Los Angeles ? E! can’t get enough of Anna Nicole Smith.

The cable network has renewed “The Anna Nicole Show” for a second season, meaning cameras will once again follow the former Playboy Playmate of the Year and widow of a billionaire through her decidedly more-than-normal life.

“‘The Anna Nicole Show’ has been a huge success for E!,” says Mark Sonnenberg, the network’s executive vice president for entertainment. “Viewers are captivated by Anna Nicole’s surreal world.”

The series, developed after “The Osbournes” became a hit for MTV, made its debut in August to more than 4 million viewers, making it the highest-rated show in E!’s history. Ratings have dropped considerably since then, but “Anna Nicole” still averages a 2.1 household rating, far better than anything else that’s aired in its time slot (9 p.m. Sundays on Sunflower Broadband channel 59).

The series has also been big among adults 18-34 and 18-49, the network’s target audience.

After appearing in Playboy and ad campaigns for Guess? jeans, Smith made headlines when, at age 26, she married 89-year-old oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II. Since Marshall’s death in 1995, she has waged a court battle against Marshall’s son about how the estate should be divided. The case still is working its way through the legal system.

Smith’s lawyer, Howard K. Stern, her assistant, Kim, and her dog, Sugar Pie, are also regulars on the show.

Production on the new season of “The Anna Nicole Show” will begin in November for a premiere in early 2003.