The third-season June 7 debut of Lifetime's only hit original drama has backing from Mary Kay. The company will sponsor vignettes during ad breaks for the length of the season.

The vignettes -- aimed at reducing DVR-enabled ad-skipping -- feature a make-up artist using Mary Kay products to demonstrate to viewers how the "Army Wives" characters are able to look as they do on-screen.

Separately, and using less of an overt Mary Kay plug, the marketer will sponsor "Army Wives Gives Back" interstitials during breaks, "which celebrate American military wives," Lifetime said. (Ford was a partner on last season's Army Wives Gives Back campaign.)

The Mary Kay arrangement also includes a Web component, as well as a related sweepstakes -- common for multipart integration deals.

"Army Wives" focuses on the trials and tribulations of women and one man who are living with their spouses on an army base. It was developed by former Lifetime entertainment chief Susanne Daniels.

Despite the success of "Army Wives," Lifetime has had a difficult season. By one measure, viewership in the 18-to-49 demo has dropped 10% to 542,000 people. Among women ages 25 to 54, where the female-targeted channel is still a top 10 network, viewing -- by one measure -- has declined 9% to 434,000.

The network had hoped a January launch of former Bravo show "Project Runway" would give it a lift. That series will finally come to the network in August.

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