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[Variety Report]

Houston chat draws Texas size ratings

By Rick Kissell

HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - ABC News continued its great run with primetime celebrity interviews as Diane Sawyer's chat with Whitney Houston on "Primetime" scored huge ratings Wednesday.

According to Nielsen, the one-hour special edition of the show pulled in 21.27 million viewers, ranking as the highest-rated edition of any newsmagazine since a Barbara Walters "20/20" interview with Monica Lewinsky in March 1999 (48.5 million).

In the past 2-1/2 years, ABC News has broadcast the top six highest-rated newsmagazines on all of television in adults 18-49: two interviews with Michael J. Fox and one each with Gary Condit, the Osbournes, Jennifer Lopez and now Houston.

"Primetime" also becomes ABC's second most-watched telecast of the season, behind only last month's two-hour finale of "The Bachelor" (25.9 million).

Reuters/Variety

NEWSFILE: 6 DECEMBER 2002