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LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- ABC on Wednesday ordered nine more episodes each of its darkly comic series "Desperate Housewives" and castaway thriller "Lost," giving an official vote of confidence to two of U.S. television's biggest new hits.
"Housewives" and "Lost," averaging nearly 21 million and 17.6 million viewers, respectively, are among the first hour-long series to receive full-season orders from any of the Big Four broadcasters this season.
NBC's freshman drama "Medical Investigation" also was given the go-ahead for nine more episodes on Wednesday.
"Desperate Housewives," which explores the secret lives of suburbanites from the vantage point of a housewife who just committed suicide, is the highest-rated new series on U.S. television this season.
Airing Sundays, it ranks as the third most watched program in prime time overall and is No. 2 among viewers aged 18 to 49 -- the group most coveted by advertisers.
"Lost," about a group of plane-crash survivors marooned on a tropical island with a mysterious man-eating monster, ranks ninth overall in viewership and No. 10 in the 18-49 demographic. It runs on Wednesday nights.
Together, "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" mark the first prime-time dramas ABC has managed to get off the ground since the espionage thriller "Alias" in 2001.
NBC's "Medical Investigation," about a mobile medical forensics team summoned to deal with outbreaks of unexplained and fearful diseases, is this season's top Friday night show, averaging 9.2 million viewers per week.
ABC is owned by the Walt Disney Co. NBC is a unit of General Electric Co
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10-21-2004 08:59 PM
