Fans of television comedy are stuck in a time warp.

TV viewers are watching more sitcoms each week than they did a decade ago, a new study concluded. Unfortunately for broadcast networks, they're tuning in to "Friends," "Seinfeld" and "Everybody Loves Raymond" reruns more than anything new.

As network executives spend early spring plotting their fall schedules, the statistics illustrate how these programmers are forced to compete against the best of the last 30 years.

"The viewers say we're not going to tolerate mediocrity anymore because we've got the classics and there's a lot of competition out there," said NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly last week.

There have been a few new sitcom successes this season: NBC's "My Name is Earl" and CBS' "How I Met Your Mother."

Still, only two sitcoms rank among Nielsen Media Research's top 20 programs this season: CBS' "Two and a Half Men" and "The New Adventures of Old Christine," the latter with only three episodes aired.

The ratings would indicate that people just aren't interested in watching sitcoms anymore.

Not so. The average household is tuning in 4.84 hours worth of sitcoms each week this season, according to a report by ad buyers Magna Global. During the 1993-94 season, it was 3.78 hours.

Twelve seasons ago, more than half of that comedy viewing (56 percent) came in prime-time on the big broadcast networks. Startlingly, this year only 13 percent of this season's sitcom-watching fits that category.

Where are they going? Nick at Nite delivers a prime-time lineup with "Roseanne" and "The Cosby Show," and TBS with "Seinfeld," "Everybody Loves Raymond," "Friends" and "Sex and the City."

An average of 171 hours of comedy were aired each week during the 1993-94 season on broadcast networks, cable and in syndication, the report said. This season, there are 568 hours of comedy on each week.

Executives like Reilly constantly see research showing young people consider sitcoms a tired genre; yet the viewership figures indicate they're more than willing to watch the good ones.

"When you put on a new one that's shy of the mark, it's considered another knock on the genre," he said.

The heightened competition puts more pressure on show producers to come up with compelling concepts with sharp writing, said Nina Tassler, CBS entertainment president.

Considering that roughly four in five homes have only one TV set turned on each night in prime time, it's evident that families are looking for something to watch together, said Steve Sternberg, the Magna Global report's author.

Families are increasingly turning to reality shows to experience together — as this season's phenomenal ratings for "American Idol" indicate, Reilly said.

"It's always smart to have a healthy balance of traditional and nontraditional," Tassler said.

The executives are certainly continuing to try, judging by the comedy projects in development. Among the more likely to hit the air in the next year: