Anna Nicole's TV Ratings Go Sliding

By Stephen M. Silverman

08/14/2002 at 10:00 AM EDT

After busting out with E!'s most-watched program ever with her debut episode two weeks ago, Anna Nicole Smith's ratings sagged in her second week, according to the latest Nielsen report. Her new half-hour reality series, "The Anna Nicole Show," attracted more than 4 million viewers for the initial outing, but dropped to 3.4 million viewers this past Sunday. Still, note the Hollywood Reporter and Variety, the 34-year-old widow of Texas billionaire J. Howard Marshall did very well insofar as her show's demographics were concerned. The second episode achieved a 3.7 rating among adults aged 18 to 34 -- the highest such number ever for the cable network in the young demographic. (Each ratings point represents 1,055,000 households.) As for the networks, the Top 10 primetime shows for the week of Aug. 5-11 were as follows:

1. "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 10 million homes
2. "60 Minutes," CBS, 9.1 million homes
3. "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS, 8.8 million homes
4. "Law & Order," NBC, 8.5 million homes
5. "48 Hours -- Monday," CBS, 8.2 million homes
6. "Dateline NBC," Tuesday, NBC, 8.1 million homes
7. (tie) "Becker," CBS, 7.9 million homes
7. (tie) "Dateline Sunday," NBC, 8 million homes
9. "Dog Eat Dog," NBC, 7.8 million homes
10. "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," NBC, 7.7 million homes