, this has been one of the stellar hits in network history -- and remained so until senescence struck. With all original cast members gone, ratings way down in 2005 and a prevailing sense (even at NBC) that the show's creative arteries were sclerotic, this was expected to be the last or next-to-last season.

Now, take another look: So far this season, "ER" is NBC's most-viewed scripted series (averaging 15 million viewers) and virtually tied with the network's hot Monday newcomer "Heroes" among younger viewers (both get 6.5 percent of adults between the ages of 18 and 49 in their time periods).

"ER," once again, is winning its time period and is acting like a young whippersnapper. Besides the fact that aging hits almost never reverse downward spirals, why is this unusual?

There are a couple of reasons. First, "ER" is actually the better of the two Thursday hospital shows. Gone are last season's histrionics and violent nuttiness. The show has gotten back to doing what it always did best -- telling the stories of average people in extreme peril. The recent "Ames v. Kovac" episode with guest star Forest Whitaker was superb.

While the drama seems richer and sturdier than in recent seasons, the show has shrewdly added a stubble-faced counterpart to "Grey's" "Dr. McDreamy," played by Patrick Dempsey -- John Stamos as Dr. Tony Gates. Stamos is the same vintage (43) as Dempsey (40), and both were late-'80s teen icons.

Curiously, "Grey's Anatomy" is probably the key reason that "ER" is back on top. "ER's" current show-runner and executive producer, David Zabel, says: "I didn't anticipate this. I was afraid that what the audience would feel is that if they saw one (hospital) show at 9, then they might not want to see another one at 10. I'm happy to say I was wrong."

What's happening is called "drafting" an audience from one show to another. If a program ("Grey's Anatomy") on one network is a huge hit, then another following on a competing network gets viewers in its "draft." "ER" appears to be as much a beneficiary as the ABC show that should be getting the assist, "Six Degrees," which follows "Grey's" at 10.

Networks don't like the draft effect, but the TV audience is a fickle and uncontrollable beast, so they can't entirely eliminate it.