Special Coverage 2008 Fall Movie PreviewThe Must List2008 Fall TV PreviewSound Bites
How ABC's shows fared this season | 174820__lost_l
WHO'S DESPERATE NOW? ABC climbed back onto solid ground thanks to crowd-pleasers like Lost, with Matthew Fox and Evangeline Lilly, and Housewives
Lost Photograph by Justin Stephens

All About

8 Simple Rules

The alphabet net mounted a stunner of a comeback by any measure: It's edged out NBC in total viewers; it's beating the Peacock in adults 18-49 season-to-date; and, in a move that drew cheers from even its competition, it resurrected the serialized drama form with critical obsessions Desperate Housewives (No. 2) and Lost (No. 6). ''The type of dramas we developed was different, the way we marketed was different,'' says ABC Entertainment exec VP Jeff Bader. ''Both of those shows were everywhere.''

Not all was Lost, however: Every accolade that went to the network's two mega-breakouts was one that didn't go to new drama life as we know it (No. 105) or freshman sitcoms Rodney (No. 39) and Complete Savages (No. 82), the latter of which suffered as part of the declining TGIF family comedy block. Wacky Practice spin-off Boston Legal (No. 24) has been living in the shadow of the big hits as well — particularly Housewives, which provides a massive lead-in but also boosts expectations for the show. ''When you follow a phenomenon, you're going to lose a lot of the audience,'' Bader says. ''We know we have to do something to keep more of it.'' (To that end, Candice Bergen will join the cast in January to lure more female viewers.)

The net's former signature unscripted staple, The Bachelor (No. 43), hit a thorny patch (viewership was down 30 percent), and Apprentice wannabe The Benefactor (No. 98) got trumped by NBC's reliable gross-out fest Fear Factor (No. 27). But ABC cornered the market on feel-good reality that audiences love to love, like No. 34 Wife Swap and Sunday phenomenon Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (No. 11). ''We're impacting people's real lives,'' says Bader. ''There's a difference between our reality and Fox reality.''

Other Winners According to Jim, up 1.1 million; America's Funniest Home Videos, up 400,000

Other Losers 8 Simple Rules, down 3.5 million; Hope & Faith, down 1.4 million


Sign up for EW.com's What to Watch Newsletter!

What to watch on TV. Hear what's on tap for the night ahead and get witty, morning after recaps of top shows (sent weekday mornings).
Posted Dec 16, 2004 | Order Article Reprints