‘Amerika’ flops

Press, 26 February 1987, Page 11

‘Amerika’ flops

NZPA-AP New York The television movie series, “Amerika,” which began in a flurry of proteste, has ended after scoring viewer audience ratingsconsjderably lower than the ABC network had hoped. The epic about American life under Soviet rule started off with the biggest United States audience for a mini-series in four years, but millions of viewers quickly; abandoned the 14-hour project

The series had drawn protests because of its premise, oppposed by peace groups and the Soviet Government as inflammatory anti-commun-ism.

Including overnight figures from the 13 big-

gest markets for yesterday, the series had an average rating of 19 per cent of the viewing audience.

“I think ABC gambled that Americans were interested in going back to some tried-and-true stereotyped, cardboard Russians, and I think they lost that gamble, from what I’ve seen of the ratings,” said Jonathan Halperin, the programme director of the Washing-ton-based Committee for National Security. Jeff Cohen, executive director of the New Yorkbased Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, said he was outraged by the mini-series, describing the premise as a “commieinvader fantasy.”