- John Consoli, Mediaweek

NEW YORK The two-hour premiere of serialized drama 90210 on The CW network on Tuesday, Sept. 2, was the highest-rated debut episode of a show on the three-year-old network, averaging a 3.0/9 rating among adults 18-34 and a 2.6/7 rating among adults 18-49, according to Nielsen Media Research live plus same day fast national ratings data.

The two-hour telecast also averaged a 4.3/12 among women 18-34 and a 3.6.9 among women 18-49.

The show premiere helped the network win the night for all networks in all key demos, albeit against mainly competitive repeats.

The ratings numbers among women 18-34 and adults 18-34 and 18-40 were the highest for a show premiere in the network's history, and the 18-49 rating matched the highest rating ever for a CW show in that demo.

90210 received lots of advance publicity owing to its initial refusal to allow advertisers to screen its opening episode. That led to a protest by the Parents Television Council -- and headlines in mainstream and entertainment media in the run-up to the launch of the show.

90210's successful debut comes one night after a solid premiere of second-year drama Gossip Girl.