• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, February 12, 2008

The writers' strike is effectively over, while the mysteries of TV program ratings continue.  Then again, some mysteries need only a history lesson.

CBS' Grammy Awards hit its lowest ratings since 1992 -- all against competition from the likes of Fox's animated comedies, "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," "100 Outrageous Moments," and an "American Gladiators" repeat.

So you are thinking this is not a supply and demand issue. With few new high-profile shows on network television, including one missing full-glamorous award show in the form of the Golden Globes, one would assume the Grammy Awards would have piled up big ratings.

Then again, the same argument was made just before "American Idol" returned to 10% lower ratings than the year before -- a normal drop for a show now in its seventh season.

What does this mean for the Academy Awards?  That maybe ABC needs to ramp up some big on-air promotion for the biggest of all entertainment awards shows? 

No. It has nothing to do with the promos, the writers' strike, the Internet, the new commercials ratings or a short supply of Britney and Paris stories.

Maybe TV -- network TV in particular -- still continues its natural and independent fall into a smaller, but still relevant media platform, the one where broadcast ratings points typically have dropped 3% to 5% every year starting in the early '90s (and the one where TV advertiser costs have risen each year by 5% or more).

Many TV producers will say this is the golden age of television - one that has given us plenty of quality dramas. Yet even before the strike, it was tough for many TV network producers to maintain the ratings levels of those shows from year to year.

Thus the Grammys are one glaringly high-profile show that got caught in the TV industry's gravitational pull. (And, yes, some can escape orbit from time to time. See this year's Super Bowl.)

If you don't believe this, then consider entertainment fatigue.

With CD sales in free fall, multitasking on the rise, the struggle of what to make of Super Tuesday and the Patriots' perfect season down the drain, maybe viewers needed to stop the music -- at least for one night.