THE SEXIEST STARS ON TELEVISION

BYLINE: BY Denene Millner -- She can't really dance, but what she lacks in rhythm she makes up in sheer beauty - enough to stop most men in their tracks when the music keys up in those funky Sprint commercials.

And when Dr. Luka Kovac tempted "ER" nurse Carol Hathaway into tilting her head back for a lustful kiss, both she and the women watching all over America were like, "George who?"

It's Sela Ward. And Goran Visnjic.

They're as sexy as it gets.

Ward, of ABC's "Once and Again," and Visnjic, of NBC's "ER," top New York Vue's list of television's 20 sexiest stars - the men and women who make us curl up and tune in week after week.

Whatever the show, all these actors are talented. Some of the characters they play are witty - others are intelligent and strong. A lot of their series are mega-hits. But the one quality they have in common? They're all sexy as hell.

Some of the stars who made our list are givens. Who wouldn't think "The Practice's" Dylan McDermott (No. 2 among the men), with his dreamy blue eyes and that come-hither grin, or Jesse L. Martin (7) of "Law & Order," with that earnest, honest look and lady-slaying pretty-boy face, are anything less than perfect 10s?

Or that Lucy Liu (No. 2 among the women), with her razor-sharp looks and attitude to match, and Sarah Jessica Parker (8), with her sexy designer duds and super-buffed bod, aren't creeping into every guy's naughty dreams?

They make sense - as do "The X-Files'" David Duchovny (3), "NYPD Blue's" Henry Simmons (6), "Sex and the City's" Chris Noth (8), "ER's" Michael Michele (tied for 7) and "Jack and Jill's" Amanda Peet (tied at No. 3).

But some of the others who made it onto our list will certainly raise an eyebrow or two.

Did anyone expect Sam Waterston - ranked No. 5 - not only to make the the top 10, but to beat out Simmons and Noth, and even "Once and Again's" Billy Campbell (10)? And what about "Soprano" strongman James Gandolfini (9)? Or that "Sex and the City" siren Kim Cattrall (tied at No. 3 with "Jack and Jill's" Amanda Peet) would beat out "Charmed's" Alyssa Milano (4) and cutie pie Deborah Messing (10) of "Will and Grace?"

Cattrall is understandable. Chalk it up to her oversexed antics, the likes of which would make Madonna blush. There's hardly a man alive who didn't wish he was that firefighter helping Cattrall's "Sex and the City" character, Samantha, act out her fire-truck fantasy.

Waterston, however, is not the conventional hunk. Perhaps it's his power and intelligence as a prosecutor in the hugely popular "Law & Order" that's the turnon - that and his helmet, one admirer said.

"He's the perfect public-spirited WASP," she said. "I especially like him when he changes into jeans and carries his motorcycle helmet. And the way his voice cracks is pretty sexy, too."

Comedy Central's Jon Stewart (4) scored high in the brains department, too.

Sela Ward, at age 43, beat out the barely-out-of-puberty, twentysomething siren Sarah Michelle Gellar (5) of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." And with good reason, say those who picked Ward as the sexiest woman on TV.

"Just gorgeous," one said. "Mature, beautiful dark hair, great body, killer smile. Every woman should look this good at age 43. Yum, yum."

Said another Ward admirer: "She's the classiest, sexiest, most sophisticated. She's not like one of those bubblegum people."

Adoration flowed much the same way for Visnjic, who joined "ER" last season, as Clooney made his way to the movies. "It's that sly, Euro thing," one of his fans said. "I don't watch 'ER,' but the first time I saw him, I said to my wife, 'Who's that?' "

We know who he is - and the company he keeps on our "Top 20 Sexiest People on TV." And now you will, too.__NY Daily News (July 23, 2000)