• by Wayne Friedman , March 26, 2010

CBS continued to post solid ratings results for its NCAA Men's basketball tournament.

The network grabbed a Nielsen preliminary 3.8 rating/11 share among 18-49 viewers, slightly higher than its initial 3.7/11 a week before when the tournament started, on Thursday, March 18.

As has happened with many special network sports and awards programs this year, it continued to cause disruption to other shows.

Many shows recorded series or season lows on this Thursday: ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" hit a series low at 3.6/10; NBC's "The Office" dipped to a season low at 3.5/10; NBC's "The Marriage Ref" reached a series low at 2.5/7; and ABC's "FlashForward" sank to a series low at 1.8/6.

The winners? ABC's "Private Practice" moved up a bit to a 3.0/9; CW's "Supernatural" gained 8% in its key women 18-34 demographic to a 1.3 rating. CW's "Vampire Diaries" was down 8%, but still posted a healthy 2.2 rating among 18-34 women viewers.

For the night, it was CBS with an easy 3.8/11 win among 18-49 viewers -- a full rating point ahead of ABC, which ended up with a 2.8/8. NBC was a bit behind with a 2.6/7.

The CW posted strong 18-49 numbers, reaching a 1.4/4. This was good for fourth place for the night, ahead of Univision and Fox, both at a 1.3/4.