Ratings Chart Attack!

Kansas’ win against Memphis in the championship game of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament was Monday’s highest-rated program, leading CBS to a definitive victory for the night.

The game pulled in a preliminary 6.1 rating/15 share in the 18- to 49-year-old demo, down 15% from last year’s Ohio State/Florida matchup. However, live programming is more volatile and is subject to change once Nielsen’s final numbers are released.

CBS led into the game with “The Big Bang Theory” and “Two and a Half Men” repeats, and ended the night with a 5.4/14.

ABC’s “Samantha Who?” returned to the schedule with a solid 3.5/8 showing, thanks to a hefty “Dancing With the Stars” (4.8/13) lead-in. “Stars” was down 6% from last week, while “Samantha” was up 25% from the last original episode it aired, all the way back in December.

“The Bachelor” (2.6/7) was down slightly. ABC finished second with a 3.9/10.

NBC (2.5/7) ended its run of “My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad,” which hobbled across the finish line with a flat 1.3/4. “Deal or No Deal” (2.9/7) and “Medium” (3.4/9) were up from last week, 4% and 10% respectively.

Fox (2.4/6) ran a “House” repeat and “New Amsterdam” (2.3/6), which improved slightly week-to-week.

The CW (0.5/1) ran repeats of “Gossip Girl” and “One Tree Hill,” which replaced “Pussycat Dolls Presents: Girlicious” this week.

Update at 2:53 p.m.: Volatile is volatile as final Nielsen numbers trickled in that put the NCAA championship game at a 7.3/19, 20% higher than the preliminary numbers. This also puts the game just about on-par with last year's championship game. "Big Bang" dropped to a 2.5/8, and "Men" dipped to a 3.1/9. CBS' official score for the night is now a 5.2/14.