VIEWERS were carried away by “Taken,” Steven Spielberg’s ambitious, 10-night series about alien abduction.

Monday night’s two-hour, debut installment on the SCI FI channel was seen by about 6.1 million people. By comparison, the much-ballyhooed second-season opener of “The Osbournes” – basic cable’s biggest hit right now – was seen by about 6.6 million viewers.

“Taken’s” ratings were five times what SCI FI usually draws on a Monday night.

Not all the ratings news was good however.

On Night 2, Tuesday, the audience was down more than 21 percent to about 4.8 million people.

The 20-hour miniseries, executive produced by Spielberg, follows the stories of three families over four generations who were “taken” by extra-terrestrials for various experiments and interrogation.

Their stories, taken together, make up much of the modern lore about alient encounters.

SCI FI – which landed the project by promising the Hollywood heavyweight an unlimited amount of hours of primetime in which to unfurl an epic tale of close encounters – spent more than $40 million producing “Taken” and millions more promoting it.

Monday’s debut became the most-watched telecast in SCI FI Channel’s 10-year history, breaking the previous record held by “Frank Herbert’s Dune,” Part 1 by 28 percent.