Sweet 16: CBS Gets Boost Via Florida’s 2nd-Straight Title
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CBS Earns 13.6/22 Overnight
For NCAA Championship Game |
CBS earned a 13.6/22 overnight Nielsen rating for the Florida-Ohio State NCAA men’s basketball championship game last night, up 16% from an 11.7/18 for Florida-UCLA last year, but down 15% from a 16.0/23 for North Carolina-Illinois in ’05. CBS’ average overnight rating for the entire tournament was a 6.6/14, up 2% from last year’s 6.5/13 (THE DAILY).
BORE HUNTING: In Las Vegas, Bill Taaffe writes Saturday’s semifinal games “looked like the varsities playing the freshman,” and last night’s final “was more of the same.” The semifinals were a “bust as compelling television” (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 4/3). In Orlando, Jerry Greene writes under the header “Tournament Games Become Real Snoozers.” Greene: “We went from March Madness to April Anticlimax.” The Final Four “was a crashing bore for anyone outside Gator Nation” (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 4/3). In Charlotte, Scott Fowler writes the final was “boring as usual. It’s not a coincidence. It’s becoming a tradition. This makes seven times in the past 10 years that the winner has won by at least nine points” (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 4/3).
TALENT REVIEWS: The REVIEW-JOURNAL’s Taaffe writes CBS’ Jim Nantz and Billy Packer “should be credited for not trying to turn a sow’s ear of games into a silk purse” last night. Packer has “unparalleled candor and [the] ability to make the essential point.” But he “takes himself too seriously” and Nantz “won’t challenge him” (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 4/3). In St. Pete, Tom Jones writes Packer during last night’s final “quickly — and justifiably — criticized the officials for calling the game way too tight.” Nantz “was as smooth as ever and only mentioned the tradition of the Masters, like, twice.” But studio host Greg Gumbel opened the telecast with, “The entire [basketball universe] has the Georgia Dome on its mind,” and Jones wonders, “That’s the best thing you could think of?” (ST. PETE TIMES, 4/3).
LOST IN THE FIRST PITCH? During yesterday’s broadcast of WFAN-AM’s “Mike & the Mad Dog,” co-host Chris Russo said the Final Four “gets lost in the big markets” because of MLB’s Opening Day, as baseball “is a far bigger sport than college basketball.” Co-host Mike Francesa: “It’s not even close.” Francesa also said the Final Four “turned out to be a soft ticket. They sold out but they said it was not as hard as they thought it was going to be (to get tickets), for whatever reason” (“Mike & the Mad Dog,” YES, 4/2).
EARLY BIRDS: CBS’ “The Early Show” opened its broadcast with discussion of the NCAA Tournament, specifically the talents’ bracket challenge. Anchor Russ Mitchell, who placed first in the contest, was presented by Hannah Storm and Julie Chen with a small breakfast plate as a token of his victory. The gift also served as a reminder that fans who topped all “Early Show” talent in an online bracket challenge still have the chance to win breakfast with the crew. A report on the Championship game itself came at 7:14 and featured one minute of highlights and post-game interview clips (“The Early Show,” CBS, 4/3).
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