As the 2004-2005 network season winds down, this much is clear: TV has become the Fallopian Tube. It's not just the success of "Desperate Housewives" that's caused the tilt to female tastes. And it isn't that men are unwanted, especially men ages 18 to 49.

Rather, it's the fickleness of male viewers. Sure, they'll watch baseball, football and auto racing. By and large, though, broadcasters agree that men are less predictable and loyal than their female counterparts. (Insert commitment joke here.)

Five of the six networks draw a greater audience percentage of women than men. The lone exception is Fox, which will boost its XY factor Sunday with the new Seth MacFarlane animated series "American Dad."

The clever and crass "American Dad" presents a simultaneously mocking and affectionate view of mainstream masculinity. It fits well in a Fox stable that already has "The Simpsons," "24" and NASCAR.

But appealing to men is not a simple matter of squiggles, suspense and suspension — especially in the Seattle-Tacoma market.

"When you look at the ratings data for men here, it's all over the map," says Ryan Craig, director of programming and research at KSTW-TV. "Outside sports, some interesting data pops up."

Consider the top 10 prime-time shows watched by men here. The list includes "Survivor," "CSI," "Apprentice 3," "The Simpsons," "Lost" and "24" — not surprising in a region of outdoor enthusiasts and gameware designers.

More intriguing is the presence of "American Idol" (both versions), "Desperate Housewives" and "Extreme Home Makeover," programs fueled by sudsy emotional drama and mainly aimed at women.

The region's large gay population may account in part for such series making the list. More than women, 18 to 49 men are splintered into subsets. Guys under 30 are the most unreliable audience, almost the behavioral opposite of women under 30.

UPN affiliates such as KSTW are deeply familiar with the frustrating mystery of what attracts young men.

According to Craig, the station has had a great spring with Mariners games, with a large viewership that is about 55 percent male, 45 percent female and mostly age 40-plus.

After that, who knows what boys like? The soon-to-end "Star Trek: Enterprise" does well with under-30 males and has local ratings that might have kept it on the air — had its national numbers been remotely similar.

Instead, the failures of "Enterprise," "Game Over" and "Jake 2.0" led UPN to gradually ditch its sci-fi strategy and begin wooing women with "America's Top Model." The shift worked, and UPN is beginning to resemble its rival, The WB, more and more.

Meanwhile, The WB tried to grow beyond its female and teen base this season with man-skewing shows like "Blue Collar TV" and sketch comedy hosts Drew Carey and Kelsey Grammer. All failed, and The WB has returned to the likes of Fran Drescher.

NBC has put together a boys' night on Mondays with "Fear Factor," "Las Vegas" and "Medium." Those programs do reasonably well with men here — survival, action, plus a touch of the supernatural with Patricia Arquette.

Still, the top guys' show on NBC affiliate KING after "Apprentice 3" and "ER" is "Scrubs," which ranks No. 11 here and much lower nationally. Twisted humor evidently is highly valued among Puget Sound males.

In truth, however, it's hard to discern male patterns in prime-time viewing anywhere. That's partly because men simply aren't watching network TV the way they once did. Cable channels like FX, Comedy Central and Spike have peeled away many.

Another reason is TV's readiness to slough off series with older audiences. The end of CBS' "JAG" at 9 tonight is a case of loyal male viewers aging past advertiser appeal.

Small wonder the four major networks rely on sports — with the exception of ABC, whose success among women is so huge that it gave up "Monday Night Football."

NBC, which has the Olympics, recently reclaimed a piece of the NFL pie by landing Sunday night games. As CBS has shown, football is a great platform to promote male-skewing series like "CSI."

Fox may have the best of worlds with football and NASCAR. The network wants to keep male viewers into the night and is working to find the right Sunday lineup.

Hence the heavy promotion for Sunday's 350th episode of "The Simpsons," guest-starring Ray Romano and physicist Stephen Hawking and airing at 8 p.m. It's followed by another new episode at 8:30 and the lunk-headed "Family Guy" at 9.

However, the show that turns out to be worth watching is the dialogue- and action-packed "American Dad," which is definitely not for kids.

The pilot introduces Stan (MacFarlane), average husband, father and CIA agent. After the CIA gives its employees a half-day vacation for reducing the terror alert by one color, Stan accidentally brings home some biohazardous material. A crisis ensues.

Viewers may think of "The Incredibles." But "American Dad," while just as feel-good, is far bolder. Its treatment of how a threatened Stan behaves when wife Francine (Wendy Schaal) becomes a real-estate agent and starts to make more money is a vulgar hoot.

"American Dad" finds just about every way to riff on masculine identity, including what may be the first pants-down-and-Ken-parts-revealed nude shot in network cartoon history. The show introduces a gay male anchor duo on the local TV station to further point up Stan's insecurities.

"American Dad" bites with a sneer into pop culture and capitalism. It mocks gratuitous product placement — "Sweet Sean Hannity, your hands are lovely!" exclaims a character — and has plot twists involving staged bum fights and Alan Greenspan's monetary policy.

After "Andy Richter Controls the Universe" and "Arrested Development," it's bizarre that Fox again has put its best show at 9:30, aka the death slot. Here's hoping even guys that don't know what they want will want "American Dad."

Kay McFadden: kmcfadden@seattletimes.com