Ratings for the Emmy Awards continued their downward trend of the past few years, losing a couple million viewers from last year's ceremony.

Sunday night's (Sept. 21) awards, which aired on FOX, drew an average audience of 17.7 million viewers over their three-plus hours. That's down from the 19.9 million who watched NBC's telecast of the Emmys in 2002.

Ratings among adults 18-49, the demographic group ad buyers dream about, also dropped, going from an 8.0 last year to a 7.0 Sunday.

Reviews of the show, which featured a group of 11 comics sharing emcee duties and presenting some of the awards, were mixed, with a number of critics saying the broadcast lacked the cohesion a single host could have provided.

"Everybody Loves Raymond" captured its first Emmy for outstanding comedy Sunday, while "The West Wing" won its fourth straight award for best drama.

Since hitting a 15-year high of 21.8 million viewers in 2000, the Emmys have failed to crack the 20-million viewer mark. The 2001 awards, postponed twice in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks and airing opposite Game 7 of the World Series, drew only 17.1 million viewers.

Despite all that, FOX still managed to win the night easily as the other broadcast networks aired reruns opposite the awards.