Lifetime Original Movies Continue to Dominate Basic Cable as 'Odd Girl Out,' Starring Alexa Vega and Lisa Vidal, Becomes the Most-Watched Ad-Supported Cable Original Movie of the Year With More Than Five Million Viewers

- Movie Also Highest-Rated of 2005 Among W18-49 and W25-54 Ratings -

- Lifetime's Highest Rated Original Movie Premiere Since Homeless To Harvard in April 2003 -

NEW YORK, April 5 -- Lifetime Original Movies continued their domination of basic cable as "Odd Girl Out," starring Alexa Vega and Lisa Vidal, pulled in 5.1 million viewers during its premiere Monday night (9PM ET/PT), becoming the most-watched original movie of the year. "Odd Girl Out" also ranked as the #1 ad-supported cable original movie of the year among W 18-49 (4.0) and W 25-54 (4.1) ratings. This was also Lifetime's most watched original movie premiere since "Homeless to Harvard" (5.0 HH rating, 5.7 million viewers in April 2003) and the highest rated among W18-49 rating since "Video Voyeur" (4.1 rating in January 2002).

Underscoring Lifetime's continuing strong appeal to younger women (year- to-date the network is up 13% in Primetime among W18-34), "Odd Girl Out" has become 2005's second highest-rated rated original movie among W18-34 (3.7), just behind "Mom at Sixteen," (3.8) which debuted on Lifetime March 21.

"Odd Girl Out" ranked #1 in its time period versus all ad-supported cable networks among Household rating (4.4). It also dominated the time period among W18-34 (3.7), W18-49 (4.0) and W25-54 (4.1) and crushed the competition among the younger W18-24 (3.4) and Female Teens (5.2), where the Lifetime movie more than doubled the ratings of the nearest competitor (Nick at Nite). Even more impressive, "Odd Girl Out" nearly doubled MTV's time period ratings among their target W12-34 (4.1 vs. 2.1).

Lifetime Original Movies, which rate first among all basic cable nets averaging 4.1 million viewers, boasts the five highest rated movies among Households: "Odd Girl Out," (4.4) "Dawn Anna," (3.9) "Widow on the Hill," (3.9) "Mom at Sixteen," (3.6) and "Lies My Mother Told Me." (3.3). So far this year, Lifetime's six original movie premieres are averaging 46% more total viewers than the first six movies of 2004.

Showcasing Alexa Vega ("Spy Kids," "Sleepover") and Lisa Vidal ("The Division," "Chasing Papi"), "Odd Girl Out" was a compelling drama that illuminated the all-too-common problem of cliques, competition and bullying among teenage girls. Based on the book Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls by Rachel Simmons, the fictional story centered on a once- popular girl who becomes the target of vicious taunting and ugly rumors at the hands of her former friends.

"Odd Girl Out" was produced by Jaffe/Braunstein Films in association with Orly Adelson Productions for LIFETIME Television. Howard Braunstein, Michael Jaffe ("She's Too Young," "Ice Bound") and Orly Adelson ("3," "Tilt") were the executive producers. Teleplay was by Richard Kletter ("She's Too Young," "No Ordinary Baby"), and story was by Kletter and Matthew McDuffie ("A Cool Dry Place," "The Stranger Beside Me"). Tom McLoughlin ("She's Too Young," "Murder in Greenwich") directed this telefilm.

LIFETIME is the leader in women's television and one of the top-rated basic cable television networks. A diverse, multi-media company, LIFETIME is committed to offering the highest quality entertainment and information programming, and advocating a wide range of issues affecting women and their families. Launched in 1984, LIFETIME serves 88 million households nationwide. In 1998, LIFETIME launched Lifetime Movie Network, now in more than 44 million homes, and in 2001, Lifetime Real Women. LIFETIME Television, Lifetime Movie Network, Lifetime Real Women, Lifetime Radio for Women, Lifetime Home Entertainment and Lifetime Online are part of LIFETIME Entertainment Services, a 50/50 joint venture of The Hearst Corporation and The Walt Disney Company.

SOURCE LIFETIME Television
Web Site: http://www.lifetimetv.com