The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 342

Prime-Time TV Rankings 'ER' Loses a Character, Earns High Ratings Pennebaker Looks Back at Making Dylan Documentary Video The director's chronicle of the singer's 1965 British tour returns this month in a DVD version. ABC still won its eighth consecutive week and holds a commanding lead in both the February rating sweeps and on a season-to-date basis ahead of NBC by more than a million viewers per week as the "Millionaire" juggernaut continues to be virtually unstoppable. The quiz show scored its highest Sunday rating yet, providing a boost to "The Practice," with ABC crushing the NBC and CBS movies "Little Richard" and "Flowers for Algernon," respectively. One area of ratings disappointment for ABC remains the Monday drama "Once and Again," which received another beating from NBC's "Third Watch" last week despite a solid lead-in audience from the Jim Carrey movie "Liar Liar." -BRIAN LOWRY For all the talk about millionaires last week, doctors made the most impressive single prime-time showing, as NBC's "ER" delivered the program's fifth-largest audience in its storied history, based on viewing estimates issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research. Featuring the death of Kellie Martin's character, "ER" put up staggering numbers, exceeding tune-in for any series episode since the "Seinfeld" finale in 1998.

"Friends" also posted its biggest ratings since premiere week, while "Frasier" has improved its competitive position especially among the young adults most closely associated with ad rates versus "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" at 9 p.m. NBC also dominated Friday with the crossover story line connecting "Law Order" and its spinoff. National Nielsen Vtewershlp Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Feb. 14-20) as compiled by Nielsen Media Research. They are based on the average number of people who watched a program from start to finish.

Nielsen estimates that there are 260 million potential U.S. viewers age 2 and older. Vlewership is listed here in millions. group of Western theaters was showing porno, and they wanted to upgrade their act," the self-deprecating Pennebaker recalls. "It was perfect for me, because my movie looked like porno, but it's not." Pennebaker, who earned an Academy Award nomination for his look at the Clinton presidential campaign in "The War Room," is quick to poke fun at himself.

Talking about his acclaimed black-and-white Dylan piece, he describes it as "a very ratty-looking film." Critics disagreed. "A portrait of the young Dylan tearing the pop world apart," a San Francisco Examiner reviewer enthused in a typical rave. Pennebaker, an Illinois native, earned a degree in mechanical engineering at Yale University before going into filmmaking. Using his college skills, he developed a portable camera that allowed filmmakers full access one of the keys to the cinema viriti style that he helped define. According to Pennebaker, the movie wasn't his idea, and it wasn't Dylan's either.

The credit belongs to Dylan's late manager, Albert Grossman. The DVD comes with a bonus: five never-before-released Dylan audio performances and a previously unreleased version of the landmark cue-card flipping bit for "Subterranean Homesick Blues." By LARRY McSHANE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK-DA Pennebaker still remembers the look on young Bob Dylan's face. The 26-year-old singer was watching himself in Pennebaker's soon-to-be-released documentary, "Don't Look Back." Dylan appeared well, stunned is a good word. "I think the first rime he saw it, he went into shock," Pennebaker recalls, laughing slightly. "He had no idea that one camera sitting on one guy's shoulder could make him feel so naked." The chastened Dylan returned a night later, watched it again, then gave his OK to Pennebaker's film.

Now, three decades later, the director's chronicle of Dylan's three-week 1965 British tour has returned in an enhanced DVD version released by New Video. "I've always admired Dylan for letting the film go the way it was," says Pennebaker, 74. "That was something a lot of lesser talentsand a lot of greater talents-would have had trouble doing." Pennebaker's critically acclaimed documentary, released in 1967, stands the test of time although its creator once felt the 96-minute film would never see a theatrical release. It was the kindness of several West Coast pornographic theaters that changed that, he says. "This MV Jt' IX fh IHwi 1ftr Program work or 92.

Moesha UPN 4.06 93. Dawson's Creek WB 4.00 94. 7 Days UPN 3.73 95. Malcolm a Eddie UPN 3.71 96. Grownups UPN 3.70 97.

Roswell WB 3.66 98. The Steve Harvey Show WB 3.51 99. The Jamie Fen Show WB 3.22 100. Jamie Foxx Show (9:30 p.m.) WB 3.19 101. Felicity WB 3.15 102.

Popular WB 2.98 103. For your Love WB 2.91 104. Tit Heaven Beginning) WB 2.86 105. "Stephen King's Night Flier" UPN 2.81 106. Jack 4 Jill WB 2.74 107.

Zee WB 2.36 108. I Dare You! UPN 2,14 109. Brutally Normal WB 1.71 110. Dilbert UPN 1.29 111. Shasta UPN 1.21 112.

Angel (FH.) WB 2.08 NBC Kellie Martin Cable Top 10 Here are Nielsen's top 10 cable programs in prime time last week, also ranked by total viewers (in millions). Program work era 1. ER NBC 3M8 2. Millionaire (Sun.) ABC 30.49 3. Millionaire (Tue.) ABC 28.66 4.

Millionaire (Thu.) ABC 28.02 5. Friends NBC 25.89 6. Frasier NBC 21.70 7. The Practice ABC 21.68 8. Frasier (9:30 p.m.) NBC 19.35 9.

