Dramas, basketball propel CBS back to the top in ratings

NEW YORK (AP) - CBS is back on top of the weekly Nielsen ratings, propelled by its drama-heavy lineup and the NCAA men's basketball tournament, which gave life to a normally quiet Saturday night schedule.

"NCIS" was the week's most-watched program, with the CBS drama seen by 15 million viewers. NBC's 'Little Big Shots" was second, with Steve Harvey's family-friendly show appearing to be a Sunday night hit.

Fox's airing of "The Passion" from New Orleans on Palm Sunday was seen by 6.6 million viewers, more than any other show on the network last week aside from "American Idol."

For the week, CBS averaged 7.7 million viewers in prime time. NBC had 6.2 million, ABC had 5.6 million, Fox had 3.9 million, Univision had 1.8 million, ION Television had 1.4 million, Telemundo had 1.2 million and the CW had 770,000.

Fox News Channel was the week's most popular cable network, averaging 2.57 million viewers in prime time. TBS had 2.13 million, TNT had 1.97 million, HGTV had 1.74 million and AMC had 1.68 million.

NBC's "Nightly News" topped the evening newscasts with an average of 8.4 million viewers. ABC's "World News Tonight" was second with 8 million and the "CBS Evening News" had 7 million viewers.

For the week of March 14-20, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: "NCIS," CBS, 15.1 million; "Little Big Shots," NBC, 13.32 million; "The Walking Dead," AMC, 12.69 million; "The Voice" (Monday), NBC, 12.47 million; "NCIS: New Orleans," CBS, 11.97 million; "The Voice" (Tuesday), NBC, 11.19 million; "60 Minutes," CBS, 10.24 million; "Criminal Minds," CBS, 9.8 million; "The Bachelor," ABC, 9.58 million; "Survivor," CBS, 9.5 million.

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ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co. CBS is owned by CBS Corp. CW is a joint venture of Warner Bros. Entertainment and CBS Corp. Fox is owned by 21st Century Fox. NBC and Telemundo are owned by Comcast Corp. ION Television is owned by ION Media Networks.

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Online:

http://www.nielsen.com