Not Everybody Loves Ellen

By Stephen M. Silverman

Wednesday September 26, 2001 11:23 AM EDT

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With news having taken precedence over entertainment this month, the delayed TV season officially made its bow on Monday. The results: Viewers tuned in en masse to CBS's "Everybody Loves Raymond," but they tuned right back out again when it came time for "The Ellen Show," starring Ellen DeGeneres, which debuted immediately after the Ray Romano sitcom. Based on preliminary Nielsen Media Research estimates, nearly 22 million people watched the season premiere of "Raymond," but only about 13.9 million -- a 37% drop -- hung around for "Ellen," which will shift to its regular time slot this Friday. The news was more upbeat for "Crossing Jordan," a new NBC drama starring "Law & Order" vet Jill Hennessy. The show averaged about 15.3 million viewers, easily beating CBS's "Family Law" and attracting NBC's biggest audience for the premiere of a Monday-night series in six years. Fox counter-programmed with "Who Wants to Be a Princess?," which was likened to its legendary high-rated (but critically scarred) special, "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?" Viewers wanted little of "Princess," however, and it attracted only 5.8 million viewers. Now in video and DVD news comes something of an update, albeit 50 years after the fact. Disney has just announced a made-for-video feature called (and the title tells all), "Cinderella II: Dreams Come True," due in stores Feb. 26. Told through the eyes of the mice Jaq and Gus, it will tell the story of what happened after Cinderella married you-know-who. Talk about room for possibility.