WONDERFUL RETURN FOR WONDERFUL LIFE

The traditional Christmas-season airing of Frank Capra’s 1946 drama It’s a Wonderful Life attracted an average of 5.37 million viewers on NBC Friday night, putting the network in second place for the night. The figure was up 38 percent compared with last year’s telecast of the movie, which stars Jimmy Stewart as a man who is saved from taking his own life by a guardian angel. That telecast, however, took place on a Saturday night — the lowest-rated night of the week. NBC noted that for its third hour (10:00 to 11:00 p.m.) the movie ranked No. 1 in the ratings among adults 25-54 and women 18-49. In the 8:00 p.m. hour, CBS was the clear winner among the nostalgia-seeking set as it drew 8.65 million viewers for a colorized I Love Lucy Christmas Special, composed of two episodes from 1956. Although some devoted fans of the original black-and-white shows complained about the colorization, most viewers expressed approval.