The men's college basketball final between Kansas and Memphis helped CBS into a virtual dead heat with Fox despite about four hours of "American Idol" programming the week of April 7-13.
B-ball final, 'CSI' put CBS near top
April 16, 2008 at 10:49PM
The NCAA final was seen by 19.5 million people, according to Nielsen Media Research. Led by "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," five procedural dramas on CBS populated Nielsen's top 20.
CBS had the most to gain by the end of the writers' strike, according to a report issued this week by researchers at Magna Global. It relied more on repeats instead of reality series during the strike, forcing its ratings down.
NBC did well during the strike with some of its reality series, but has sunk into fourth place since.
For the week, network averages were: Fox, 10.27 million viewers (6.1 rating, 10 share); CBS, 10.25 million (6.6, 11); ABC, 8.1 million (5.3, 9); NBC, 6.6 million (4.3, 7); CW, 2 million (1.3, 2); My Network, 1.1 million (0.7, 1); ION, 550,000 million (0.4, 1).
In the network news race: ABC "World News," 8 million (5.6, 12); NBC "Nightly News," 7.9 million (5.4, 11); "CBS Evening News," 5.6 million (3.9, 8).
ASSOCIATED PRESS
1 American Idol (Tuesday) (Fox)
2 American Idol (Thursday) (Fox)
3 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS)
4 Dancing With the Stars (Monday) (ABC)
5 NCAA Basketball Championship: Kansas vs. Memphis (CBS)
6 Idol Gives Back (Fox)
7 Dancing With the Stars (Tuesday) (ABC)
8 Desperate Housewives (ABC)
9 Without a Trace (CBS)
10 NCIS (CBS)
11 Criminal Minds (CBS)
12 CSI: NY (CBS)
13 60 Minutes (CBS)
14 Prelude to a Championship (CBS)
15 Survivor: Micronesia (CBS)
16 Hell's Kitchen (Fox)
17 Don't Forget the Lyrics (Fox)
18 Medium (NBC)
19 Samantha Who? (ABC)
20 Deal or No Deal (Monday) (NBC)
