Jackson’s Album Tops The Charts In A Landslide Over ‘Pocahontas’

Michael Jackson’s much touted, much criticized new record, “HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I,” sold 391,000 copies in its first week, according to statistics released Wednesday by Soundscan, a record tracking company in Hartsdale, N.Y.

That figure is lower than some people expected, especially executives at Sony Music, which is marketing it at a reported cost of about $30 million.

Still, the figure is very significant.

It guarantees Jackson’s two-record set a spot at No. 1 on the Billboard pop charts next week, with more than twice as many copies sold as the No. 2 album, the soundtrack to Disney’s “Pocahontas.”

Sales of “HIStory,” which was released June 20, also exceed sales figures for Jackson’s last album, “Dangerous.”

That album sold 326,500 copies in its first week in stores in 1991.

“Dangerous” went on to sell more than 5.5 million copies in the country and 23 million worldwide.

Flash: Pearl Jam changes mind

Pearl Jam has changed its mind again.

The popular Seattle rock band, which canceled the remainder of its on-again, offagain tour on Sunday night, on Tuesday rescheduled the last three concerts on its aborted tour.

The band now says it will perform shows in Milwaukee on July 8-9 as well as in Chicago on July 10.

Pearl Jam announced that it also will issue refunds to fans who attended Saturday’s show in San Francisco.

Eddie Vedder left the stage with stomach flu after singing six songs, and veteran rocker Neil Young took his place.

TV ratings plunge

Double-digit weekly ratings continued to be just a pleasant memory for the networks in this season of reruns and viewer discontent.

Overall in prime time for the week ending June 25, ABC led with only a 9.2 rating and 18 share, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

CBS and NBC tied with a 7.9 rating and 15 share.

The summer-doldrums numbers are two to three ratings points lower than the season-todate figures, which show ABC at 11.6, NBC at 11.2, CBS at 10.5 and Fox at 7.2.

In a sea of reruns, it was mostly the magazine shows that offered respite in the form of new material.

Among the magazines, the highest-rated was ABC’s “20-20” in third place.

CBS’ “60 Minutes” (albeit a repeat)was at fifth, ABC’s “PrimeTime Live” at ninth, and NBC’s Tuesday “Dateline” edition tied for 16th.

Here are the Top 10 prime-time shows, their networks and ratings: “Friends,” NBC, 14.4; “ER,” NBC, 13.6; “20-20,” ABC, 13.5; “Seinfeld,” NBC, 13.1; “60 Minutes,” CBS, 12.9; “Grace Under Fire,” ABC, 12.6; “PrimeTime Live,” ABC, 11.6; “Heartbreak Ridge (ABC Sunday Night Movie),” ABC, 11.5; “Ellen,” ABC, 11.3; “Home Improvement,” ABC, 11.2.

Another lawyer gets show

Criminal defense lawyer and one-time ABC News commentator Leslie Abramson is the second high-profile attorney in the past week to spin O.J. Simpson trial exposure into a bigger TV gig.

Abramson, who became a celebrity in her own right as the attorney for Erik Menendez, has inked an overall talent deal with Twentieth TV.

She’s following in the footsteps of fellow celeb defender Gerry Spence, who, it was announced last week, will host his own CNBC talk show.

“Gerry Spence” makes its debut July 7.

Abramson’s deal sets her up with a halfhour weekday series.

The series is slated for a fall ‘96 debut.

She’ll also serve as a commentator for Fox News, for Twentieth TV’s reality and news shows and for Fox station news broadcasts.

Ratings loser back

If you blinked, no doubt you missed “The Great Defender,” the Fox series about a working-class lawyer.

Reason: The Michael Rispoli drama aired exactly once last spring, scoring ratings that were so low the fourth network yanked it off the air immediately.

Well, summertime is network TV’s slow season - so “Defender” is coming back with all those episodes we never got to see.

The fun begins July 10.

‘Sliders’ gets reprieve

“Sliders,” another midseason Fox show, got a much better reception than “The Great Defender,” playing out its allotted number of episodes and garnering a minor cult following in the process.

But to the surprise of many, the time-travel drama failed to make the fall cut.

Apparently, Fox has seen the error of its ways and will be bringing “Sliders” back as a midseason replacement.

More good news: If you missed this occasionally witty series, with John RhysDavies, Cleavant Derricks, Sabrina Lloyd and Jerry O’Connell, reruns began airing Sunday night. Reruns will continue throughout the summer.