By Frazier Moore
The Associated Press

Taken took the Sci Fi Channel to basic-cable leadership during its two-week run - and even beat broadcast networks UPN and the WB.

The 10-part, 20-hour miniseries - whose full title was Steven Spielberg Presents Taken - dramatized more than a half-century of UFO mythology, and occupied nearly 90 percent of Sci Fi's prime-time schedule Dec. 2-13.

Both in scope (under the guiding hand of Mr. Spielberg, it employed 10 directors and cost a reported $40 million), and in the concentrated scheduling strategy, the epic production represented a major gamble for the channel.

"Conventional wisdom told us that offering too many opportunities to watch would dilute the prime-time numbers," said Sci Fi Channel president Bonnie Hammer. "Fortunately, the Nielsen gods were on our side."

Nielsen Media Research figures released by Sci Fi indicated that Taken episodes premiering each weeknight at 9 p.m. quadrupled the network's usual audience. Even so, half the audience was new for a marathon repeat of the first five chapters over Dec. 7-8.

In Monday through Friday prime time, Dec. 2-13, Sci Fi averaged 3.99 million viewers, while the WB averaged 3.44 million and UPN averaged 2.86 million.

Taken was seen at least in part by 31 million viewers.

For the 10-year-old channel, Taken represented a splashy way to expand its audience beyond die-hard science fiction fans.

"The days when viewers went first to the broadcast networks out of inertia are gone forever," said Michael Jackson, chairman of Sci Fi owner Universal Television Group.