Dateline's two-hour special Friday night featuring the mistaken identity story of the Van Ryn and Cerak families helped give the newsmagazine its best numbers in almost 17 months (Oct. 20, 2006). 10.5M Total Viewers (Nielsen fast affiliate/live +SD) watched the show. Additionally, the Matt Lauer special averaged a 3.2 rating/10 share in A18-49; the best since December 1, 2006.

The second hour of the special is poised to win the time period in Total Viewers and the key demos, beating CBS's coverage of the NCAA tournament and ABC's 20/20. Final numbers will be released this afternoon.