"Dirt" trampled in ratings

Courteney Cox arrives at the season two premiere screening of the FX cable channel series ''Dirt'' in Hollywood, California February 28, 2008.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "Dirt" got off to a slow start in its second-season premiere.

The FX drama, starring Courteney Cox as a muckraking tabloid editor, averaged 1.7 million total viewers at 10 p.m. Sunday, a 54 percent slide from the 3.7 million who tuned in for the series premiere in January 2007.

(The numbers are based on Nielsen Media Research's Live+Same Day data, which measure both viewers who watched live, as well as those who played back the program on a digital video recorder on the same day.)

"Dirt" will see a shortened season this time around; after the show's production was hit by the writers strike, FX opted not to produce more episodes beyond the seven that had already been completed. It's understood that the episode-order cutback does not affect "Dirt's" chances at a third-season renewal.

The show's first-season finale, which featured a much-publicized kiss between Cox and her former "Friends" co-star Jennifer Aniston, drew 2.4 million total viewers in March 2007, while Season 1 overall averaged 1.9 million for its 13 episodes.

Elsewhere in cable ratings news, the premiere of History Channel's new series "Battle 360" averaged 1.8 million total viewers at 10 p.m. Friday, making it the network's most-watched Friday-night original telecast ever. "Battle," which revolves around the crucial World War Two aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, also was the second-most-watched series premiere ever on the network, behind "Ice Road Truckers."

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter