Les Moonves thinks "Law & Order" will win its Wednesday-night time period again this season. But unlike past seasons, he believes his network, CBS, has at least a shot at competing with NBC's venerable cop show.

CBS has scheduled "CSI: NY," the third installment of its hit crime series, for 10 p.m. ET Wednesdays in the fall. That's opposite the "Law & Order" mothership, which in recent years has left a trail of cancelled series -- CBS' "Presidio Med" and "The Brotherhood of Poland, N.H." and ABC's "MDs" and "Karen Sisco" among them -- in its wake.

"When you have a weapon like 'CSI,' we finally have a weapon that can go in there and do some business," Moonves told reporters Sunday (July 18) at the TV Critics Association press tour about the scheduling move.

Moonves, co-president and co-COO of CBS' parent company, Viacom, also responded to comments "Law & Order" creator Dick Wolf made about his shows and "CSI" earlier in the tour. Wolf said that while "CSI" is a franchise -- where viewers can expect a similar formula in all three shows -- "L&O" is a "brand," with each series distinct from the others.

"Please write this when you write this comment," Moonves says. "I think Dick Wolf is one of the greatest producers in the history of network television, and I think 'Law & Order' is a spectacular show. I think clearly he showed that he's a little worried about the 'CSI' franchise by those remarks. ...

"Three's also a rating thing that's going on. 'CSI' is going up; the 'Law & Orders' are going down." Indeed, all three "Law & Order" shows lost viewers in 2003-04, while the original "CSI" was basically flat (it lost about 300,000 viewers compared to 2002-03) and "CSI: Miami" improved.

Still, like a football coach who publicly bad-mouths his team, Moonves isn't willing to say that "CSI: NY" will overtake "Law & Order" this season. Both shows are scheduled to premiere Wednesday, Sept. 22.

"'CSI: NY' is not going to beat 'Law & Order,'" he says. "However, 'CSI: NY' is going to do better than we've done in that time period in decades, so it's very exciting to be able to attack that."