http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=597&e=1&u=/nm/20040405/tv_nm/television_littleton_dc

The 2003-04 television season is poised to go down in the annals of broadcasting history as the year when reality programming roared.

That was reinforced in stark terms in Friday morning's overnight ratings report, which delivered the news that NBC's "The Apprentice" had beaten primetime's hottest scripted series, CBS' "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," in the coveted adults 18-49 demo for the first time in their head-to-head competition in the Thursday 9 p.m. hour.

The parade of unscripted insta-hits this season led by NBC's "Apprentice" and "Average Joe," Fox's "The Simple Life" and "My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance" and ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" has led to a conventional wisdom in the industry that programs in the reality/alternative genre have been steadily supplanting scripted comedies and dramas on the Big Four networks ever since ABC's "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and CBS' "Survivor" ignited things in the summers of 1999 and 2000, respectively.

But in fact, that is not really the case, according to a detailed and insightful five-year analysis of primetime scheduling and rating trends issued last week by network TV analyst Steve Sternberg of advertising giant Magna Global.

The spread of unscripted/reality programs in primetime since the 1999-2000 season has come at the expense of movies (both theatrical and made-for-TV titles), game shows (i.e. "Millionaire" and its copycats) and assorted specials. The number of primetime hours devoted to comedy and drama series on the six major broadcast networks has actually increased during the past five seasons, from 54% of all primetime hours in 1999-2000 to 57% in the current season, according to Sternberg's analysis of network and Nielsen Media Research data.

The big headline for network TV this year has been the growing age gap in primetime and how younger viewers, especially the 18-34 crowd, have all but tuned out of network comedies and dramas but are flocking to unscripted shows. But that trend may have been overstated.

According to Sternberg's analysis, the percentage of the total volume of primetime adults 18-34 rating points that come from unscripted/alternative series has definitely soared in recent years, from 3% in 1999-2000 to 20% this season. The percentage of adults 18-34 rating points that comes from comedy series has dipped to 20% this season from 22% in 1999-2000. In drama, the trend is heading the other way, with 32% of adults 18-34 rating points coming from drama series this season, compared with 31% in 1999-2000 (dramas hit a five-year high of 34% in 2002-03).

However, taking a look at the young demo percentages for January-February of this year (the midseason shuffle period when the networks called in the reality cavalry to shore up troubled time slots), the percentage of adults 18-34 rating points coming from reality spiked to 27%, while the percentage coming from comedies and dramas combined hit a four-season low of 46%, according to Sternberg.

What does it all mean? Among Sternberg's conclusions is that reality programming has been an effective tool for networks to counterprogram dominated scripted series, i.e. "Average Joe" allowing NBC to run a respectable No. 2 to CBS' "CSI: Miami" in the Monday 10 p.m. slot. But reality isn't bulletproof, even among younger viewers. Think "Joe Millionaire 2" or "Are You Hot?"

"As always, viewers don't watch networks, nor do they watch genres -- they watch programs," Sternberg wrote. "They don't watch 'Survivor,' 'American Idol' or 'The Apprentice' because the industry labels them as reality series. They watch them because they're good shows."