• by Wayne Friedman , April 4, 2007

CBS naturally won the night because of the NCAA Final game on Monday--and even witnessed almost a 20% bump in overall viewers versus a year before--but other networks came to play as well.

CBS pulled in almost 17 million total viewers in a contest that witnessed Florida beating Ohio State--becoming one of only six teams to win back-to-back NCAA basketball championships. The game was up from 14.3 million viewers of a year before when Florida bested UCLA. This year's game earned a Nielsen preliminary 6.2 rating.

But neither ABC or Fox were running and hiding. For its part, ABC stuck with original episodes of "Dancing with the Stars"--earning a 4.3 rating from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. and a 4.8 from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., as well as the premiere of "The Bachelor," which pulled in a somewhat respectable 3.9.

Fox also went with originals--first, with "Prison Break" earning a 3.4 rating, then "24" recording a 4.3 rating.

CBS ended the night in first place among 18-49 viewers with a 5.1 rating/13 share. ABC was next at 4.3/11. Fox was third at 3.8/10; then NBC, 2.8/7, Univision, a 1.7/4 and CW at a 0.8/2.

Where ABC and Fox went with their big guns, NBC decided to give its big powerhouse "Heroes" a night off. Instead, NBC ran back to back "Deal or No Deal" episodes, earning a 3.2 and then a 3.3.

At 10 p.m.--playing itself out of a spot on NBC's schedule--"The Black Donnellys" earned a 2.0. Come the end of the month, NBC will try its luck with reality show "The Real Wedding Crashers" at 10 p.m. on Mondays to follow "Heroes."