10 Million Viewers Hitch Their Wagons to TNT's INTO THE WEST on Premiere Night

Six-Week Television Event, from DreamWorks Television and Executive Producer Steven Spielberg, Leads TNT to Friday Win over ABC, CBS, FOX, UPN and The WB

TNT's six-week television event INTO THE WEST, from DreamWorks Television and executive producer Steven Spielberg, got off to an extraordinary start Friday, June 10, when the 8 p.m. premiere installment and 10 p.m. telecast delivered nearly 10 million viewers, according to data from Nielsen Media Research.

"Right out of the starting gate, TNT's INTO THE WEST is proving itself to be the television event of the summer," said Steve Koonin, executive vice president and chief operating officer for TNT and sister network TBS. "We are very proud that viewers are responding so favorably to this dramatic tale and that our strategy of offering multiple telecasts each weekend is already paying off in such a big way."

The following are the ratings highlights for Friday, June 10, the first night of TNT's INTO THE WEST:

- The 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. telecasts of the first installment, "Wheel to the Stars," combined to deliver 9,593,000 persons 2+.

- During broadcast prime for the night, TNT outperformed ABC, CBS, FOX, UPN and The WB among persons 2+, households and adults 25-54.

- The 8 p.m. premiere scored a 4.0 U.S. (4.9 coverage) household rating, representing more than 4.4 million households. It ranks as cable's #1 entertainment program (excluding sports and news) for the year to date in delivery of households and persons 2+.

- The 8 p.m. telecast was cable's #1 program for the night among persons 2+ (6,474,000), households (4,432,000), adults 18-49 (1,830,000), adults 25-54 (2,449,000) and all targeted male and female demographics. The 10 p.m. telecast, which delivered 3,119,000 persons 2+, ranked second for the night among adults 18-49 (1,174,000) and 25-54 (1,579,000).

- The premiere telecast outdelivered such recent summer broadcast premieres as ABC's The Scholar, NBC's Psychic Detectives, FOX's The Inside, UPN's Britney & Kevin: Chaotic and The WB's Beauty & the Geek among persons 2+.

- The 8 p.m. premiere outdelivered Sci-Fi's December 2002 premiere of Taken among persons 2+ and households. It also outdelivered TNT's own July 2004 premiere of The Grid among persons 2+, households, adults 18-49 and adults 25-54.

TNT's INTO THE WEST tells the story of the opening of the American West, a dramatic, personal tale of the adventurous exploration of the American wilderness, the clash of two cultures, the rush to riches in a new land and the building of a new civilization. This landmark production is co-executive-produced by Darryl Frank (Taken, Las Vegas) and Justin Falvey (Las Vegas), co-heads of DreamWorks Television, and William Mastrosimone (Sinatra, The Burning Season), who also wrote the overall story for the series and the scripts for three of its installments. David A. Rosemont, executive producer of TNT's Purgatory and Emmy-winning Door to Door, serves as producer for the project, and Kirk Ellis (Anne Frank) is the supervising producer.

The project features an enormous cast headed by Matthew Settle (U-571, Band of Brothers); Skeet Ulrich (Miracles, As Good as It Gets); Michael Spears (Dances with Wolves, TNT's Broken Chain); Tonantzin Carmelo (King Rikki, 187 Shadow Lane); George Leach (DreamKeeper, After the Harvest); and Zahn McClarnon (TNT's Crazy Horse and Cooperstown). Each two-hour episode will be featured in a three-play weekend, airing on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 8 p.m. (ET/PT).

Turner Network Television (TNT), television's destination for drama and one of cable's top-rated networks, offers original movies and limited series, including Into the West, an epic six-week television event from DreamWorks Television and master storyteller and executive producer Steven Spielberg; original recurring series, including the detective drama The Closer, starring Kyra Sedgwick, and the crime thriller Wanted, with Gary Cole; powerful one-hour dramas, such as Law & Order, Without a Trace, ER, NYPD Blue, Charmed, Judging Amy and Angel, with Alias joining the line-up in September; broadcast premiere movies; and championship sports coverage, including NASCAR and the NBA. TNT is also available in high-definition.

Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company, is a major producer of news and entertainment product around the world and a leading provider of programming for the television industry.

Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data. Prime time is M-Su 8-11pm. Total Day reflects total programming hours for each network as reported by Nielsen. The following networks do not program the entire M-Su 6a-6a daypart: A&E, ABC Fam, Bio, CMDY, CNBC, Court TV, Discovery, ENT, FX, FOOD, GAME, HIST, HGTV, Lifetime, NAN, NGC, NICK, OXY, HALL, TLC,TSOU, WE, WGN and SPIKE. All ratings based on Total U.S. Television Universe of 109,600,000 homes. Movie rankings include all ad-supported program telecasts coded as feature films in Nielsen Media Research systems. (Data for Sunday 3 a.m.-6 a.m. not yet available.)