Monday madness
CBS takes night on back of college hoops
The Terrapins-Hoosiers game, which aired from 6:13 to 8:22 p.m. on the West Coast, averaged 23.69 million viewers, down just slightly from last year's NCAA championship game between Duke and Arizona (23.87 million).
CBS estimated that around 43.5 million people watched at least a portion of the game, the most since around 44.9 million checked out a part of 1999's match-up between Duke and Connecticut.
An average of 9.6 million viewers caught the entire 2002 NCAA tournament, up 5% from 2001 (9.1 million) and the best tally since 1998. The Eye says around 136.6 million viewers caught some of the tourney, up 3% from last year (133.2 million).
Meanwhile, without "Everybody Loves Raymond" competish, ABC saw gains for 9 p.m. reality skein "The Bachelor," which averaged 10.2 million (up 3% vs. last week's 9.9 million) and a 4.4 rating and 11 share among adults 18-49 (up 10% from a 4.0/9).
NBC also benefited in the 9 p.m. hour, averaging an adults 18-49 score of 4.9/12 for "Third Watch," the show's second-best result of the season.
News of its impending finale didn't juice ABC's "Once and Again," which posted a 3.5/9 with adults 18 to 49 (down slightly from last week) and attracted 8 million viewers overall (up slightly over last week). In its final outing, Fox's "The American Embassy" averaged 2.4/6 among adults 18-49 (unchanged from last week) and 5.8 million viewers (up slightly from last week).
CBS won the night with viewers (19.89 million), followed by NBC (10.5 million), ABC (9.6 million), Fox (6.1 million), WB (3.9 million) and UPN (3.1 million).
Among adults 18-49, CBS was tops (7.6/20), followed by ABC (4.0/10), NBC (3.8/10), Fox (2.5/6), the WB (1.4/4) and UPN (1.0/3).
