• by Wayne Friedman , September 19, 2008

After a good opening night for its dramas on Tuesday, Fox tripped up on Wednesday with its two comedies, both losing 20% of its ratings in their respective second outings.

Both "Do Not Disturb" and "'Til Death" fell under the 2.0 rating mark among 18-49 viewers. "Disturb," a rookie show, had a 1.6 rating/4 share at 9:30 p.m., and its 9 p.m. lead-in, returning comedy "Til Death," went to a 1.9/5. That said, Fox's "Bones" started the night at 8 p.m. with a nice 3.2/10, up 7% from a 3.0 rating a week ago.

One TV marketing executive blames the network, saying that Fox was on the light side in promoting its comedies--especially "Do Not Disturb"--using insufficient TV promos on its own network airwaves.

In the coming weeks, things only get tougher for the shows, with new episodes of CBS' sturdy "Criminal Minds" and NBC airing the last episodes of this summer's "America's Got Talent" edition.

NBC's summer talent show earned good numbers on Wednesday night's two-hour block, earning a 3.1/9--the night's most-watched program overall.

CBS also scored well, especially with its repeats of its dramas "Criminal Minds" and "CSI:NY." Both earned a 2.2/6.

Even the CW had a decent night with its "America's Next Top Model," improving a bit to a 2.1/6 among 18-49 viewers.

On Tuesday night, Fox's "House" debuted to a strong 5.6/16, with Fox's lead-out new drama "Fringe" improving to a 5.1/13 from a 3.2/9 the week before.

Preliminary 18-49 averages gave NBC the win on Wednesday with a 2.7/8. Fox was next with a 2.5/7; then CBS at 1.9/5; Univision at 1.8/5; CW at 1.6/4; and ABC at 1.3/4.