Editor’s note: Each summer, Tom Jicha reports from Hollywood on the networks’ plans for the fall.

The ongoing slump in TV comedy might have an extraordinarily simple explanation. There aren’t enough funny real-life families.

The creative team behind Everybody Loves Raymond has been concocting hilarious stories for eight years merely by following the axiom to write what they know. "We always say that whenever we run out of stories, we go home and get in a fight with our wives," creator and co-executive producer Phil Rosenthal said. "And we’ve been known to keep the fights going a little longer sometimes because we need a second act."

Rosenthal isn’t kidding, said Steve Skrovan, another executive producer. "We always talk about having arguments with our wives. In my case, I’ll be having an argument and my wife talks about seeing my eyes [wander off]. That’s immediately the cue for her to go, `This is not for the show. This is not for the show.’ Then I remind her how much we get paid per episode and she goes, `OK, it’s for the show.’"

A memorable episode about unpacking came from the life of another colleague, Tucker Cawley. Returning from a vacation fatigued, he and his wife put down their bag, rationalizing they would empty it in the morning.

Neither did, Cawley recalls. He got home from work the next night and the bag was right where they had left it. Cawley figured his wife just hadn’t gotten around to it but would sooner or later. A week or two went by and the suitcase remained untouched. It had become a war of wills. "I decided she was going to wait a long time [for him to unpack it]," Cawley said.

"I didn’t even think of it as a story because it was so inactive. It was just me staring at the suitcase and grumbling. But everyone really seemed to spark to it and we beat it into a story idea."

Rosenthal credits even his children with inspiring shows. He related the story of a parents’ day when his son Ben was in first grade. The students were invited to read aloud stories they had written. "A little girl told a story of a lion with chickenpox and it was very cute. A little boy told a story of an escape from a blue planet. Then Ben got up, opened his book and read, The Angry Family. I was mortified, because everybody turned and looked at us. Then, in the next split second, I thought, `How lucky am I to have a child who writes for my television show?’"

Fact is, all the characters in the show are based on someone in the families of Rosenthal or Ray Romano. "Ray’s dad had certain peculiarities, let’s say," Rosenthal said, trying to be diplomatic. Romano’s parents really did live close by in Queens and his brother, a police sergeant, was divorced, so he moved back in with them.

"He actually said one day when he came over and saw Ray’s Cable Ace Award, `It never ends for Raymond. Everybody loves Raymond.’ I kind of filled in with the characters from my crazy family," Rosenthal said.

He joked that one reason he was reluctant to do a ninth season was a fear that if the writers kept picking arguments with their spouses for the sake of the show, they would all wind up divorced.

The suspense over whether Everybody Loves Raymond would come back this fall became a behind-the-scenes soap opera last season. Rosenthal kept stalling on giving CBS a decision until the network had to know so that it could put together a schedule. Finally, Rosenthal agreed to an abbreviated season of 16 episodes, two-thirds of the norm.

Coincidentally, this is the same number Friends did last season. Rosenthal expects CBS will fill out the schedule with viewers’ choice episodes, again just as NBC did with Friends. Rosenthal quipped that he wouldn’t mind if CBS created a bigger fuss around the show’s exit than NBC did for Friends. "I want more than that. I want huge parties with lots of great food."

He really was on the fence about doing even a shortened season, Rosenthal says. "We were pretty close to a `no go.’ In January, we all met and said, `Let’s give it one more shot and see if we can come up with any stories, if there is any life left in the old horse.’ We came up with seven or eight good stories. I thought, `If we have seven or eight now, we can probably double that number, so we landed on 16."

CBS executives Leslie Moonves and Nancy Tellem each expressed the hope that Rosenthal might produce a few additional episodes but he says this is extremely unlikely. "I guess we would do it if we were inspired to come up with one or two stories we had to tell."

He doesn’t see this happening, however. "I’d like the audience to think of these 16 as encores. We’re coming back for a little bit. But it is over."

Rosenthal mock ruminated on the significance of the departure of Everybody Loves Raymond. "I’ve heard the question asked, `Does this mean the end of an era? Does this mean the end of sitcoms on television?’ I think, yes. I think not only on television but comedy everywhere. In fact, I don’t see any more laughing coming anywhere."

There just aren’t enough really funny families.

A studio balancing act

Climbing the corporate ladder can bring complications. Leslie Moonves used to be the president of CBS. Then his title was expanded to include president of UPN. This spring, he was kicked up to co-chairman of Viacom, parent company of the two networks as well as Paramount Studios.

This has put him in a curious position regarding the Paramount-produced Star Trek prequel, Enterprise. "I’m negotiating with myself," he said with a laugh.

Because of its value in syndicated reruns, Paramount’s goal is to keep Enterprise alive for the seven seasons achieved by all the Star Trek spinoffs (except the mothership). However, the show’s ratings have been so dismal, any other series without the Star Trek brand would have been canceled long ago.

As the head of UPN, Moonves was prepared to fire the retro rockets on Enterprise this spring. Paramount got him to reconsider by proposing a greatly reduced license fee for the 2004-2005 season. "They made a very attractive offer to UPN to bring the show back. If Star Trek had cost the license fee it cost a year ago, a different decision might have been made," the man of many corporate hats said.

The fact that Moonves now has to consider the potential backend profits of Enterprise does not give it a free ride, he emphasized. "With vertical integration [one company owning a network and a studio that produces shows], there are a lot of benefits. There also are some things that are problematic. I can tell you right now, the key is building UPN. I think if Star Trek got in the way of that, that would be the decision that would be made."

Moonves is being aggressive in his bid to head off this Sophie’s Choice. He has moved Enterprise to Friday, where it will be a companion for a rerun of America’s Next Top Model, UPN’s hottest show. "Obviously, we’re trying to establish a beachhead on Friday night and the rerun of America’s Next Top Model should help it."

The fact that Star Trek loyalists are fanatical about the show should make the move less perilous than it might be for another drama. "It has a very loyal audience that will follow it to Friday," Moonves predicted.

"In addition, Friday night wasn’t a stellar night for UPN. We had fourth runs of action movies. So the bar is set relatively low to improve," Moonves said. "We think Star Trek can do that. I think we’ll get younger and do a much better [rating] there and perhaps [Enterprise] can live for a number of years. We hope so."

Eyes on the future

Even successful versions of franchise shows have a downside. Smallville, a prequel to Superman, is entering its fourth season on the WB. With about 70 episodes in the can, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to devise new stories for the youthful Clark Kent without bumping into the Superman/Superboy mythology. Scripts are meticulously scrutinized to make sure that nothing in the TV show conflicts with what already has been presented in one of the other venues.

As popular as it is, Smallville doesn’t approach these two in the company pecking order.