According to the initial overnight ratings, the series premiere of ABC's new Extreme Makeover: Home Edition home makeover show was a hit with viewers, drawing 12 million viewers and placing second in the overall ratings to NBC's Law & Order powerhouse, but becoming the first series to be an original episode of Law & Order in the Adults 18-49 in over three and a half years.
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While Law & Order's 11.4/19 rating/share soundly defeated Extreme Makeover: Home Edition's 8.2/13 in the overall ratings, the situation was different among the Adults 18-49 demographic, where Home Edition's 5.6/15 edged out Law & Order's 5.3/14. The Adults 18-49 defeat was the first for an original episode of Law & Order since May 24, 2000, when ABC's 20/20 aired an episode that followed the Michael J. Fox farewell episode on Spin City.
Excluding the debut of The Simple Life on Tuesday, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is the most-watched (12.0 million) new unscripted series debut (ie. not counting returning series such as CBS's Survivor or ABC's The Bachelor) since the premiere of ABC's Extreme Makeover on April 23, 2003. Among Women 18-49 (7.3/19), Home Edition bested the debut of The Simple Life to rank as the top-rated unscripted opening in Women 18-49 in over seven months - also since the premiere of Extreme Makeover 4/23/03.
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition retained 91% of its Trista & Ryan's Wedding lead-in among total viewers (12.0 million vs. 13.2 million) and 95% among Adults 18-49 (5.6/15 vs. 5.9/15). The ABC home makeover show, which includes Sears as a home improvement sponsor, drew men into the hour as it built on its lead-in across each of the key Men demographics: Men 18-34 (3.6/12 vs. 3.3/11), Men 18-49 (3.9/11 vs. 3.5/10) and Men 25-54 (4.0/11 vs. 3.6/9).
Additional episodes of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition will begin airing in early 2004.