Just as Army Wives debuted on the small screen with record-breaking numbers, so did it impress with its first season finale on August 26.  The last episode of the season, "Goodbye Stranger," drew in an average of 4.1 million total viewers at its 10pm Sunday night timeslot, marking the young drama series' most-watched first-run broadcast ever.

Army Wives, a series based on Tanya Biank's Under the Sabers: The Unwritten Code of Military Marriage, follows the lives of four women and one man as they try to cope with the challenges of being soldiers' spouses.  The cast includes Kim Delaney as Claudia Joy Holden, Catherine Bell as Denise Sherwood, Sally Pressman as Roxy LeBlanc, Brigid Brannagh as Pamela Moran and Sterling K. Brown as Roland Brown.


The first season of Army Wives ended with a cliffhanger episode.  Fort Marshall's gossip queen, Marilyn Polarski (Kate Kneeland), decided to leave her husband for Eddie (R.W. Smith).  Upon finding out, Marilyn's enraged husband tried to choke her, but she managed to escape and went on with her plan to run away with Eddie.  They agreed to meet at Hump Bar, where Claudia Joy, Roxy, Denise, Amanda (Kim Allen), and Roland happened to be.  Marilyn's husband went to the bar as well, but had a bomb strapped to his body.  He squeezed the detonator, the screen faded to white, and the episode ended.

To date, Army Wives is the most successful series for the Lifetime Network.  When it premiered on June 3, it drew in 3.7 million viewers, making it Lifetime's best series premiere in the network's 23-year-history.  The show is also Lifetime's most-watched original drama series in total viewers, having averaged 3.7 million viewers during its debut season.  Moreover, it is also the top drama among women 18-34 on basic cable.

The second season of Army Wives is set to begin airing in the spring.


-Lisa Claustro, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: Yahoo News
(Image Courtesy of Lifetime)