IN BRIEF

Sex and the City outscored even last year's performance with the first episode of its new season. The two-episode debut for the HBO series' fourth season averaged a 13.3 Nielsen household rating, or an 18% share in homes that get the pay network. That's a 47% jump over last year's season debut, which generated a 9.0 rating with one episode. New dramatic series Six Feet Under retained the bulk of that audience, averaging an 11.2. However, neither show beat even a routine episode of The Sopranos, which scored as high as a 20.0 rating this past season.

USA Networks has tapped Elizabeth Porter as its new vice president of alternative programming. Porter will be charged with developing reality shows for USA, including late-night shows and specials. She will also work on reality shows currently in production. Porter, an Emmy Award-nominated producer, most recently produced a Martin Short sketch show that will air on Comedy Central this summer.

For the first full week outside the 2000-01 season (May 28-June 3), NBC was No. 1 in adults 18-49, and CBS was atop the total viewers race—the same place the networks ended the regular season. NBC averaged a network-best 3.9 rating for the week in adults 18-49, while CBS was first in total viewers with a 9.7 million-viewer average, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Weakest Link is definitely a welcome addition to Pax TV's lineup. The debut of NBC's new quiz show paid off for Pax last week, leading the network to its best-ever weekly ratings results (tied with the week of May 29-June 4, 2000). Pax, which airs weekly repeats of Weakest Link on Friday nights, scored a 1.1 household rating for the week of May 28-June 30 and attracted an average of 1.5 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. Debuting on Pax on June 1, the show delivered a number of all-time highs for the three-year-old network: It averaged a 1.2 rating at 8 p.m. ET/PT and delivered the time period's best results ever in adults 25-54, adults 18-49, women 25-54 and women 18-49.

A&E Television Networks, including A&E and The History Channel, and Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution have signed on as development partners on an audience-research tool from online survey service E-Poll. Other companies lending a hand to E-Poll's new product, called The Edge, are Twentieth Television and Carsey-Werner Distribution. When launched, E-Poll's service will offer online information about which programs, talent and show concepts viewers like best. In exchange for its help, E-Poll's media partners will get a discounted rate for using the service. The Edge should debut sometime after the summer.