Katrina benefit: middling success

Jack Nicholson and other stars manned the phones, but evidently that wasn’t quite enough to lure gigantic crowds to Friday’s telethon for “Shelter From the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast.” The benefit for victims of Hurricane Katrina -- featuring musical performances by Mariah Carey, Paul Simon, Neil Young and others -- was seen by an average of 22.2 million viewers, according to figures released late Monday by Nielsen Media Research.

While that’s an unusually large figure for a TV program on a Friday night, the telethon was carried on 27 English-language networks, including the six major broadcast networks. (An additional 1.8 million viewers watched on Spanish-language Univision and Azteca America.)

In 2001, nearly 89 million viewers tuned in for “America: A Tribute to Heroes,” a telethon for victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It also ran on a Friday.

As of midday Tuesday, “Shelter From the Storm” organizers said that they had no word on the fundraising total. But an NBC spokeswoman said that the network had raised $39.5 million with its Sept. 2 telethon, “A Concert for Hurricane Relief.”

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-- Scott Collins