‘94 Winter Olympic Games / Lillehammer : NOTEBOOK

CBS’ first-night coverage of the Winter Olympics drew the largest audience ever to watch the opening ceremony of a Winter Games. An average of 19.6 million television homes were tuned in to all or part of the tape-delayed broadcast.

The next most-watched opening ceremony was at Lake Placid in 1980, when it was watched in 17.3 million television homes.

Saturday’s three-hour prime-time show drew a 20.8 national Nielsen rating and a 34 audience share even though there were viewer complaints that the network spent too long--about an hour--on features and interviews before going to the opening ceremony.

The rating for the opening ceremoney at Albertville, France, two years ago was a 14.5 and a 24 share.

Each ratings point represents 942,000 households. The share refers to the percentage of televisions in use that are tuned to a program.

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There were complaints Sunday that CBS, on its daytime shows, was giving results of events that were to be shown later. Lou D’Ermilio, a CBS spokesman in Lillehammer, said next weekend the anchors, Jim Nantz and Andrea Joyce, will be more consistent in warning viewers to look away if they don’t want to know results.

Also, Joyce said the United States’ 4-4 tie in hockey with France was shown on “a little bit of a delay.” In the East, it was a half-hour delay. But in the West, the delay was 3 1/2 hours, meaning the game was over before the start was shown by CBS.

Missing from the hockey telecast was CBS’ much-balleyhooed goalie-cam because U.S. goalie Mike Dunham told the network Saturday he had decided he wouldn’t feel comfortable with a tiny camera mounted on his helmet.

On tonight’s late-night wrap, host Pat O’Brien celebrates his 46th birthday and Norwegian super-model Vendela guests.