Peabody-winning drama is way down from its July 2005 premiere

An unprecedented wave of acclaim and publicity failed to earn record ratings for "Battlestar Galactica."

The Peabody-winning SciFi series had its third season premiere on Friday (Oct. 6). While the cable network is boasting that the audience of 2.2 million total viewers was up by a whopping 2 percent over the Season 2.5 average and that its 1.4 rating among adults 18-49 was up by 4 percent over the Season 2.5 average.

"Battlestar Galactica" was, at least, Friday night's top cable series.

However, the fact that goes unmentioned in SciFi's press release, is that the Season 2 premiere of "Battlestar" attracted 3.1 million viewers back in July of 2005.

In other returning cable ratings news, last Wednesday's "South Park," the Comedy Central animated hit's midseason launch, pulled in 3.4 million viewers, most of them concentrated in the 18-49 demo. That was the show's best midseason launch since 2000.