• by December 8, 2000

By Anya Khait

The eighth episode of the Emmy Award-winning ABC comedy series "Spin City" won its time period (9:30-10:00 PM ET/PT) last night in adults 18-49, the audience demographic most coveted by advertisers, and adults 18-34, beating repeat presentations of NBC's "The West Wing" and the CBS movie "One Special Night," and an original episode of FOX's "The $treet," according to the Fast National ratings information provided by Nielsen Media Research.

The 'All the Wrong Moves' episode of "Spin City," starring Charlie Sheen and Heather Locklear, scored a 6.2 rating and 15 share in adults 18-49, beating its closest competitor, "The West Wing," (5.6/14) by +11% in rating. "Spin City" also achieved a 5.3 rating/14 share in adults 18-34, a +26% rating advantage over second-place finisher "The West Wing."

NBC kept its Thursday night string alive with an average of 21.6 million viewers on the night, based on Nielsen fast national numbers. "ER hit" a 14.7 rating, 38 share among adults 18-49. "Friends" scored an 11.0/30 and "Just Shoot Me" drew an 11.2/27. A "Will & Grace" repeat hit a 10.0/25. ABC's two-hour "Shooting War" special about World War II combat documentarists drew a 3.2/8. "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?" drew 18.7 million viewers as its lead-in. CBS's Thursday night lineup showed anemic consistency: "48 Hours" drew a 2.2/5, followed by "City of Angels" at 2.2/5 and "Diagnosis Murder" at 2.1/5.

NBC executives officially pulled the plug on "The Michael Richards Show," ordered more episodes of new comedy "DAG" and set a new Tuesday night lineup for midseason. Starting Jan. 9, NBC's Tuesday night lineup will kick off with "3rd Rock From The Sun" at 8 p.m. ET/PT, followed by "DAG" at 8:30 p.m., "Frasier" at 9 p.m. and new comedy "Three Sisters" at 9:30 p.m. "Dateline" NBC will air from 10-11 p.m.

"Three Sisters" is from the writing team of Eileen Heisler and DeAnn Heline (Ellen, Roseanne and Murphy Brown) and is an ensemble relationship comedy about a family of grown-ups. Dyan Cannon is one of eight regular cast members. "DAG," which is currently at 9:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, has been given an additional four episode commitment from NBC. And network executives say "3rd Rock From The Sun" (currently at 8:30 p.m.) is the right show to lead off the night. As for former Seinfeld co-star Richards' short-lived comedy, NBC executives say it will continue to air in its current Tuesday time slot through Jan. 2.

ABC is ready for another reality project. The network is going to premiere its new adventure series "Who Is The Mole?" on Tuesday Jan. 9. The series, which follows 10 real-life players trying to detect a mole amongst them, will air for nine consecutive weeks in the Tuesday at 8 p.m. time slot. ABC News correspondent Anderson Cooper is the show's host and the last player standing will win $1 million. To complete filming of the series, the 10 players do stunts and travel to two continents, four countries and 34 cities with a