Where have all the young men gone?

As
the ratings have rolled in for the first three weeks of the new television
season, one question has dominated the conversations inside the industry’s
executive suites: what the heck is going on?

Network executives are baffled by a season unlike any seen before. Returning
hit shows like "Friends" and "E.R." are losing significant
numbers of viewers from previous years. New shows have performed far worse
than almost anyone expected, a result capped off Monday night when the
Fox network started two shows that had received huge promotional pushes
during the baseball playoffs, "The Next Joe Millionaire" and "Skin," and
they posted crushingly disappointing numbers. And men between 18 and 24
are apparently deserting television in droves. So far this year nearly
20 percent fewer men in that advertiser-friendly demographic are watching
television during prime time than during the same period last year.

Video games? On-line porno? Blogging?

from the New York Times