LOOK AT WHAT'S ON ... AGAIN HIGH RATINGS CALLING FOR ENCORES ON TV.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

From Cybill Shepherd playing beleaguered Martha Stewart to Michael Jackson's controversial tell-all interview, TV viewers who miss the shows being buzzed about around the water cooler haven't had to wait long this year to see what the fuss is all about.

In the past six months, such highly rated specials as ABC's ``Living With Michael Jackson,'' NBC's ``Martha Inc.,'' CBS' ``Celine in Las Vegas'' and the WB's series finale of ``Dawson's Creek'' have been quickly returned to the airwaves within weeks and sometimes even days of their original showing.

The instant rerun strategy is a departure from the past, when most shows would be routinely repeated during the summer months.

But with the notable exceptions of ``CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' on CBS, the three ``Law & Order'' series on NBC, and some popular sitcoms, repeats of episodic television generally have not fared so well since the ascent of cable.

This has led to the phasing out of traditional reruns in favor of the instant rerun, or ``encore presentations,'' as some networks prefer to label them.

Networks are betting that the high-profile repeats will garner even bigger ratings the second time around than regularly scheduled programming would, especially during the key ratings ``sweeps'' months.

When the strategy is successful, it translates into more advertising dollars, since the sweeps are a time when ratings are measured to determine future ad rates. The networks also save a bundle on marketing costs, since a recently aired show is still fresh in the minds of the public.

Viewers flocked to see Shepherd chewing the scenery as domestic icon Martha Stewart in the May 20 television movie ``Martha Inc.'' NBC, buoyed by ratings that were higher than any other telefilm this season in the all-important 18-49 demographic, quickly cleared a spot on its June 1 schedule to run the movie again.

``A repeat fairly close to the original telecast takes advantage of all the promotion,'' said Mitch Metcalf, NBC's senior vice president of program scheduling. ``In the past, we would wait six months or maybe even a year. A kind of dusty repeat of a movie that far away just doesn't make any sense.''

Robert Thompson, professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University, said TV has changed to the degree that people might now need that second chance to see something.

``When you have people with satellite, with digital cable and 450 different choices, the amount of people who actually get around to finding this stuff the first time is a lot smaller than in the old days,'' he said.

Enter the second wave.

When 27.1 million viewers tuned in to the Feb. 6 airing of ``Living With Michael Jackson'' on ABC, the network quickly repeated the two-hour program just four days later, when it drew 9.5 million viewers against NBC's ``Michael Jackson Unmasked'' special on ``Dateline.''

CBS had 13.8 million viewers tune in March 26 to watch singer Celine Dion's ``Celine in Las Vegas'' special. That audience was so big, the network aired the show again less than two months later.

``In certain cases, with things like concerts, it makes more sense to repeat it sooner rather than later,'' said Kelly Kaul, executive vice president of program planning and scheduling at CBS. ``You are trying to get it back on while it is still fresh in people's minds.''

The two-hour finale of the WB's ``Dawson's Creek'' series drew 7.3 million viewers on May 14, the network's highest ratings ever among adults between the ages of 18 and 34, a core audience for the WB. More importantly, the show had buzz again, at least for one week.

``If you don't do a instant rerun, the word of mouth on 'Dawson's Creek' finale is useless,'' Thompson said. ``Repeating it was a way of cashing in on some of that buzz for people who didn't see it but heard about it from people who did.''

WB executives didn't take long to act. They quickly scheduled a second airing of the finale for May 28.

``We looked at the numbers and said, 'Where can we give this another pop somewhere?''' WB spokesman Paul McGuire said. ``It was not a premeditated plan. A lot of these second runs are born of strong ratings and audience interest.''

NBC had planned all along to air the Bob Hope birthday show, ``100 Years of Hope and Humor,'' twice. Hosted by Jane Pauley, the special debuted on Easter Sunday and was seen by 12.6 million viewers. The show's encore was on the Sunday during Memorial Day weekend, a time when NBC thought the show's patriotic flavor would be perfect for a weekend that is historically tough to program.

The networks aren't just using the strategy for specials.

The WB, for example, has been trying to create buzz for ``Smallville'' and ``Everwood'' by airing the previous week's episodes for a second time during the early evening hours on Sundays.

Fox employed a similar strategy this season to great success with its ratings smash reality show ``Joe Millionaire.'' The network ran repeats of each week's ``Millionaire'' on Thursday nights, just three days after the original airing. Last season, the network also repeated episodes of the drama ``24'' a few days after they were first shown.

``We're a fragmented viewing universe,'' said Preston Beckman, Fox's executive vice president for strategic program planning. ``For people who can't see that first episode, you might as well run it twice or three times to build up awareness for the show.''

This practice is similar to what cable networks have been doing for years now. HBO premieres episodes of its popular shows ``The Sopranos,'' ``Sex in the City'' and ``Six Feet Under'' on Sunday evenings, then runs encore showings during the week.

``Cable has been accommodating people a lot,'' Thompson said. `` 'The Sopranos' plays Sunday night and 100 times during the week. Networks are realizing the changing dynamics of American television.''

Greg Hernandez, [phone]

greg.hernandez(at)dailynews.com

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THE STATE OF TELEVISION

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