By Chrisdfw (Chrisdfw) (209.245.234.95 - 209.245.234.95) on Wednesday, October 10, 2001 - 12:11 pm:| By Chrisdfw (Chrisdfw) (209.245.234.95 - 209.245.234.95) on Wednesday, October 10, 2001 - 12:11 pm: |
Band of Brothers Hit Big in Britain
Tue, Oct 9, 2001 12:42 PM PDT
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - While HBO has had trouble keeping Americans glued to its 10-hour miniseries The Band of Brothers following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, the British appear to already be hooked.
The BBC2's premiere of the series was a spectacular success, with more than 5 million viewers tuning in to watch the opening double episode, according to Variety.
The success of Band's premiere, which pulled an impressive 24 percent audience share, has made BBC1's decision not to air the pricey, high profile series look foolish. The BBC paid a record 7 million pounds ($10 million U.S.) for the series, but network executives later decided to move it to BBC2 over fears that it would not be mainstream enough.
Band of Brothers, produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, is HBO's most expensive series ever at the cost of $120 million. The series follows the 506th unit of paratroopers during World War II.
Meanwhile, stateside, the audience for the expensive series dropped after last month's terrorist attacks, but shows signs of leveling off. While the premiere of the series on Sept. 9 drew an average of 10 million viewers, that figure dropped to 7.3 million the following week. The series' third week on the air continued to dip, pulled 6.3 million viewers and 6.1 million the following week.
Band's fifth episode, which aired Sept. 30, appeared to have leveled off, maintaining 6.1 million viewers.
HBO spokeswoman Tobe Becker told the AP that the network is "extremely pleased" with the ratings given the competition with the new fall season on broadcast networks and the lack of promotion.
The miniseries' ratings, while lower than fellow HBO series The Sopranos, are on a par with cable network's hit series Sex and the City and Six Feet Under.
HBO depends on subscribers for revenue instead of advertising, and has about 27 million subscribers.
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