Emmys will fight World Series, miniseries on competitive TV night

<br>LOS ANGELES (AP) _ The competition at the Emmy Awards will be fierce _ especially when it comes to snaring Sunday night viewers. <br><br>The twice-delayed ceremony, airing on the first weekend of the

Sunday, November 4th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ The competition at the Emmy Awards will be fierce _ especially when it comes to snaring Sunday night viewers.

The twice-delayed ceremony, airing on the first weekend of the November ``sweeps'' period, will face a decisive Game 7 of the World Series, a heavily promoted miniseries and the blockbuster movie ``Toy Story 2'' in the fight for ratings.

The Emmy ceremony traditionally airs in September before the start of the fall television season, with mostly reruns opposite it. But the sweeps period, used to set local ad rates, means there's a lot more at stake this year.

Ellen DeGeneres is host of the ceremony, which has adopted a low-frills approach in light of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The red-carpet fanfare of star arrivals has been reduced and participants were advised to wear dressy business attire instead of tuxedos and gowns.

CBS decided to set the Emmy telecast in November after the attacks and U.S. counterattacks kept the show from proceeding on Sept. 16 and then again Oct. 7.

``The West Wing'' and ``The Sopranos'' are vying for top honors in the 53rd annual primetime awards.

The telecast begins at 8 p.m. EST and other TV choices include the World Series on Fox, the animated movie ``Toy Story 2'' on ABC and part one of the World War II miniseries ``Uprising'' on NBC. On cable, HBO is showing the final chapter of another wartime miniseries, ``Band of Brothers.''

``It's going to be quite a night of TV if the seventh game (of the World Series) gets on,'' said Marc Berman, an analyst for Mediaweek. ``When networks have the right programming on, when it's diversified and interesting, there still can be an audience for the Emmys and the miniseries.''

The awards are used to hogging the ratings, however. Last year on ABC, the ceremony was the No. 3 program for the week of Sept. 4 and drew more than 21 million viewers _ its biggest audience since at least 1986, when Nielsen Media Research updated its methods for measuring viewers.