"Army Wives" is Lifetime's highest-rated original series ever, so it's no surprise that the network wants more of the show.

Thursday the cable channel made it official, renewing the series for a second season that's due to premiere in spring 2008. It will run for 18 episodes, up from 13 this year.

"Even before we shattered records with the premiere on June 3, we saw the battalions of critical acclaim and knew we had a hit," says Susanne Daniels, Lifetime's president of entertainment. "Everyone up and down the chain of command deserves a medal for making the show such a success."

The show, which airs at 10 p.m. ET Sundays, follows the lives of women (and one man) married to U.S. Army soldiers and living on a post in the South. The cast includes Kim Delaney, Catherine Bell, Sterling K. Brown, Brigid Brannagh, Sally Pressman, Brian McNamara and Wendy Davis.

Over its first month on the air "Army Wives" has averaged 3.6 million viewers, the most for any original series in the network's history. About 1.4 million of those viewers are in the network's target audience of women 18-49.

The show will be joined by two new series, "Side Order of Life" and "State of Mind," this week.