MUMBAI: It has been over a year since The Sopranos were seen in the US. That could explain why the ratings for the first episode of the fifth season fell short of what the fourth season accomplished.

A report in the Washington Post indicated that household ratings for last Sunday's fifth-season debut fell by as much as 25 per cent in the metered markets, compared with the fourth-season debut on 15 September 2002. The metered markets cover about 70 per cent of the US.

The debut episode was seen by 12.1 million people stated another report in Eonline. Nielsen Media Research data indicated that the mafia drama outdrew the other broadcast network offerings except for NBC's Law & Order: Criminal Intent . That had 15 million viewers. In India The Sopranos has for some time now been a staple of Zee English.

The 2002 season opener was seen by 13.4 million people. However HBO was quoted in an AP report saying that it had been informed that Nielsen's 2002 figures also included people watching its spinoff networks, such as HBO Signature and HBO2. Therefore the above mentioned figure could be inaccurate.

The report added that while Law & Order beat The Sopranos one needed to remember the fact that HBO is only available in about 30 per cent of the US' television homes. The report adds that for the week 1-7 March Fox's American Idol on Tuesday topped the charts with 25.5 million viewers. This is followed by two CBS shows. Survivor All-Stars was seen by 23.3 million people while CSI atracted 22.7 million viewers. In India this show airs on AXN.