Fool a group of callow women into believing a poor schlub is a millionaire once, shame on them. Fool a group of callow women into believing a poor schlub is a millionaire twice, shame on you.

That was the message that viewers gave FOX on Monday night (Oct. 20).

Last season, when high profile debuts like David E. Kelley's "girls club" tanked, FOX was able to blame disappointing baseball ratings for the failures. This year, with baseball performing well and inundating viewers with an avalanche of cross-promotion, there was no excuse for the surprisingly twin failures of "The Next Joe Millionaire" and the Jerry Bruckheimer drama "Skin."

When we last left the "Joe Millionaire" franchise, Evan Marriott was expressing his temporarily undying love for Zora in front of around 40 million viewers. It was the season's top-rated entertainment program among adults 18-49. On Monday, though, only 6.8 million viewers tuned in to watch rodeo cowboy David Smith take geography lessons from super-butler Paul Hogan.

Worse than the vanishing total viewers, though, were the paucity of demographically pleasing eyes. With a 3.2 rating among adults 18-49, "The Next Joe Millionaire" finished fourth in its time slot. Rather than equaling the numbers for the original "Joe Millionaire," the sequel fell closer in line with less successful FOX reality efforts like "Mr. Personality" (which actually had a much higher-rated debut before tailing off) and "Married By America."

While FOX executives admitted that Monday's numbers were "disappointing," the network still scrambled for positives. "The Next Joe Millionaire" allegedly gained 22 percent in its second half hour (7.2 million, up from 5.9) and while the numbers in adults 18-49 were dismal, FOX notes that the reality entry finished second in the network's younger-skewing ideal of adults 18-34.

Perhaps viewers will tune in when Smith spends as much time examining the pool of foreign beauties as he did picking his worthy steed Hurricane.

FOX remained more optimistic about "Skin." The network will be double-running the drama, which earned a mix of critical raves and catcalls, over the next few weeks in an attempt to replicate the success of the late-summer serial "The O.C." It has a long way to go, finishing fourth in its time slot in all key demographics and bringing in just over 6.4 million viewers on average.