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Grace fails to grab big audience

The action-packed cop movie grabbed the attention of 14 percent of Americans watching TV on Friday."It did pretty well considering what it was up against,'' said an NBC spokesman yesterday. "But with that kind of number,

million viewers in the US.

The action-packed cop movie grabbed the attention of 14 percent of Americans watching TV on Friday.

"It did pretty well considering what it was up against,'' said an NBC spokesman yesterday. "But with that kind of number, it doesn't look good for a series.

"It's not bad, but it's not an overwhelming success either. It's mid-to-low.

Twenty percent is the average for a movie in that Friday night slot.'' After the film was shot on the Island last year, the British-American production team seemed confident a series would get the go-ahead.

But their plans to return last September had to be scrapped. And with NBC's reaction to the film's ratings, a series looks even more unlikely.

The network will make a final decision in May, the spokesman said.

The movie has yet to be shown in Britain, where most of the creative team were based.

The TV research company Nielsen, in New York, released the viewing figures last night. Spokeswoman Ms Maria Zimman said Friday was the evening with fewest viewers.

But Bermuda Grace had still been seen in about eight percent of American homes.

The movie attracted a "respectable'' total of viewers, she said. However, the top Friday night show, Family Matters, got a 15 percent share of the TV audience.

Tourism Minister the Hon. C.V. (Jim) Woolridge last night gave his view of the series. He said it would be nice to have a Bermuda Grace series, with continual exposure for the Island.

But whatever happened, he believed the film would be repeated by the network a number of times.

"And of those 11 million people who saw it, I venture to suggest that a number of them hadn't been exposed to Bermuda and would think they would like to come here.

"I think the film showed some of the beauty of the Island and I think the reaction of Bermudians was basically favourable.

"I didn't form a strong opinion one way or another, because I knew it would probably be limited in resources.

"I suppose in exposure of the Island it didn't hurt us. "One part I thought was a little misleading was the use of guns.'' The film team were asked to "adjust'' the script on that point, he said.

"But I'm not going to be critical or go overboard as one of my colleagues did.

"Sometimes you have to look on the bright side of things. It certainly brought us revenue and employment.''