• by Wayne Friedman , June 16, 2008

CBS' "Swingtown" swung a little bit lower this week. The one-hour drama from CBS lost 18% of its ratings--coming in at a Nielsen 2.3/7 rating/adult 18-49 rating, down from a 2.8/8 the week before. The show runs at 10 p.m. on Thursdays.

The chief culprit was the NBA Finals on ABC, which improved to 4% to a 5.6/17 rating from a 5.4/17 the week before when the network aired the first game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics.

"Swingtown" wasn't the only new scripted drama to get pinched by the NBA. NBC's thriller anthology "Fear Itself" slipped 25% from last week's debut, to a 1.5/4 from a 2.0/6.

"Swingtown," the series about 1970s married adults who are having extramarital affairs, did not profit from some of the controversy that was created by TV pressure groups and the chatty blog world.

With the NBA, ABC led all networks on Thursday night among 18-49 viewers. It was first with a 3.7 rating/12 share. Fox was second at 2.3/7, CBS third at 2.2/7, NBC and Univision tied for fourth at 1.5/5, CW sixth at 0.7/2, and MyNetworkTV seventh at a 0.4/1.

Fox's best came from a 2.9/8 with "So You Think You Can Dance." CBS' top show was "Swingtown" with 2.3/7, followed by a "CSI" rerun at 9 p.m., which earned a 2.1/6. For NBC, the 90-minute "Last Comic Standing" posted a 1.7/5 rating.

Univision's top effort was a 1.7 for "Fuego en la Sangre" at 9 p.m. The CW had a pair of 0.7 ratings for a reruns of "Smallville" and "Supernatural." MyNetworkTV earned a 0.4/1 for its movie "Side Out."