Special ‘West Wing’ Wins Popular Vote, Aids Running Mate

A special episode of “The West Wing” on Wednesday ascended to the highest rating yet for the White House drama and helped lift the NBC show that followed, “Law & Order,” to its biggest audience in its 12-year run.

An estimated 25.2 million people watched “West Wing,” narrowly eclipsing the two-hour premiere that launched the show’s second season a year ago. That audience more than doubled viewing of any competing program and represented NBC’s highest rating with a regularly scheduled series in that hour in more than nine years.

NBC reluctantly agreed to postpone the third-season premiere of “West Wing” after series creator Aaron Sorkin pressed to craft a topical episode that would explore issues related to the acts of terrorism that occurred Sept. 11.

Bolstered by heightened tune-in preceding it, “Law & Order” drew 22.5 million viewers. The episode, dealing with the murder of a Vietnam veteran, was initially to have been delayed because of concerns regarding its subject matter before the network opted to proceed with its broadcast following a review by NBC’s standards-and-practices department, a spokesman said.

The night’s biggest surprise, meanwhile, may have been ABC’s stronger-than-expected launch of the Jim Belushi comedy “According to Jim,” which amassed 12.7 million viewers, built on the audience for lead-in show “My Wife and Kids,” and dominated its time period among adults ages 18 to 49, the audience most avidly sought by advertisers.