Summer Sitcoms Put on Ice

The Grim Reaper doesn't do summer vacation. Unfortunately for Nathan Lane and a certain talking baby.

The Angel of Death, acting on behalf of CBS, has touched two summertime sitcoms, Lane's Charlie Lawrence and the babbling Baby Bob.

Both shows got the short end of the scythe after just a handful of airings. Charlie Lawrence, starring Lane as a freshman Congressman, was replaced by a CSI: Miami repeat on Sunday night, just two episodes into its run. Baby Bob, starring Adam Arkin and Joely Fisher as parents of a preternaturally talkative tot, saw its Friday night time slot handed over to a Price Is Right prime-time special, three episodes into its abbreviated second season.

CBS says both shows may return, but don't hold your breath. Charlie Lawrence is stage star Lane's second failed sitcom since 1998's Encore! Encore! (third, if you count 1982's One of the Boys, which you shouldn't, since he wasn't famous yet, and, hence, shouldn't be held responsible for star Mickey Rooney's failings.) The show was eyed for the Eyeball's midseason lineup, then scheduled for summer, and now reserved for later.

In its two airings, Charlie Lawrence averaged 4.9 million viewers. Sunday's CSI: Miami rerun brought in 6.6 million customers, per Nielsen Media Research.

Similarly, CBS got more bang out of Bob Barker hawking washing machines on The Price Is Right (5.6 million viewers), than Arkin making goo-goo eyes on Baby Bob (averaging 5.3 million viewers).

Mr. Reaper, meanwhile, may have to back off from The Drew Carey Show. The long-running and/or tired ABC sitcom, depending on your level of respect for the blue-collar comedy, showed signs of life in its return to prime time.

The comedy, off the air since January, bowed Wednesday with back-to-back episodes, including its 200th overall. The shows both placed in the top 35 for the prime-time week ended Sunday, averaging 7 million viewers each. That's up from the 5.4 million it was drawing for the TV year to date. At its peak, in 1996-97, Drew Carey carried on each week with 17 million fans.

Elsewhere, NBC reality shows For Love or Money (12th place, 8.7 million viewers), Last Comic Standing (18th place, 8 million) and Fame (44th place, 6.6 million) held steady, while Fox reality shows American Juniors and Paradise Hotel faded.

The Tuesday competition installment of American Juniors was watched by 8.2 million (15th place); Wednesday's result show, by just 6.7 million (39th place). Two episodes of the hottie-populated Paradise Hotel, airing Monday and Wednesday nights, averaged a tepid 6 million, keeping the show mired in fiftysomethingth place.

The fourth edition of CBS' Amazing Race legged it to 20th place, with 7.9 million.

The week's lone reality-show launch, ABC's The Dating Experiment, barely set sail, with 4.8 million viewers (78th place).

The WB's Boarding House: North Shore, meanwhile, did no better, no worse, than its wipeout of a premiere. The surf-friendly show treaded water with 2.3 million (99th place). A Sunday night rebroadcast was the week's least-watched major broadcast network offering, with just 1.5 million viewers (109th place).

A Primetime Thursday interview on ABC with Eminem's mom--Debbie Mathers-Briggs (not Kim Basinger) proved popular with 8.6 million (13th place).

Two specials didn't put up very special numbers. ABC's American Celebration at Ford's Theatre, hailing President Bush, finished an inauspicious 68th (5.3 million viewers). Fox's broadcast of the 2003 Essence Awards, hailing Queen Latifah, was honored by just 4.5 million (80th place).

The top 10, to be brief about it, looked like this: CSI (squared), Law & Order (to the fourth power).

Overall, the Law & Order-led NBC was the week's most-watched network, averaging 7.8 million viewers. Trailing were the CSI-led CBS with 7.7 million; Fox, with 5.8 million; and, ABC, with 5.6 million. UPN bested the WB, 2.9 million to 2.3 million.

Here's a detailed rundown of the 10 most watched shows for the week ended Sunday, according to Nielsen Media Research:

1. CSI, CBS, 13.8 million
2. Without a Trace, CBS, 12.4 million
3. CSI: Miami (Monday), CBS, 12 million
4. Law & Order (10 p.m., Wednesday), NBC, 11.5 million
5. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, NBC, 10.5 million
6. Law & Order: Criminal Intent, NBC, 10.4 million
7. Everybody Loves Raymond, CBS, 10.38 million
8. Law & Order (9 p.m., Wednesday), NBC, 9.966 million
9. King of Queens, CBS, 9.961 million
10. Friends, NBC, 9.1 million