THE BUZZ OSCAR RATINGS DOWN, DESPITE SUSPENSE FACTOR.

Although the Academy Awards race was wide open going into Sunday's ceremonies - there even was a suspenseful three-way tie until the Best Picture envelope was opened - ratings for the 73rd annual film industry bash were off from the year before. In fact, the telecast, which is usually the year's most-watched TV show after the Super Bowl, had its lowest ratings ever.

Early reports from Nielsen Media Research showed that the telecast had a 26.2 rating and a 40 audience share. The previous low rating of 27.3 came in 1986, when ``Out of Africa'' was named Best Picture.

Some 72.2 million U.S. viewers tuned into at least a portion of the three-hour, 29-minute ABC telecast, and the average audience throughout the show was 42.9 million. The viewership figure was not a record low because the number of homes with TV sets increases every year, but it was the second-smallest viewership since 1991.

The average audience was off 7 percent from last year's record four- hour, nine-minute extravaganza, apparently refuting the theory that viewers always get impatient and check out when it runs long.

The ratings for last year's Oscars - when ``American Beauty'' reigned - were the second-highest in the last five years. One of the most popular recent telecasts was the 1998 show, when ``Titanic'' claimed Best Picture, Best Director and other awards.

- Valerie Kuklenski

NOW, 'VOYAGER': Production began this week on the two-hour season finale of ``Star Trek: Voyager'' and is expected to last about another 2 1/2 weeks, according to the official ``Star Trek'' Web site, http://www.startrek.com/finale/.

The production on the finale, helmed by veteran director Allan Kroeker, will be followed by additional photography. Production on the series is slated to end, for good, on April 9.

The Web site has put up a special section devoted to the finale, complete with an overall look at how the characters have changed in the last seven years, an episode timeline and personal reflections from people involved in the show. The site will also be covering the series' wrap party and will host video interviews with the show's stars.

``Star Trek: Voyager,'' which debuted in 1995, will draw to a close May 23 from 8-10 p.m.

HI, BOB: Jason Alexander is looking for the right actors to fill the supporting cast of his new comedy pilot ``Bob Patterson'' for ABC. The former ``Seinfeld'' actor and fellow ``Patterson'' producers Peter Tilden, Tim Doyle and Ira Behr may have some problems casting the pilot, which calls for a giant teen-age couch potato, according to Inside.com.

Produced by Touchstone, 20th Century Fox and Angelark studios, Alexander plays a wildly successful self-help guru with an unsuccessful personal life.

The supporting cast includes: Landau, Bob's manipulating buddy and producer; Janice, Bob's ex-wife who returns home after storming through her divorce settlement; Bob's son Jeffrey, a teen-ager described as a giant couch potato who is mostly immobile; Claudia, Bob's sassy assistant; and Les, a fan of Bob's who interns for free at Bob's company.

Production on the series is slated to start late April.

- Wire Services