Here's a sweeps matchup for the ages: Harry Potter versus Mike Wallace.

        At 7 p.m. Sunday, Dateline NBC devotes an hour to Warner Bros. new film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Channels 5, 22).

        CBS' 60 Minutes, the top-rated show that hour (Channels 12, 7), counters with stories pre-empted by last week's overtime NFL game, plus Mr. Wallace's profile of New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik.

        Katie Couric will host the one-hour Dateline special taped last summer on the movie set in England. NBC says Ms. Couric was “the only American journalist with access to the production.”

        She will tour the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and interview young Daniel Radcliffe, who plays the wizard in training. Dateline also will air “exclusive footage” of the movie produced by the company that ownsrivals CNN, HBO and WB.

        “My hope is that this hour will provide viewers of all ages with a special look at this whimsical world and serve as a much-needed "getaway' in light of recent events,” Ms. Couric said in a NBC press release.

        CBS has opted not to counter with its own Harry Potter story. Only viewers in Western time zones last Sunday saw Christiane Amanpour's profile of Irish actor Richard Harris, who plays Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of the Hogwarts School. It will be rebroadcast at a later date.

        Instead CBS will repeat Ed Bradley's report on volunteers who support the workers at the World Trade Center and Lesley Stahl's story on President Lyndon Johnson's private audiotapes, which were not seen last Sunday in the Eastern and Central time zones. 60 Minutes was cut to 11 minutes Sunday in Cincinnati and many other cities so the Emmy Awards broadcast could start at 8 p.m.

        Blurring the line: Is devoting an hour to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone a legitimate news story — or just another informercial for a movie?

        “When people see our program, I think they'll see there are other elements in it,” NBC News vice president David Corvo told the New York Daily News. “For example, we discuss with a psychologist whether kids who have read the book should see the film. It's not an hour promotion for the film.”

        24 times 2: Fox repeats the 24 pilot (9 p.m. today, Channels 19, 45), which struck out in the national ratings Tuesday, despite heavy promotion during the World Series. It also airs on FX cable at midnight Sunday and 10 p.m. Monday.

        24 was third at 9 p.m. Tuesday, behind ABC's NYPD Blue and NBC's Frasier-Scrubs tandem.

        Encore, encore: CBS will air three live Garth Brooks concerts on consecutive Wednesdays at 10 p.m., starting next week. He'll do the first show in Los Angeles, the second from the aircraft carrier Enterprisein Norfolk, Va.; and a third from an undisclosed location Nov. 28.

        Ken Burns update: Residents of Hannibal, Mo., will get the first peek at Ken Burns' Mark Twain documentary at the Mark Twain Museum there Saturday. The four-hour film airs Jan. 14-15 on PBS.

        Author Samuel Clemens was born in 1835 in nearby Florida, Mo. The first part of the film focuses on Twain's early years. Part two deals with how Twain dealt with tragedy, bad financial decisions and having to spend time away from his family on the lecture circuit to pay off creditors.

        Trade Center rerun: The History Channel repeats its one-hour show about building the World Trade Center at 9 p.m. Tuesday. It set a History Channel record (2.8 million viewers) for its Oct. 17 premiere.

        World Trade Center kicks off a four-night “Ground Zero America” series at 9 p.m. next week. Wednesday, the History Channel airs First Response, a look at how rescue workers responded to the World Trade Center attack.

        A Chemical and Biological Weapons special airs Thursday, followed by The Pentagon on Friday.

        Fox change: Disney takes over the Fox Family Channel Saturday, renaming it the ABC Family Channel. Programming will change after Jan. 1.

        Disney paid about $3 billion, and assumed anadditional $2.3 billion in debt, for the network, which reaches 83 million U.S. homes. Disney plans to repeat, or “repurpose” some ABC prime-time programs, plus ABC News shows, on the channel.

        New title: Wayne Godwin, former Channel 48 president and general manager, has been promoted to PBS executive vice president and chief operating officer. He reports directly to president Pat Mitchell.

        While at Channel 48, Mr. Godwin co-chaired the search committee that recommended hiring Ms. Mitchell in 2000. A few months later she brought Mr. Godwin in as executive vice president for member affairs.

       Contact John Kiesewetter by phone: 768-8519; fax: 768-8330; e-mail: jkiesewetter@enquirer.com.

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