• by Ken Liebeskind , April 3, 2002

Sports reign supreme on TV, with college basketball the most recent winner. Both the men's and women's college tournaments scored well in the most recent Nielsen ratings.

Monday night's men's title game on CBS scored a 15.8 overnight rating, up 3% from last year. The women's title game on ESPN scored a 4.1 on Sunday night, a 24% increase from last year. It was the second highest title game ever, following only 1999 at 4.3.

The men's final didn't make the most recent Nielsen weekly rating, since it was Monday and the week ended Sunday. Saturday's men's semi-final games did make the rating, with shows ranked 7th and 12th overall. The games generated a 19 share, 6.8 household rating.

The top shows for the week were CSI (CBS), E.R.(NBC), Friends (NBC), Everybody Loves Raymond (CBS) and Survivor (CBS), with shares ranging from 19 to 25 and households from 7.6 to 9.4.

CBS edged NBC in prime average, with a 14 share/8.2 household. NBC was 13/7.8, ABC 10/6 and Fox 7/4.4.

The most recent week's top cable shows were WWF Entertainment (TNN) in the top two spots, followed by Real World (MTV), Osbournes (MTV) and Spongebob (NICK). WWF's best rating was a 4.3 household, with almost 6.7 million viewers.

Syndicated winners were Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, Friends, Seinfeld and Everybody Loves Raymond.

Eight of the top 10 sports shows for the most recent week were college basketball (CBS), with Fox's NASCAR Winston Cup and World Figure Skating (ABC) the other winners.

In other TV news, ABC cancelled Once & Again, the three-year-old romantic drama that failed ratings wise this year. The show replaced 20/20 on Friday and was moved to Monday, averaging 6.5 million viewers this season. A final episode will run April 15.