Competition programming reigned last week in prime time, from basketball to singing and dancing, plus other assorted reality fare.
The NCAA men's tournament rewarded CBS with bursts of March Madness in the form of robust Nielsen ratings. Those championship games, along with such shows as "Survivor" and "The Amazing Race," helped CBS win the week overall, the Nielsen Co. said. Also giving CBS a boost was its new reality hit, "Undercover Boss," which ranked fourth with 16.7 million viewers.
Fox had the week's top-rated show, the Tuesday edition of "American Idol," which drew 24.21 million viewers, while the season premiere of ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" was only slightly behind.
For the week ended March 28, CBS averaged 11.1 million viewers (6.8 rating, 12 share), while Fox averaged 8.9 million (5.2, 9) and ABC had 8.2 million (5.2, 9). NBC had 6.1 million (3.9, 7), the CW had 1.9 million (1.2, 2), and ION Television had 970,000 (0.6, 1).
"NBC Nightly News" held its lead among the evening newscasts with an average of 8.4 million viewers (5.5, 11). "ABC World News" was second with 7.4 million (5.0, 10), while the "CBS Evening News" had 5.7 million (3.9, 8). (CBS figures are based on a three-day average due to airings of NCAA basketball.)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
1 American Idol, Tue. (Fox)
2 Dancing With the Stars," (ABC)
3 American Idol, Wed. (Fox)
4 Undercover Boss (CBS)
5 60 Minutes (CBS)
6 Two and a Half Men (CBS)
7 The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
8 NCIS (CBS)
9 The Amazing Race (CBS)
10 Castle (ABC)
11 NCAA Basketball Championship, Sat. 6:55 p.m. (CBS)
12 Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
13 NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS)
14 NCAA Basketball Championship, Thu. 9:37 p.m. (CBS)
15 Survivor (CBS)
16 NCAA Basketball Championship, Fri. 9:31 p.m. (CBS)
17 CSI: Miami (CBS)
18 Law & Order: SVU (NBC)
19 Cold Case (CBS)
20 NCAA Basketball Championship, Thu. 7 p.m. (CBS)