Yet more evidence that the broadcast networks are in deep trouble

Even someone who can only aspire to the job title of burglar knows that even when the lights are on that doesn't necessarily mean that anyone's home. Likewise, TV viewers understand that just because the broadcast networks are insisting their lights are still on by touting original summer programming, that doesn't mean it's anything to stay home for.

Mediaweek reports that the networks' summer reality programming isn't exactly cutting it. Well, "Hell's Kitchen" and "So You Think You Can Dance" is doing all right on Fox, and "Million-Dollar Password" is doing OK for CBS. But CBS's scripted show "Swingtown" is one of the most popular summer series so far, suggesting that not all viewers simply snap off their brains at the summer equinox.

The networks feel they have to trot out torpid nonsense like "Celebrity Circus," "Baby Borrowers" (debuting next week) and "Greatest American Dog" (coming July 10) because scripted shows don't repeat nearly as well as they used to. But look at last night: The highest-rated shows were repeats of "House," "Bones," "Two and a Half Men" and "CSI: Miami," while NBC's "American Gladiators" and "Nashville Star" and ABC's "Bachelorette" were pretty underwhelming, while "The Mole" absolutely tanked - more people watched Nickelodeon's "iCarly Saves TV" last Friday, a night with far fewer viewers available, than "The Mole."

And next month, cable really uncorks its arsenal of original scripted series, which will really drain viewers away from the broadcast networks. Here's a list of some of the programs:

Tuesday, July 1: "Secret Life of the American Teenager" (ABC Family)
Thursday, July 10: "Burn Notice" (USA)

Sunday, July 13: "Generation Kill" (HBO)
Monday, July 14: "The Closer"/"Saving Grace" (TNT)
Tuesday, July 15: "The Cleaner" (A&E)
Friday, July 18: "Monk"/"Psyche" (USA)
Sunday, July 27: "Mad Men" (AMC)

Among the broadcast networks, during that time only CBS will present a new scripted show, "Flashpoint," on Friday, July 11. I haven't seen "Secret Life of the American Teenager" (not to be confused, I hope, with Showtime's "Secret Diary of a Call Girl") or "The Cleaner" yet, but all of those other shows are as good as if not better than anything the broadcast networks offer.

In recent years, the broadcast networks have lost a sizable chunk of audience from fall to fall as more viewers venture out and dip a toe into the cable waters, like what they see and not feel the need to return. Network executives insist that airing dreck like CBS's upcoming reality competition "Jingles" (in which contestants write tunes for commercials - that'll be thrilling TV) does, in fact, constitute something more than simply airing test patterns, but audiences are clearly not buying their argument, so these executives are clearly just whistling past the graveyard as they load their summer schedules with shows determined to drive away their viewers and hoping for the best come fall.

What's wrong with putting some decent TV on during the summer? As media analyst John Rash put it, "Individual program costs need to be weighed. But the price paid in eroding audiences also has to be considered."