'Ripley's' makes TBS a believer

Series debut sets cable record

By PAULA BERNSTEIN

NEW YORK -- TBS Superstation's premiere Wednesday of "Ripley's Believe It Or Not!" delivered a 3.3 rating in the cable universe. That's equivalent to 2.6 million households -- basic cable's largest audience ever for an original series premiere, excluding sports, the cabler announced Friday.

The series debut, basic cable's top-rated program of the night, was especially popular among adults 18-34 (1.13 million), with the show ranking third in its 8-9 p.m. timeslot among all networks in that advertiser-friendly demo, beating out "Dateline" on NBC and "JAG" on CBS.

"Ripley's" also topped basic cable in primetime among key demos, delivering more than 1.85 million adults 18-49 and 1.80 million adults 25-54.

TBS is available in nearly 79 million homes.