Law Order (Fri.) NBC 18.92 10. Touched by an Angel CBS 18.16 11. laws Order NBC 17.93 12. Everybody loves Raymond CBS 17.74 13. 60 Minutes CBS 17.25 14.

Lawl Order. SVU NBC 17.13 15. Providence NBC 16.63 16. JAG CBS 16.59 17. TheX-FHes FOX 16.56 ia The Simpsons FOX 16.39 19.

"Marry a Mum-Millionaire?" FOX 16.02 20. Malcolm In Die Middle FOX 15.90 21. "Jungle 2 Jungle" ABC 15.73 22. Walker, Teias Ranger CBS 15.47 23. Becker CBS 15.31 24.

ABC 15.28 25. Judging Amy CBS 15.23 26. "Sally Homings" Pi. 2 CBS 14.93 27. NYPOBlue ABC 14.35 28.

Twenty One NBC 14.26 29. AllyMcBeal FOX 13.98 30. Diagnosis Murder CBS 13.64 31. King of Queens CBS 13.60 32. The West Wing NBC 13.48 33.

60 Minutes II CSS 13.28 34. "liar liar' ABC 13.25 35 Die Drew Carey Show ABC 13.01 36. Third Watch NBC 12.86 37. "Liar Uaf (Fri.) ABC 12.82 38. "Flowers tor Algernon" CBS 12.44 39.

Willi Grace NBC 11.96 40. UdiesMan CBS 11.94 41. Spin City ABC 11.80 42. Drew Carey Show (Tue.) ABC 11.79 43. "Utile Richard" NBC 11.61 44.

Willi Grace p.m.) NBC 11.53 45. 2020 Downtown ABC 11.49 46. Martial Law CBS 11.38 47. "Phenomenon" ABC 11.32 48. 48 Hours CBS 11.30 49.

"JonBenet Ramsay Story" FOX 11.18 50. Nash Bridges CBS 10 88 51. Whose line Is It? (8:30 p.m.) ABC 10.87 52. 2020 (Wed.) ABC 10.72 53. Dateline NBC (Tue NBC 10.58 54.

Two Guys and a Gin ABC 10.56 55. 2020 (Fn.) ABC 10.39 56. Norm FOX 10.27 Net- Hew- Prograsi work era 1. The Sopranos HBO 5.83 2. "Analyze This" HBO 5.19 3.

West Dog Show (Mon.) USA 4.44 4. Westminster Dog Show (Tue.) USA 4.37 5. Wrestling 9 p.m.) TNT 4.27 6. Wrestling 7 p.m.) USA 4.01 7. Rugrats NICK 4.00 8.

Wrestling 8 p.m.) TNT 3.55 9. "Ghost" TBS 3.33 10. Ripley's Believe tt or Not TBS 3.26 Program work 57. King of the Hill FOX 10.24 58. Once and Again ABC 10.06 59.

Tl Pretender NBC 9.85 Greed FOX 9.85 61. That '70s Show FOX 9.67 62. Cops (9:30 p.m.) FOX 9.61 S3. City of Angels CBS 9.55 64. Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 9.51 65.

Twenty One 8 p.m.) NBC 9.38 66. That'70sShow FOX 9.30 67. Cops (9 p.m.) FOX 9.28 63. Whose Une Is It Anyway? ABC 9.27 69. Now and Again CBS 9.09 70.

Dateline NBC 7 p.m.) NBC 9 0S 71. "Independence Day" FOX 8.99 72. Cops FOX 865 73. Dateline NBC (Mon.) NBC 8.61 74. Winning Lines 8 p.m.) CBS 8.44 75.

Winning Lines (8:30 p.m.) CBS 8.43 76. Chicago Hope CBS 8.41 77. 48 Hours CBS 8.27 78. Beverly Hills, 90210 FOX B.22 79. Just Snoot Me NBC 8.19 80.

VVWFSmackdown! UPN 7.93 81. World's Wildest Police Videos FOX 7.81 82. Profiler NBC 7.49 83. Early Edition CBS 7.45 84. The Others ABC 7.15 85.

Futurama FOX 7.07 86. 7th Heaven WB 6.95 87. Star Trek: Voyager UPN 5.32 88. Charmed WB 4.96 89. Buffy, the Vampire Slayer WB 4.85 90.

Angel WB 4.66 91. The Parkers UPN 4.31 Network Averages Here is the number of viewers that each network averaged per hour of prime time, for last week and for the season. SALE! Lots of laserdiscs starting at only Last Seam week todate ABC 15.00 million 13.95 NBC 14.05 12.93 CBS 12.66 12.80 FOX 11.21 9.33 UPN 4.18 3.95 WB 3.79 3.86 (titles shown $10 each while supplies last) I I Win a DVDLD Combo Player Get there early for the best deals! DVD's also available starting from $10 (drawing on each day of sale) no purchase required lor drawing More positions than a yoga master. 1 Feb. 26,27 10am-3pm 1058 East 230th Street Carson, CA 90745 cash, visa or mastercard only sorry, no checks will be accepted.