"The Hills" hits highs for MTV

By Kimberly Nordyke

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "The Hills" are really alive, with the MTV reality show drawing its biggest audience ever this week.

Monday's 10-11 p.m. episode, which was the first of Season 3's eight "bonus" episodes, averaged 4.8 million total viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. That marks the series' biggest viewership ever for a single episode, besting what originally was supposed to be the third-season finale in December (4.7 million viewers).

On Tuesday, in its first full day live on MTV.com, the new "Hills" episode delivered 1.8 million streams, up 29% from the day after Season 3's premiere episode.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter