I saw this story and went back to check "The 4400" premiere article because I was wondering if I was imagining things. You all can read for yourself.
Whoa! Did In Plain Sight ever perform well ratings-wise for its Sunday-night extended debut.

Registering an impressive 5.25 million viewers overall, the episode easily surpassed the July 2004 debut of The 4400 as USA Network’s most-watched series premiere.

Even better if you’re into these number-crunching matches, the pilot episode earned ratings that were 1.3 million higher than those for the first episode of Burn Notice. While I still believe the older series is also the better series, In Plain Sight’s performance is worthy of recognition.

The big question, however, is how many of the viewers who caught the premiere will return for future episodes. Since reviews of the show have been all over the map, ranging from “garbage” to “great” and a few things in between, the most important tests will take place in coming weeks.

Good job the first time around, though!


Here's the original article on "The 4400".

THEY CAME BACK...IN RECORD NUMBERS!

USA NETWORK'S ORIGINAL SERIES "THE 4400" IS HIGHTEST-RATED AND MOST-WATCHED NEW SERIES PREMIERE EVER ON BASIC CABLE NETWORK.

USA Network Now Boasts The Top Three Most-Watched Original Series Premieres in Basic Cable History.


New York, NY, July 13, 2004 - Sunday's telecast of the USA Network Original Series The 4400 was the highest-rated and most-watched new series premiere ever on basic cable, with a 5.7 in households, a 3.48 in P18-49, a 3.75 in P25-54. and 7.4 million viewers watching in 5 million homes tuning in.

"We're thrilled with the extraordinary response to The 4400 from critics as well as viewers," said Bonnie Hammer, president, USA Network and SCI FI Channel. "Its success is a result of a great product enhanced by creative marketing and strong on-air promotion - in other words, the total collaboration of a great team."

The 4400 now leads The Dead Zone (4.7 household rating and 6.4 million viewers) and Peacemakers (4.0 household rating and 5.2 million viewers) as the most-watched original series premieres in basic cable history. USA Network now boasts four of the five top original scripted series premieres in basic cable history, including Monk (3.5 household rating and 4.8 million viewers).

The 4400 is USA Network's most watched original event since the miniseries Moby Dick in March 1998, which averaged (over two nights) 10.4 million viewers.

The 4400 more than doubled the network's usual Sunday evening ratings in households (+157%) and P25-54 (+131%), with P18-49 (+130%). The premiere attracted an additional 4.5 million viewers to the network vs. the average Sunday night audience.


Am I delirious or what? Please let me know.

I completly agree, Bubba. I turned it off after 20 minutes. The bad dialogue and posturing was grating and, for show that was trying, hard, to tackle a serious subject, it failed miserably. DREK.

I AM CONFUSED!!!

Here's some quotes from what was posted here:
"New York, NY, July 13, 2004 - Sunday's telecast of the USA Network Original Series The 4400 was the highest-rated and most-watched new series premiere ever on basic cable, with a 5.7 in households, a 3.48 in P18-49, a 3.75 in P25-54. and 7.4 million viewers watching in 5 million homes tuning in."

So....that does say 7.4 MILLION watching The 4400, right???

How is that less than this:
"Registering an impressive 5.25 million viewers overall, the episode easily surpassed the July 2004 debut of The 4400 as USA Network’s most-watched series premiere."

SO, ARE THE NUMBERS WRONG OR ARE THEY TRYING TO MAKE THIS NEW SHOW SOUND BETTER THAN IT IS?? CUZ FROM WHAT I SEE HERE, THE 4400 DID BETTER.

I just been reading some articles on "In Plain Sight" and viewer's comments. I had a good laugh about some of them. I wonder how USA will do this quarter?

All I have to say is that I will not watch ANYTHING on USA Network ever again unless they either bring The 4400 back or give us some kind of finale episode

Whoever wrote that quasi-review can't do math, apparently.

Ah, June...guess no one thought someone from the 4400 following would do the math! And how many times do the powers that be create lies to promote? Good research, June.

I caught a little bit of the Plain Sight and like Original and Bubba, thought it a weak story and the actors did not connect to one another, much less to the story.

I caught some of In Plain Sight and have to say I wasn't impressed. Didn't really like the show or think that it was that funny or interesting, and agree with the sentiment it may very well be canceled after one season.
Btw, The 4400 and The Dead Zone definitely blow it out of the water, so kudos to USA Network on squashing 2 great shows.

In Plain Sight better than The 4400...ha! Whoever plays Marshal absolutely does NOT have the charm of Joel Gretch (I totally got his last name wrong. What's wrong with me?). And even though I can see the similarities between Diana and Mary, Mary just doesn't have it. Her quips are so out of place! I'm gonna watch again tonight, just because I feel they tried to push more of the humor in the pilot episode to reel people in. I'm hoping they'll focus in more on the whitnesses this time around.

I didn't bother to tune in to In Plain Sight! I'm not about to start watching another show on USA. We all know how loyal fans are treated by this network.

I couldn't agree with you more Ele, anyone who watches their programs do so at their own risk. Obviously USA Network doesn't give a rat's ass about their viewers. They will yank a show in a heartbeat if the 'numbers' aren't what they want. Although I can't for the life of me understand why they would cancel one of their highest rated shows. What kind of numbers are they dreaming about?? They're crazy to think that such a bland, BS network could do better than the 2+ million viewers that The 4400 used to bring.

And The 4400 would've done even better if USA had bothered to advertise it a little more. All winter and spring they were going on and on about In Plain Sight. I don't ever recall them giving that much attention to The 4400. Very stupid decisions that will lose them more viewers than they'll gain, me thinks.