RATING DIPS HIT 'ZONE', 'SHIELD'

Jan. 17, 2003

NEW YORK -- A pair of cable original dramas cooled off a week after heating up their season premieres. USA's "The Dead Zone" and FX's "The Shield" both saw their household rating drop by about one-fifth for the second episodes of their second seasons. Sunday's "Zone" received a 2.6 rating, down 19% from its debut week. Tuesday's "Shield" dropped 22% to a 2.8 rating. In the 18-49 demographic, "Zone" stayed almost flat week-to-week, notching a 2.1 rating; "Shield" dropped a full rating point to 2.3. MTV's "The Osbournes," which airs opposite the final 30 minutes of "Shield," also dropped, scoring a season-low 3.5 in its target 12-34 demo and a 3.0 household rating, down from 3.3 the previous week. Lead-in "The Real World" has outperformed "Osbournes" among viewers 12-34 in its last two airings, though "World" is slightly down in that demo from its performance last month. In other cable ratings news, TBS' "America's Prince: The John F. Kennedy Jr. Story" led all basic cable nets among viewers 18-49 (2.5 million viewers) and 25-54 (2.7 million) on Sunday. "Prince" pushed TBS to the top of the cable heap for the week in primetime for the 18-49 demo. A&E got encouraging ratings results from the Sunday premiere of "Benedict Arnold: A Question of Honor." The film notched a 2.5 household rating, making it the most-watched A&E original of the past 12 months. (Andrew Wallenstein)