'Homestead' Wins In The Overnight Ratings

The overnight ratings for Voyager's 'Homestead' were released today, and the figures showed a welcome increase for UPN's flagship show, which only has one more episode to go before its series finale.

'Homestead' scored a 5.2 rating and a share of 7. Voyager helped to a UPN Wednesday night ratings victory over its rival WB network, with a 4.1 average rating for the night compared to 3.9 for the WB.

Though the national ratings are not yet available, 'Homestead' is likely to feature significantly higher than last week's 'Natural Law' which only managed a 4.8 in the overnight ratings. 'Homestead' easily beat off the WB's competition: 'Felicity' could only grab 3.7/5 opposite the new Voyager episode. Overnight ratings are calculated from the top 47 television markets metered by Nielsen. As Voyager is more popular in urban markets, national ratings for the show typically tend to be lower than the overnights.

Voyager lead-in show 'Special Unit 2' also showed a significant increase. No doubt helped by the publicity surrounding the final few Voyager episodes, the show managed to see off competition from the WB's 'Dawson's Creek' with a 3.1 rating. Consistently good showings in the ratings mean that the show has a good chance of being renewed for a second season.

After last week's disappointing ratings, this rise is especially welcome for Voyager whose ratings had been 15% down from last year's May Sweeps average. Though it is not only Voyager's ratings that have been falling; last week saw an all time ratings low for UPN's most popular show 'WWF Smackdown.' With luck recent publicity for the network from Voyager's final few episodes, the acquisition of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' from the WB and an expected announcement about Series V, will give the network a ratings boost.

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