West Won

TNT’s Steven Spielberg-produced limited series Into the West, the network’s most expensive production ever, earned a hefty 9.59 million viewers over back-to-back airings of its premiere episode Friday. The 8 p.m. showing earned 6.47 million total viewers and a 4.0 household rating. The 10 p.m. re-run earned 3.12 million total viewers.

TNT replayed the premiere Saturday and Sunday and will likely do the same with each of the remaining five weeks’ installments in the 12-hour DreamWorks Television series about the settling of the American West. The 8 p.m. episode ranked as cable’s top program for the night and the network boasted it bested ABC, CBS, Fox, UPN, and The WB with total viewers, households, and adults 24-54 in Friday night broadcast in prime time Friday.