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Mouse's 'Cheetah' encore leaps to top
submitted by: Lisa D.
source: Daily Variety
Date: August 27, 2003
By LILY OEI
NEW YORK --- A special encore presentation of Disney Channel's "The Cheetah Girls" hit the spot with viewers Saturday night.
Replay of the made-for featured an alternate ending with an extra 12 minutes of footage. Disney decided to air encore and extra footage early last week after triumph of telepic's Aug. 15 premiere. That broadcast was the top-ranked cable telepic last week (tying with TBS's "Red Water") with a 3.1 rating and 6.5 million total viewers.
"In a world of DVD viewing, kids and families have come to expect bonus experience so we included an alternate ending we had considered as an additional benefit to our viewers," said channel's prexy, Rich Ross.
Shows preempted
Channel preempted skedded Saturday runs of "Double Teamed" and "Kim Possible" and promoted alternate ending on air and online. Replay at 8 p.m. brought in 3.2 million total viewers, but extra footage at 9:45, brought in audience of 3.7 million.
While numbers weren't as strong as Aug. 15, premiere, Saturday play was net's sixth airing of the made-for. Among target kids demo of 6-11 and 9-14, encore and alternate ending held the top two spots for the week.
Based on tween book series by Deborah Gregory, "The Cheetah Girls" stars Raven, Lynn Whitfield and Sabrina Ryan. Story follows four diverse teens trying to make it in the music world. Debra Martin Chase and Whitney Houston exec produced.
A Disneychannel.com survey showed viewers preferred new ending to original 2-1.
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