Ratings Bonanza: "Sarah Palin's Alaska" Breaks TLC Viewership Record

Whoa:

The ratings are in, and it looks like “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” is a hit. TLC says nearly 5 million total viewers tuned in to the premiere of the series.

In case you haven’t seen our previous coverage, “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” is a documentary series from producer Mark Burnett and starring former Alaska governor and Fox News Channel contributor Sarah Palin.

TLC says 4.96 million total viewers tuned in, including 1.8 million adults 25-54, and 1.6 million adults 18-49, two of the network’s key demos. That is the best premiere in network history with regards to total viewers, beating the 2003 debut of “What Not to Wear.”

To put this number in some context, last night's premiere of SPA drew roughly 1.2 million more total viewers than Friday night's O'Reilly Factor, bested Friday's Countdown with Keith Olbermann by more than 3 million viewers, and drew approximately ten times the viewership of Friday's Parker Spitzer on CNN. These are imperfect comparisons, obviously, because of the nature of the programming and the air dates -- but still help to contextualize the magnitude of TLC's newly-released numbers.

You can read our own Katie Pavlich's preview of Sarah Palin's Alaska HERE.