’Diana’ tapes attract 16.8 million

By Cynthia Littleton, Hollywood Reporter, 3/6/2004

LOS ANGELES — Nearly 17 million people tuned in Thursday to hear the tape-recorded comments on palace intrigue featured in NBC’s special "Princess Diana: The Secret Tapes."

The hourlong program, which was built around recordings the princess made at her home in Britain’s Kensington Palace, brought in 16.8 million viewers (and a noteworthy 7.2 rating/19 share among adults 18-49), according to preliminary estimates from Nielsen Media Research. But even with a repeat, the CBS drama "Without a Trace" — with 17.5 million viewers, and a 5.3/14 showing in the 18-49 demographic — won the 10 p.m. hour.

Neither NBC nor CBS was at full strength on Thursday, as both networks hauled out reruns on the first night after the close of the February sweeps. CBS won the 8 p.m. hour with a new episode of "Survivor: All-Stars" (23.2 million, 8.7/23) going up against NBC’s repeat of "Friends" (17.1 million, 7.2/20) and a fresh edition of "Will & Grace" (15.5 million, 7.0/18).

NBC’s "The Apprentice" (20.3 million, 9.9/24) was hot at 9 p.m. — but a repeat of CBS’s "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" still prevailed in total viewers (22.7 million, 7.4/18).

ABC and Fox were once again far behind their rivals. Two hours of "Extreme Makeover" capped by 10 p.m.’s "Primetime Thursday" delivered a nightly average of 7.5 million viewers and 2.7/7 in adults 18-49 for ABC. Fox was off the radar with an 8-10 p.m. block of "Tru Calling" repeats (4 million, 1.54). UPN ranked fourth for the night with "WWE Smackdown!" (4.9 million, 1.9/5).

WB locks in `Lord’ trilogy The lastest sweeps have barely ended, and The WB is already looking ahead to a future ratings derby. Several of them, in fact.

The network has locked in the "Lord of the Rings" movie saga for each of the next three Novembers. The first film in the trilogy, "The Fellowship of the Ring," will have its network premiere this year.

"The WB made a huge bet on this franchise a couple of years back, and that has paid off in a way we never dreamed," Jordan Levin, the network’s co-CEO, said in a statement, adding that airing the films "will enable us to create event programming that can platform important series for us."

"The Fellowship of the Ring," which clocks in at more than three hours, will air over two nights (The WB airs only two hours of prime-time programming on most nights) in November. The subsequent films in the trilogy, "The Two Towers" and Oscar champ "The Return of the King," will make their network debuts in 2005 and 2006, respectively.

The WB has rights to air all three films during the 2006-07 season. The network and the film’s distributor, New Line, are both part of Time Warner.

KNIGHT RIDDER

ABC boss hints at `Practice’ spinoff

With a mostly offhand remark, ABC chairman Lloyd Braun has set off speculation that the network is considering a spinoff of its long-running series "The Practice."

Talking with reporters Tuesday to discuss ABC’s performance in the February sweeps period, Braun said that while no decision has been made on whether the show will return next season, the network is in "active discussions" with "Practice" creator David E. Kelley about another series.

The way Braun described the show makes it sound like a spinoff: "I can tell you we’re in active discussions with David Kelley about another show that will share some of the same blood with `The Practice,’ " he said.

He declined to elaborate, saying, "We’re not prepared to get into too many details yet because [the concept] is still going through that brain of David Kelley’s."

"The Practice" hasn’t fully recovered from its disastrous move to Monday nights for a portion of last season. Although the show is back in its Sunday home this season, it’s drawing fewer than 9 million viewers a week this season, down from its average of 9.6 million last year. KNIGHT RIDDER

Talk of the dial

10 a.m. WBIX-AM (1060) — "Stu Taylor on Business." Guests: Steven Selengut, Sanco Services; Chip Poli, Poli Mortgage Group; Paul Silver, Handyman Heroes.

4 p.m. WPLM-AM (1390) — "Financially Speaking." Guests: Ric Edelman, author, "The Truth About Money"; Nancy Fox, author, "The Sixty-Second Coach."

Other radiohighlights

7:30 a.m. WUMB-FM (91.9) — "Commonwealth Journal" with Barbara Neely. Guests: Bruce Jackson, principle investigator of African-American DNA Roots Project; Maggie Holtzberg, folk arts and heritage program manager for the Massachusetts Cultural Council.