In one episode a housemates throws dishes and fruit at the wall in a rage. In another a girl tosses bleach on her roommates’ clothes after a perceived betrayal. All the while, the girls are hooking up with a long parade of men.

"Bad Girls" is raunchy and it’s ridiculous, for sure. But it’s also become the most-watched show on the cheeky women’s network.

“Girls” averaged a 2.1 rating among women 18-24 last week, the week ended Feb. 18, the best rating in Oxygen history. That was up nearly a third over its debut in December, certainly in part because of the new college dorm measurements introduced a few weeks ago by Nielsen.

But the show is also making gains among the network’s target women 18-49 as well, averaging a series-best 0.9 for last week’s 10 p.m. Tuesday episode.

Oxygen has long strived to be edgy, and it’s become even more so in recent months as its audience rises and its median age falls. The network was up 24 percent in women 18-49 during fourth quarter, and its median age has fallen two years, to 42, since 2004.

It’s aiming yet lower with shows like “Girls” and the recent reality programs from Shannen Doherty and Janice Dickinson, which are turning in some of the network’s highest ratings ever.

"Girls" would seem a natural draw for college-age women. The characters are the same age, or just a bit older, and they're living in a group setting where much of the talk is about men and relationships and partying.

Targeting younger women with shows like "Girls" makes sense. For all the buzz in recent years over the need to retain young viewers, there’s not a ton of programming targeting women on the lower end of the 18-49 demographic.

MTV’s reality shows have been fading as they become increasingly celebrity oriented, and its long-running “Real World” series has seen its novelty wear off.

While the CW does target women 18-34, the fledgling network has had difficulty building awareness of its shows and seen viewership dip for some of predecessors UPN and WB’s highest-rated programs.

On cable, Lifetime targets an older viewer, while TBS, USA and TNT seem more interested in wooing men.

Oxygen’s audience is still tiny, with an average 252,000 total viewers in primetime, but it seems to have a strategy in place to boost those numbers: more edgy shows like "Girls." It has ordered a show from the company behind MTV’s “Laguna Beach” about female bull riders and another from the producer of “Ugly Betty” about a reality competition between ad people.

It also has four scripted series in development, included a cartoon called “Angry Little Girls.”

Note: Last week's cable charts were delayed by Nielsen due to the President's Day holiday. They will be posted as soon as they arrive.