NEW YORK -Viewers aren't doing much laughing these days -at least intentionally.
Only two of Nielsen Media Research's top 30 programs last week were situation comedies and one of them -CBS' Everybody Loves Raymond -ends its network run next month. The only other top-rated sitcom: Two and a Half Men.
Laughs aren't necessarily absent elsewhere: ABC's Desperate Housewives is classified as a comedy, and reality shows have some funny moments. And CBS' Sunday movie last week, Locusts
had its camp appeal.
But the ratings are otherwise dominated by drama and reality, with comedy at a low ebb.
The top-rated non-CBS sitcom last week, ABC's According to Jim was No. 40 with roughly one-third of the viewers American Idol routinely gets. Once the gold standard, NBC's Thursday comedies finished even lower -Will & Grace (No. 45) and Joey (No. 55).
Several ABC comedies -Hope & Faith George Lopez and Jake in Progress -were among that network's lowest-rated offerings.
With the final months of the TV season looming, it was another dominant week for CBS, which averaged 12.5 million viewers (8.1 rating, 13 share). Fox was second with 9.2 million viewers (5.7, 9) and won among the key 18-to-49-year-old demographic. ABC had 8.7 million (5.6, 9), NBC 8.4 million (5.7, 10), the WB 3.3 million (2.2, 4), UPN 3.2 million (2.1, 4) and Pax TV 590,000 (0.4, 1).
NBC's Nightly News won the evening news ratings race, averaging 8.6 million viewers (6.1, 13). ABC's World News Tonight had 8.5 million viewers (6.0, 13) and the CBS Evening News had 6.1 million (4.4, 9).
A ratings point represents 1,096,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 109.6 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.
For the week of April 18-24, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CBS, 27 million; American Idol (Tuesday), Fox, 24.1 million; Desperate Housewives
ABC, 23.9 million; American Idol (Wednesday), Fox, 22.7 million; CSI: Miami
CBS, 20.1 million; Survivor: Palau
CBS, 19.3 million; Grey's Anatomy
ABC, 17.9 million; House
Fox, 17.5 million; Two and a Half Men
CBS, 17.1 million; Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
ABC, 17.1 million.
