CBS gets bounce
from March Madness
Other shorts: Lance rants after Kornheiser biker comments
By Louisa Ada Seltzer
Mar 22, 2010
Friday overnights: March Madness dominates
CBS’s coverage of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament led the network to an easy first-place finish among viewers 18-49 on Friday night, according to Nielsen overnights.
The network averaged a 3.4 overnight rating and 11 share from 8-11 p.m., easily outpacing NBC and Fox, which tied for second at 1.5/5. Univision was fourth for the night at 1.3/4, ABC fifth at 1.0/3 and CW sixth at 0.5/2.
As a reminder, all ratings are based on live-plus-same-day DVR playback. Seven-day DVR data won’t be available for several weeks. Thirty-six percent of Nielsen households have DVRs.
Also, ratings for basketball are approximate as fast nationals measure timeslot and not actual program data.
At 8 p.m. CBS was first with a 3.0 for basketball, while NBC and Univision tied for second at 1.7, NBC for “Who Do You Think You Are?” and Univision for “Hasta que el Dinero Nos Separe.” Fox was fourth with a 1.2 for a repeat of “House,” ABC fifth with a 0.6 for “Thin Ice” and CW sixth with a 0.5 for an “America’s Next Top Model” rerun.
CBS was first again at 9 p.m. with a 3.8 for basketball, followed by Fox with a 1.9 for “Kitchen Nightmares.” NBC was third with a 1.3 for “Dateline,” Univision fourth with a 1.2 for “Corazon Salvaje,” ABC fifth with a 0.9 for “20/20” and CW sixth with a 0.5 for the end of its “Top Model” repeat and a rerun of “High Society.”
At 10 p.m. CBS completed the nightly sweep with a 3.3 for more basketball, with NBC second with a 1.6 for more “Dateline.” ABC was third with a 1.5 for another hour of “20/20” and Univision fourth with a 0.9 for “Rosa de Guadalupe.”
CBS also led the night among households with a 5.9 average overnight rating and an 11 share. NBC was second at 4.5/8, ABC third at 3.4/6, Fox fourth at 2.6/5, Univision fifth at 1.6/3 and CW sixth at 0.8/2.
Saturday overnights: CBS wins again
More NCAA tournament coverage on Saturday night pushed CBS to another first-place finish among viewers 18-49, according to Nielsen overnights, as it nearly doubled up its closest competition.
CBS led the night with a 3.3 overnight rating and 11 share in the demo, comfortably ahead of No. 2 Fox at 1.7/6. NBC was third for the night at 0.8/3, with Univision fourth at 0.7/2 and ABC fifth at 0.5/2.
CBS led each hour of the night, beginning with a 3.4 at 8 p.m. for basketball, followed by Fox with a 1.6 for “Cops.” Univision was third with a 0.6 for the first of three hours of “Sabado Gigante,” NBC fourth with a 0.5 for a repeat of “The Biggest Loser” and ABC fifth with a 0.4 for the first half of a “FlashForward” rerun.
At 9 p.m. CBS was first with a 3.3 for more basketball, while Fox remained second with a 1.7 for “America’s Most Wanted.” NBC moved to third with a 0.7 for a repeat of “Law & Order,” Univision was fourth with a 0.6 for more “Sabado” and ABC fifth with a 0.4 for the second half of the “FlashForward” repeat.
At 10 p.m. CBS was first with a 3.1 for the end of basketball and the start of “48 Hours Mystery,” with NBC second with a 1.1 for a repeat of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” Univision was third with a 0.8 for its final hour of “Sabado” and ABC fourth with a 0.7 for a repeat of “Castle.”
CBS was also first for the night among households with a 5.8 average overnight rating and an 11 share. Fox was second at 3.2/6, NBC third at 2.7/5, ABC fourth at 1.6/3 and Univision fifth at 1.2/2.
Lance rants after Kornheiser biker comments
As a sports talk radio host, Tony Kornheiser is expected to rant and rave and carry on, but these days he's doing more apologizing than anything else. Just weeks after he was disciplined by ESPN for comments he made about fellow employee Hannah Storm, the "Pardon the Interruption" host apologized to Lance Armstrong and bikers everywhere for comments he made last week on his WTEM program about bicyclists in Washington, D.C., his hometown. Armstrong called Kornheiser a "f@#%ing idiot" on Twitter after the host urged motorists to "tap" or "run down" peddlers in D.C.'s new bike lanes. But Kornheiser did more than offer a mea culpa. He had Armstrong, a seven-time Tour de France winner, on the show Friday to discuss bike safety. Armstrong appealed to motorists and bikers to share the road. It was just the latest controversy to engulf Kornheiser, who was suspended from "PTI" for two weeks over comments he made about the wardrobe of "SportsCenter" host Storm.
WSJ seethes as NYT lures away NY edition reporter
As the launch date for the Wall Street Journal's new New York edition nears, the rivalry between the Times and Journal is becoming more heated, or at least that's the way it looks based on the Times' most recent actions. On Friday, the paper lured away arts reporter Kate Taylor, who joined the Journal six weeks ago as part of the editorial staff for the New York-focused section. Taylor, a former New York Sun writer, is one of the few hires the Times has made since editor Bill Keller announced a hiring freeze in 2007. Since then several hundred in the newsroom have been laid off. For that reason, the Journal is taking the hiring as an open salvo, according to an article in the New York Observer (headline: "It's War!"), which notes that Taylor presumably knows details of the upcoming launch that the Journal has tried to keep quiet. Today the NYT had yet another story about the Journal's new section, noting that owner News Corp. is sinking $15 million per year into the section launching April 12. Proclaims the Times: "The initiative is intended less to raise circulation numbers than to steal away a large portion of the consumer advertisers — like high-end retailers, luxury goods makers and residential real estate companies — that have traditionally preferred The Times."
Programming notes: 'Days' lives on at NBC
NBC’s “Days of Our Lives” will live to see its 45th birthday. NBC has ordered a 45th season of the daytime soap, which celebrated its 45th anniversary on Nov. 8, keeping the show on the air through at least the 2010-‘11 season. “Days” has averaged 3.3 million total viewers this season, according to Nielsen, up 10 percent from a year ago, and last week it was No. 3 among all daytime soaps with a 1.3 rating among women 18-49. Season-to-date “Days” is tied with ABC’s “General Hospital” for No. 2 among women 18-49 with a 1.5 rating, behind a 1.9 for CBS’s “The Young and the Restless.” There had been speculation that NBC was getting out of the soaps business entirely, since "Days" is the only one left and following CBS's cancellation of two of long-running soaps. Meanwhile, in other programming, Starz is building on the success of its historically focused drama "Spartacus: Blood and Sand." The network has ordered 10 episodes of “Camelot,” a new version of the Thomas Malory compilation “Le Morte d'Arthur.” The show, which is expected to premiere sometime during the first half of 2011, will be produced by “The Tudors” executive producers Morgan O'Sullivan and Michael Hirst, along with “The Departed” producer Graham King.
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