As the November sweeps - a period when the networks try to boost ratings so their affiliates can increase their ad rates - get under way, all six networks can find something to crow about. While there are no huge breakout hits yet, several new shows are performing decently and veterans such as CBS's "Everybody Loves Raymond" and NBC's "Friends" still have plenty of firepower. Of course, each network also has some big worries as well.

So far this season, the average prime-time audience for the six networks for regularly scheduled programming is 10.5 million, a 4 per cent increase over last year, and the ratings among adults 18 to 49 years old are also holding steady.

Perhaps the biggest surprise this fall is how well News Corp.'s Fox is faring. Fox traditionally starts out very slowly in the fall and spends the rest of the season trying to recover. But this season, thanks in part to a strong Monday comprising David E. Kelley dramas "Boston Public" and "Ally McBeal" and the Tuesday lineup of "That '70s Show," "Titus" and the new drama "Dark Angel," Fox is up in both total viewers and adults 18 to 49. However, Fox still has problems on Wednesday, where its new drama "The $treet" hasn't fared well, and on Friday, where its new science-fiction show "Freakylinks" isn't clicking with most viewers.

Walt Disney Co.'s ABC is off to a slow start. The network, which won the crown among viewers and adults 18 to 49 last year, may have bet too heavily on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." While ABC is in first place in terms of overall viewers, it is losing the 18 to 49 audience that advertisers covet and has fallen to second place in the demographic behind General Electric's NBC. The median age for ABC has gone from 42 at this time last year to 47 this year as younger viewers flee Regis Philbin.

"ABC has the most problems," says Mr Steve Sternberg, executive vice president of True North Communications Inc.'s TN Media unit. "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" hasn't been delivering what the network promised advertisers and additional commercials, or "make-good" spots, have been provided to cover shortfalls, but Michael Shaw, ABC's president of network sales and marketing, says the network is "not in trouble with make-goods" and "has the advertising inventory to take care of anybody."

ABC has other headaches besides the aging of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." "They really have to fix Friday," says Andy Donchin, director of national broadcast for media buying firm Carat USA, a unit of London-based Aegis Group. All four of the network's comedies on that night are tanking, and the loss of the comedy "Sabrina," which moved to the WB, is hurting ABC.

Gaining from ABC's troubles is NBC, but the network has had little to boast about when it comes to its new shows. Already gone are "Deadline," the newspaper drama from "Law & Order" creator Dick Wolf, as well as comedies "Tucker" and "Daddio." Its new soap opera "Titans," from Aaron Spelling, and its Thursday comedy "Cursed" are also struggling. The network's lone bright spot among its new shows is the quirky Sunday drama "Ed." But even that critically acclaimed show has seen its ratings tumble since its premiere last month. However, the strength of NBC's veteran shows, including "Friends," "ER," "Frasier" and "The West Wing," is, for now anyway, covering the holes elsewhere on the network's schedule.