Katie Couric posted a strong start as anchor of the “CBS Evening News,” with more than twice as many viewers as usual tuning in for Tuesday's debut, early Nielsen Media Research ratings showed.
Couric anchored the highest-rated edition of the “CBS Evening News” since the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, in the “metered markets” tracked by Nielsen, composed of the nation's 55 largest cities.
It also marked a rare No.1 finish in the nightly network news ratings race for CBS, which has long held third place behind rivals NBC and ABC.
The metered-market rating of 9.1 was more than double the “CBS Evening News” average of 4.4 during the past four weeks.
“We're encouraged by last night's numbers,” CBS News President Sean McManus said in a statement Wednesday. “But what's more important is what the audience will be in six months and a year from now.”
The lead story of Couric's maiden CBS News broadcast was a report from Taliban-held territory in Afghanistan. The broadcast also included the first public pictures of Tom Cruise's infant daughter, Suri.
Short takes
If the wait for season three of “Battlestar Galactica” seems just too long, the Sci Fi Channel has your back: an online miniseries called “Battlestar Galactica: The Resistance.”
The first of 10 episodes went online Tuesday at www.scifi.com. Episodes will appear every Tuesday and Thursday for the next five weeks.
The new season debuts Oct.6.
While viewing the webisodes won't be essential to follow the season-three story, “The Resistance” does promise to close some gaps between the season two finale – which ended with Cylons descending on the newly colonized planet of New Caprica following President Gaius Baltar's (Jim Callis) surrender – and the new episodes.
Sci Fi also has a recap special titled “The Story So Far” available on its Web site throughout September.
Short takes
“Wheel of Fortune” will travel to San Diego in March to tape three weeks of shows, it was announced yesterday by co-host Vanna White. The 15 episodes will be taped at the San Diego Convention Center for broadcast in May.
San Diego residents will be able to audition for the episodes when the “Wheelmobile” rolls into town in the next few months searching for contestants.
Sitcom vet Sara Gilbert has signed on to star in several episodes of CBS' new sitcom “The Class.” The “Roseanne” alum, last seen in the short-lived WB sitcom “Twins,” will play Fern, a character who pops up from Richie's (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) past.
The show debuts Sept. 18.
Oscar winner Anna Paquin is set to star opposite Aidan Quinn in the HBO movie “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee,” which chronicles how American Indians were displaced as the United States expanded west during the latter half of the 19th century.
Food Network has picked up its reality chef hunt, “The Next Food Network Star,” for a third season. The show, in which aspiring TV chefs compete for a show on the channel, is casting now. Filming will begin with eight new contestants in New York in January, and the show is set to debut in June.
In a related matter, Food has given a second season order to “Guy's Big Bite,” the show hosted by last season's “Next Food Network Star,” Guy Fieri. The Sunday morning show will return with 13 new episodes.
Comic Rob Riggle has been hired as a correspondent on “The Daily Show.”
Riggle – who had short stints on “Saturday Night Live” and “The Office” – will replace Rob Corddry, who is getting his own show.
– COMPILED BY PATRICK MCGRATH FROM NEWS SERVICE REPORTS
