‘One Special Night’ Is Movie of the Week

“One Special Night” lived up to its name, outshining a gaggle of films scheduled over the holiday weekend to finish behind only “Annie” among made-for-TV movies broadcast this season, according to viewing estimates issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

The CBS romance, pairing James Garner and Julie Andrews, capped a week in which feature films also exhibited their ability to attract mass TV audiences despite prior exposure on pay cable, video or even a network. NBC ranked first Saturday thanks to its seventh annual airing of “Home Alone” and fared well Sunday--especially among young adults--with “Men in Black.” “The Santa Clause” also ranked second to “Annie” in terms of “Wonderful World of Disney” titles this season.

“Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” closed its 18-day run with record tune-in Wednesday, and having the quiz show precede “Dharma & Greg” Nov. 23 yielded a best-ever rating for that series.

NBC’s new Thanksgiving lineup posted mixed results: A Shania Twain concert outdrew “Friends” and “Just Shoot Me” from 8 to 9 p.m., but “Will & Grace” hit a high, and the birth of Nurse Hathaway’s twins helped “ER” deliver its biggest audience since September.

Network Averages

Here is the number of viewers that each network averaged per hour of prime time, for last week and for the season.

*--*

Last Season week to date ABC 15.00 million 12.80 CBS 14.50 13.30 NBC 13.90 14.00 FOX 9.99 9.20 WB 3.60 4.20 UPN 3.50 3.80

*--*

Southland Viewing

Here are Nielsen’s Top 10 prime-time programs in the Los Angeles area during the same week. The rankings are based on the number of households watching.

*--*

Sta- House- Program tion holds 1. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire KABC 837,021 2. ER KNBC 821,616 3. “One Special Night” KCBS 806,211 4. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire KABC 795,941 5. Frasier KNBC 718,914 6. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire KABC 682,968 7. Will & Grace KNBC 667,563 8. The Practice KABC 662,428 9. Ally McBeal KTTV 657,293 Providence KNBC 675,293

*--*