While most of America's eyes are expected to be on ABC and its interview with Monica Lewinsky tonight, NBC will be the overall winner in viewers when the February "sweeps" ratings battle ends at midnight.

Such big-ticket productions as "Alice in Wonderland" and "The '60s," along with the farewell episode for George Clooney's Dr. Douglas Ross from "ER," are the main reasons for the victory, NBC Entertainment president Scott Sassa said in a teleconference yesterday. "Alice" was the most-watched TV movie of the year, and Clooney's farewell brought millions of viewers back to the networks on Feb. 19, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Sassa said such big events helped all the broadcast networks win back viewers at least temporarily. He cited Nielsen figures showing that the combined audience for all six broadcast networks on the night of Clooney's farewell was 72 percent.

That means 72 percent of the television sets in use that night were tuned to NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, the WB or UPN. The average combined audience for the six networks is 55 percent.

Meanwhile, in its teleconference conceding the NBC victory, CBS tried to steal some thunder by announcing the early renewal for next season of 12 series. They are: "Cosby," "The King of Queens," "Everybody Loves Raymond," "Becker," "JAG," "Kids Say the Darndest Things," "Candid Camera," "Touched By An Angel," "Nash Bridges," "60 Minutes," "60 Minutes II" and "48 Hours."

Not to be outdone, NBC countered by naming seven series that it would bring back: "Dateline," "Law & Order," "ER," "Just Shoot Me," "Friends," "Frasier" and "3rd Rock From the Sun."

Most notably absent from the list of guaranteed renewals was "Homicide: Life on the Street." While praising executive producer Tom Fontana's efforts this year, Sassa said the fate of the series has yet to be determined.

While there was legitimate news in the renewals of some series like "The Kind of Queens" and "Becker," both CBS and NBC were also blowing some smoke. With a number of the series, such as "ER" and "Touched," there was never any doubt -- the networks have contractual commitments to bring them back.

Pub Date: 3/03/99