Taken snatches No. 1 spot
By Allison Romano -- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/10/2002 12:19:00 PM
Sci Fi Channel eclipsed all its cable competitors in the weekly Nielsen Media Research race last week, buoyed by stunning ratings for its Taken miniseries.
Sci Fi finished the week of Dec. 2 through 8 with a mammoth 2.8 prime time average.
Taken, is in its second week on Sci Fi, averaged a 4.0 rating after five episodes premiered last week. Five more two-hour shows debut on weeknights this week.
Taken's Dec. 2 premiere notched a stellar 4.9 rating, and the $35 million miniseries, co-produced with Steven Spielberg, dipped only as low as a 3.6 rating for the Dec. 4 and 5 installments, according to a Turner Entertainment Research analysis of Nielsen data.
Trailing Sci Fi in the overall ratings were ESPN and Turner Network Television with 2.0 prime time averages. ESPN boasted cable's highest-rated program for the week, a Dec. 8 National Football League contest between the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers, which turned in a blistering 8.7 rating.
TNT scored a 4.5 rating for star-studded original movie Miss Lettie and Me, co-produced with Johnson & Johnson and featuring Mary Tyler Moore and Burt Reynolds.
Rounding out the top five were Lifetime Television with a 1.8 average and USA Network and Nickelodeon, each with 1.6 averages. Along with Sci Fi, other networks making notable prime time gains last week included Fox News Channel (1.3 average) and ABC Family (1.2).
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