It’s an odd dichotomy — as entertainment budgets become tighter more people are returning to in-home entertainment but traditional media outlets are finding it tougher to attract advertising dollars due, in no small part, to technology that is giving them so much competition.

On top of that it appears the networks are still not recovering from the viewers who were driven away last year by reruns and reality TV during the writers strike.

The new TV season has been underway for almost a month and the audience response so far? In a word, lackluster.

CBS is the only network that has any shows that are off to what might called strong ratings — all of them returning shows, "CSI" and its derivatives, "Two and a Half Men," "Criminal Minds" and "NCIS."

The only network new shows that aren’t starting off disastrously are CBS’ "The Mentalist," CW’s "90210," Fox’s "Fringe" and ABC’s "Life on Mars." "The Mentalist" is the only new show to be picked up by its network for a full season, so far. Fox won the race for the first cancellation of a new show, "Do Not Disturb."

Some once promising series appear to have lost their audiences from being gone too long. NBC’s "Chuck" and "Heroes" and ABC’s "Pushing Daisies," "Private Practice" and "Dirty Sexy Money" all fall into this category.

Online viewing, which is still only getting small audiences, and digital video recorders are also hurting traditional viewership.

Nielsen has released data from the first week showing there were 10 network series that gained at least 1 million viewers over their initial telecasts, when the next seven days of DVR viewing was counted. The biggest gainer was ABC’s "Grey’s Anatomy," which added 2.7 million viewers to the 18.5 million who watched the episode when it first showed. Other big gainers from DVR viewing were ABC’s "Desperate Housewives," "Boston Legal" and "Brothers & Sisters" and CBS’ "CSI: Miami," "NCIS," "Criminal Minds," "Two and a Half Men" and the new series "The Mentalist."

But DVR viewer still begs the question: Do these viewers watch the commercials?

A new survey of 100 marketing executives found 53 percent expect their advertising budgets to be reduced over the next six months as a result of the tough economic climate.

Tucson Emmy winners

Tucsonans brought home 13 Emmys from this year’s regional competition, seven of them went to city-owned Tucson 12. And only one went to on-air talent - to a person who is no longer in the market. Amber Lyon, formerly of KVOA 4, won a second consecutive Emmy for her live on-camera reporting. It was the only Emmy won by KVOA this year.

At Tucson 12, Mitch Riley won two Emmys for photography, "The Beat" was named best magazine program, "Conexión 12" was named best current affairs program, "Lifeline: was named best informational program and awards went to Jennifer McKinney and Dan Sheffer for best arts and entertainment program segment, and to Dulce Mascareno for best cultural news story.

At KOLD 13 an Emmy went to Damien Alameda and Richard Beissel for a sports segment on their "Overtime" feature and two Emmys went to Wade Stai for news promotion spots.

Two Emmys in new media went to Will Holst of www.UANews.org, one for a documentary on the Arizona Historical Society Museum and the other for a news program on the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) project at the University of Arizona.

Newspaper awards

Newspapers have their own awards and in either a sad commentary on the state of the industry or a sign that maybe some don’t get it, the recipient of the Arizona Newspapers Association’s top award went to the East Valley Tribune. This is the same daily newspaper that only days before announced it was laying off 40 percent of its staff and dropping to publishing four days a week starting in January.

You’d think readers might also recognize excellence. Or is it that the industry has lost sight of what audiences want?

Five newspapers won for general excellence based on their circulation and whether they’re dailies: the Arizona Republic in Phoenix, The Sun in Yuma, Scottsdale Times, Payson Roundup and Nogales International.

Journalist of the year awards went to Brady McCombs of the Arizona Daily Star and Thelma Grimes of the San Pedro Valley News-Sun and Vail Sun.

Contact David Hatfield at dhatfield@azbiz.com or (520) 295-4237. Inside Tucson Media appears weekly.