Hussein’s a strong draw on a big night

In a night of exclusive prime-time interviews that provided a fitting conclusion to a frenzied February sweeps, even broadcast journalists were probably relieved to see Iraqi President Saddam Hussein prove a bigger ratings draw than two sensational crime stories involving an accused killer and a convicted one.

CBS anchor Dan Rather’s “60 Minutes II” interview with Hussein averaged 17.1 million viewers Wednesday, the highest rating ever for that spinoff newsmagazine.

Based on Nielsen Media Research estimates, tune-in far exceeded either of the news programs that followed: Barbara Walters’ jailhouse talk with actor Robert Blake (12.2 million), accused of murdering his wife; and CBS’ “48 Hours Investigates” (9.2 million), featuring just-released “preppy murderer” Robert Chambers.

Notably, none of the broadcasts approached the blockbuster ratings that ABC recorded earlier this month with Michael Jackson on “20/20,” which averaged more than 27 million viewers.

The flurry of heavily promoted news programs also had little effect on regularly scheduled entertainment fare. In fact, the night’s most-watched show, NBC’s crime drama “Law & Order,” averaged 19.6 million viewers at 10 p.m. against “20/20” (12.2 million) and “48 Hours.” Similarly, “The West Wing,” featuring Rob Lowe’s final appearance, delivered 14 million viewers -- a modest bump over its average, doubtless due in part to the absence of ABC’s “The Bachelorette,” which ended last week.

Given its local connection, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the Blake interview was the night’s most-watched program in the Los Angeles area, viewed in 13.7% of homes, or about 720,000 households. That was two-thirds higher than the national rating, more than double the local rating for “48 Hours” and surpassing the Hussein interview, which attracted a respectable 600,000 homes.

More unexpectedly, the Chambers story -- which at the time garnered a huge amount of attention in New York City -- actually fell slightly below the national average there and trailed “20/20.” The program was seen in about 475,000 homes on WCBS-TV, or 6.5% of those in the U.S.’ largest TV market, versus 8.5% watching Blake on WABC-TV.

Official sweeps averages for the network morning news programs won’t be released until next week, meanwhile, but ratings for the week ending Feb. 21 gave a possible hint of what’s to come.

Buoyed by an appearance of the stars from “The Bachelorette,” ABC’s “Good Morning America” drew an average audience of 5.9 million, its largest in nine years. While NBC’s “Today” show remained comfortably on top, with 6.4 million viewers, the 540,000 viewers separating the two programs was the narrowest since the week of Sept. 30, 1996.

With snowstorms keeping viewers inside and interest in developments surrounding possible war in Iraq running high, CBS News’ long-suffering “The Early Show” also had something to crow about: Its average audience of 3.3 million viewers represented the network’s best weekly performance since January 1999.

Final sweeps results also reveal that ABC’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulos” fell to third place in the Sunday-morning network news race, in a month when the program’s schedule was disrupted by basketball preemptions.

NBC’s “Meet the Press,” anchored by Tim Russert, came out on top among the Sunday-discussion shows, with an average 5.7 million viewers, 16% above the same period a year ago. CBS’ “Face the Nation,” with Bob Schieffer, was up a more modest 4% versus February 2002, at 3.4 million.

By contrast, “This Week” slipped 15% from last year, when the program was anchored by Cokie Roberts and Sam Donaldson, to 3 million viewers.

That average marked the ABC program’s lowest-rated February sweeps in 16 years, according to NBC. However, an ABC News spokeswoman said the program experienced so many scheduling changes during the month as to make any comparisons irrelevant. “We read no meaning into the performance,” she said.

“Fox News Sunday” was fourth, at 2.1 million viewers, up 37% from a year ago.