THE MYSTERY OF The CW's MISSING VIEWERS

How does one lose one million viewers? Well, you might want to ask Dawn Ostroff and the folks at The CW.

Before the new network began broadcasting, the expectation was that it would manage to retain or perhaps even slightly exceed the ratings of its predecessors The WB and UPN, especially when it came to their target audience in the 18-34 demo.

Now, although no one expected The CW to have such high ratings as The WB and UPN combined, the fact of the matter is that The CW has lost half that audience.

The two discontinued networks had 2,2 million viewers on average in their target 18-34 demo combined. So far this season only a little over one million viewers have been tuning into The CW. The question is: where have they all gone?

They have certainly not gone to the big networks whose median age is over 40. Could they be on the Internet? Or are they watching DVDs and playing video-games? Or have they simply stopped watching TV altogether?

The initial reserach shows most of the missing viewers are African American. The CW airs only one night of programming devoted to black audiences, whereas UPN aired two. Also, there are over 3 million loyal fans of the family drama "Everwood" that got cancelled at the last moment before the new network announced its schedule. Could any of them boycotting The CW for axing their show in favor of the decimated "7th Heaven"?

Whatever the case, The CW's overall ratings are not that stellar these days. The network has just cancelled its only new drama this fall that got bitchslapped by those wicked ladies on Wisteria Lane on Sunday night.

Perhaps the new reality fare "Horrors" or midseason drama "Palm Springs" starring Talor Handley (crazy Oliver on "The O.C.) will do the trick, but don't hold your breath.