'Lipstick Jungle' is hanging by a thread

The voice on the phone was unmistakably that of Brooke Shields, but a listener would have been forgiven for thinking he had been accidentally connected to a wonky, network television statistician.

During an interview about "Lipstick Jungle," the teetering NBC drama in which she stars, Shields embarked on an arcane discussion of the show's performance in the Nielsen ratings, specifically its gains in the category of "live plus 7," when measured against "live plus same day." Translation: Among viewers 18 to 49, the group prime-time advertisers most wish to reach, the show's ratings increase by about 29 percent — or by 652,000 viewers, to 2.3 million, according to the most recent Nielsen figures — when the numbers include people who take as many as seven days to watch an episode on digital video recorders as opposed to those who watch it live or within hours of its broadcast.

No prime-time program gets a bigger boost in viewership from long-range DVR viewers, according to an NBC analysis of the Nielsen data. And that has been something of a lifeline for the series, which chronicles the ups and downs of three stylish, high-achieving New York friends played by Shields, Kim Raver and Lindsay Price.

In sparing "Lipstick" from what was thought to be certain cancellation in mid-November — it ranks 85th among prime-time shows — NBC executives cited those DVR figures as a measurement of the series' firm hold on a loyal fan base. (Some of those fans demonstrated their ardor by sending tubes of lipstick to Jeff Zucker, chief executive of NBC Universal, the network's parent company.) NBC has said it will broadcast the four remaining episodes (of the 13 it ordered for this year), staggered through mid-January.

But whether the series returns later this season or next season will largely depend on whether it increases its overall audience, and not just among those watching on a delayed basis. That's because advertisers strongly prefer to reach viewers seeing a program live, who can't fast-forward past their ads.

"There is incredible passion for this show at NBC, and there is incredible passion from fans," said Teri Weinberg, executive vice president of NBC Entertainment. "But we need to find some evidence in the numbers as we go forward. We have a magnifying glass on the show."

In a sign of the series' limbo, NBC has ordered that its stage sets remain up and intact in New York City, though there are no immediate plans to return to the studio for production.