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NCAA Boosts CBS Sunday

Mar 19, 2007  •  Post A Comment

With its coverage of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament spilling into prime time, CBS dominated Sunday night, while Friday night saw the return of NBC’s “Identity” and the regular-slot premiere of Fox’s “The Wedding Bells.”

The tournament overrun was the highest-rated event Sunday night, with a 4.3 rating among adults 18 to 49, according to Nielsen. The game helped pump up “60 Minutes” (3.7), “The Amazing Race” (4.0), “Cold Case” (4.0) and “Without a Trace” (4.1).

ABC, NBC and Fox ran a close race for second place, with ABC edging out the competition with repeats of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” and “Desperate Housewives.”

NBC had an original “Dateline” (1.7) and “Grease: You’re the One That I Want” (1.9), followed by a “Deal or No Deal” repeat, then an original “The Apprentice” (2.8). Both reality shows were about average.

Fox also had a mix of repeats and originals, including a first-run “The War at Home” (1.5) and the final two episodes of “The Winner” (2.7 and 2.5).

The CW aired repeats.

On Friday, NCAA coverage (3.9) won the night for CBS.

The return of NBC’s game show “Identity” (2.8) was the night’s top non-sports program, up 17 percent from its lead-in, the season finale of “1 vs. 100” (2.4).

On Fox, the regular time-period premiere of “The Wedding Bells” (1.9) was the lowest-rated show on any of the top four networks, but it matched the average “Trading Spouses” performance in the time period.

ABC had repeats and “20/20” (2.6).

The CW had “Friday Night Smackdown” (1.5).

(Editor: Horowitz)