If there is a return of "Babylon 5" to series television, it will be because officials of the Sci-Fi Channel acknowledge that the ratings of the telemovie for "Babylon 5: Legend of the Rangers" was directly affected by NFL playoffs.

"We heard what we intially thought were disappointing figures, that we'd done a 1.7 (ratings) when (Sci-Fi Channel) was hoping for a 2.6 or better," said creator J. Michael Straczynski on the telemovie that aired earlier this month. "It kind of puzzled everybody because the B5 audience is generally pretty reliable.

"It became even more puzzling when the more detailed figures came in, showing that by quarter hours, the show gained viewers and did not lose them, meaning folks who came on the show by accident stayed to watch. It should have been much higher than it was."

When final numbers came in, Straczynski said that the mystery was solved when a competing football game through the NFL playoffs was the highest-rated game in at least five years. The B5 demographic numbers of the past series are similar to sports, he said, and much of that demographic was possibly watching football instead.

"By contrast, on the west coast where the show aired after the game had finished, we not only met by exceeded (Sci-Fi Channel's) expectations, getting a 3.2 or 3.6 in many markets, which is actually pretty unheard of for a basic cable network," Straczynski said. "The problem is that the average, 1.7, is still what's used for advertising. So we have to see if SFC will look past the show getting hammered by a big football eventon the east coast to look at the west coast figures and see that there is, indeed, a market."