CBS's telecast of last night's NCAA men's basketball
championship received a 16.9/25 overnight Nielsen rating,
down 1% compared to last year's 17.1/25 overnight (CBS).
GAME REWIND: Writing under the header "CBS Posts a
Victory, Too," the N.Y. TIMES' Richard Sandomir says CBS
"produced the game intelligently, sticking to oncourt
action, with judicious use of crowd shots." Sandormir adds
that Jim Nantz did "very well with his low-key play-by-play"
(N.Y. TIMES, 3/30). In St. Petersburg, Ernest Hooper writes
that CBS "did a pretty good job of seasoning a battle in
which every minute deserved to be savored," and Nantz and
analyst Billy Packer "were definitely on their game" (ST.
PETERSBURG TIMES, 3/30). In Boston, Jim Baker writes that
CBS "supported the superb Nantz-Packer combination with
telltale video shots" of players and supporters (BOSTON
HERALD, 3/30). In Baltimore, Milton Kent writes that CBS
Producer Bob Dekas and Dir Bob Fishman "were stellar as
always." But he adds that Packer "has a tin ear when it
comes to the surroundings of college basketball. He has no
feel for the emotion of the sport -- its chief selling point
-- or for the crowd" (SUN, 3/30). In L.A., Larry Stewart
writes that CBS "didn't get in the way of a great game," and
notes that "restraint was shown," with "only two [Craig]
Kilborn promos" last night (L.A. TIMES, 3/30).
RATINGS: USA TODAY's Rudy Martzke reports that fast
national Nielsen ratings show that Saturday's Final Four
"tumbled 15%," sending the overall tournament ratings down
9% overall to an "all-time low" 6.4. The OSU-UConn game
received a fast national of 9.2, down 15% from last year's
10.8, while the Duke-MI St. game received a 10.9, down 14%
from last year's 12.7 (USA TODAY, 3/30)....In Raleigh,
Saturday's Duke-MI St. game received a local rating of
31.4/47 on WRAL-CBS (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 3/30).
BROADCAST NEWS: In N.Y., Bob Raissman writes that "any
doubt about CBS' priorities when it comes to news were
cleared up Saturday night," as the network had 30 minutes
between Final Four games to go to CBS News for an update on
the Kosovo situation, but "deemed it more important for Greg
Gumbel to interview Craig Kilborn" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 3/30).
In N.Y., Richard Sandomir writes that CBS "displayed bad
news judgment" for not offering more complete news reports
on the downed U.S. fighter plane in Kosovo, as the net "used
its breaks for commercials" and "promos" (N.Y. TIMES, 3/30).
