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When the 90-minute special The Forgetting: A Portrait of Alzheimer's premiered on PBS in January, it found a responsive 9 P.M. audience. The doc on the disease that afflicts about 5 million Americans drew an audience that was 60% higher than the PBS prime-time average for the season (2.73 versus 1.7). The program, along with an accompanying Q&A show and web site, also triggered a flood of 4,200 calls to the Alzheimer's Association's hotline that evening, an increase from the usual nightly trickle of 75.

March 1, 2004

When the 90-minute special The Forgetting: A Portrait of Alzheimer's premiered on PBS in January, it found a responsive 9 P.M. audience. The doc on the disease that afflicts about 5 million Americans drew an audience that was 60% higher than the PBS prime-time average for the season (2.73 versus 1.7). The program, along with an accompanying Q&A show and web site, also triggered a flood of 4,200 calls to the Alzheimer's Association's hotline that evening, an increase from the usual nightly trickle of 75.