Drop Dead Diva a ratings smasher for Lifetime

New series "Drop Dead Diva" has hit like a champ for Lifetime network.

New series "Drop Dead Diva" has hit like a champ for Lifetime network.On the heels of last Thursday’s record-setting launch of Lifetime Television’s hit unscripted series "Project Runway," "Drop Dead Diva," the Network’s original one-hour comedic drama series, delivered its highest ratings ever last night among Women 18-49 (1.8), a 16% increase over the season-to-date average, and Women 25-54 (2.0), a 13% increase over the season-to-date average according to Nielsen's Media.The Sunday night series stars TV critic's new darling Brooke Elliott, and cultie comic and actress Margaret Cho. The show averaged nearly 3 million Total Viewers (2,903,430 P2+), up 7% versus its season-to-date average and posted a 2.4 Household rating, up 10% from its season-to-date average.This past Sunday's episode featured special guest stars Kathy Najimy and Teri Polo - also grew at the half-hour mark in both demos – increasing 10% in W18-49 and 7% among W25-54. Not wasting any time, the network brass renewed "Drop Dead Diva" for a second season last week, ordering 13 new episodes for 2010. Guest stars throughout the first season include Paula Abdul, Rosie O’Donnell, Tim Gunn, Liza Minnelli, Delta Burke, Sharon Lawrence, Nia Vardalos, Jorja Fox, Gregory Harrison, Mark Moses, Marla Sokoloff, Shirley Knight, Faith Price, Devon Gummersall, Elliott Gould, Chuck Woolery and Diedrich Bader.Established series "Army Wives", which follows "Drop Dead Diva" at 10 PM ET/PT, continues to climb in ratings too. Lifetime reports the show had its highest Household rating this season, posting a 3.3, which represents a 10% increase over its season-to-date average. Among W18-49, the Network’s top original drama series delivered a 2.4 rating and a 2.8 rating among W25-54. Together, Drop Dead Diva and Army Wives make Lifetime the highest-rated and most watched Network in the Sunday, 9-11PM time period among W18-49. Lifetime now has the number one unscripted competition show in ad-supported cable with Heidi Klum's "Project Runway." The number crunch, from Lifetime:Last week’s eagerly anticipated launch of Project Runway on Lifetime was a resounding success. The award-winning series generated a 3.2 rating among W18-49 (a 28% increase over the series’ season five premiere) and a 3.3 rating in Households (up 32% from the season five premiere) on August 20, at 10PM ET/PT. The debut of Project Runway was the highest rated and most watched series premiere in both the Network’s and program’s history in key demos, and it was the highest rated and most watched competitive reality premiere in ad-supported cable for 2009 in the major demos, including Households, W18-34, W18-49, W25-54, W18+, A18-34, A18-49, A25-54 and P2+.Its companion series, Models of the Runway, which premiered at 11PM ET/PT, generated a 1.4 rating among W18-49 and a 1.6 Household rating, averaging 1.9 million Total Viewers. Lifetime kicked off the launches of Project Runway and Models of the Runway with the two-hour special, Project Runway: All-Star Challenge at 8PM ET/PT, which secured a 2.2 rating in W18-49 and a 2.3 Household rating, and averaged 2.9 million Total Viewers. Lifetime dominated the night from 8 to 11:30 PM, as it ranked as the number one rated and most watched ad-supported cable network across key demos: W18-34, W18-49, W25-54, W18+, A18-34 and A18-49. Lifetime also out-delivered all broadcast networks in Prime among W18-34 last Thursday.