Jackson is sweeps’ dream-come-true

Michael Jackson’s record sales may no longer be a thriller, but he is becoming ratings gold for networks and news organizations that have flooded the February TV landscape with what seems like an “all Jackson, all the time” tidal wave.

Fox announced Wednesday that a new special scheduled for Feb. 20 will have Jackson attacking ABC’s high-rated “Living With Michael Jackson” documentary that aired last week. The Fox program, along with NBC’s “Dateline” installment Monday that examines the singer’s career and relationships, brings to at least seven the number of prime-time hours being devoted to Jackson next week as part of the February ratings sweeps, one of the periods the TV industry uses to determine advertising rates.

That includes VH-1’s plans to repeat the ABC documentary six times between Saturday and Monday, but not the barrage of Jackson-related stories that have been running on shows such as “Access Hollywood,” “Entertainment Tonight” and “Celebrity Justice.”

While the networks have been frantic in their scramble for Jackson-related material, the singer has escalated the frenzy with his reported $2-million deal with Fox to show footage his own cameraman shot during the filming of “Living With Michael Jackson.”

The Jackson footage was made at the same time that a crew was filming British journalist Martin Bashir’s interview with the singer.

The Jackson footage, which includes moments not captured by Bashir’s crew, shows the journalist praising Jackson for being a good father, which contradicts Bashir’s approach in the finished program. There, Bashir said he became concerned about Jackson’s behavior toward his children while in Berlin, where Jackson made news when he dangled his youngest child from the fourth-floor balcony of his hotel room.

The ABC broadcast was seen by 27.1-million viewers and was last week’s most watched TV program.

Spokesmen for Jackson and Fox said Wednesday that the network has total editorial control over “Michael Jackson Take 2: The Interview They Wouldn’t Show You.”

Jackson’s spokesman, Stuart Backerman, added that the singer is not an active participant in the program. He said Jackson’s representatives turned over about two hours of footage of the Bashir interview, along with an additional three hours of an interview with Debbie Rowe, Jackson’s ex-wife and the mother of two of his three children.

“All we did was give Fox raw footage, and they are doing with it as they please,” Backerman said. He added, however, that the Fox program will show that Bashir had an agenda with his documentary, and that Jackson will be seen in a different light.

ABC, which purchased rights to “Living With Michael Jackson” from Britain’s ITV1, declined to comment and referred inquiries to Bashir’s producers in London, who could not be reached.