TV Viewers Ditch Hilton En Masse

By Stephen M. Silverman

Thursday June 30, 2005 08:35 AM EDT

Kathy and Paris Hilton

Jeff Vespa/WireImage

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Things have gone from bad to worse for NBC's much-ballyhooed I Want to Be a Hilton, the ratings-challenged reality series in which Kathy Hilton, 46, helps a group of greenhorns clean up their act for a shot at living like a socialite for the year.

After opening with a thud last week, when it trailed competing shows in its timeslot and attracted just 6.8 million viewers, Tuesday's edition of Hilton dropped to 4.36 million viewers, according to Nielsen numbers.

That's a loss of 2 million viewers, despite this week's much-advertised appearances by Kathy's daughters Paris and Nicky Hilton as well as Tinkerbell, Paris's pet Chihuahua. The show placed third or fourth in all demographics, and lost 28 percent of its vital 18-49-year-old audiences from the previous week.

In this Tuesday's 9 p.m. hour, the top-rated show was FOX's House, with 7.14 million viewers, while CBS's three-week-old Fire Me Please only attracted 6.06 million, which is reportedly a series low.