In the latest TV ratings, CBS’ primetime coverage of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament opening day — including No. 11-seeded Syracuse’s besting of No. 6 San Diego State — averaged 3.4 million total viewers and a 0.8 demo rating, a far cry from what the comparable night drew two years and one pandemic-related cancellation ago (4.9 mil/1.5) but still good enough to lead Friday in both measures.
Next Friday, fresh episodes of MacGyver, Magnum P.I. and Blue Bloods!
Elsewhere, with ABC’s Shark Tank and NBC’s The Blacklist in rerun mode:
FOX | Friday Night SmackDown slipped to 1.9 million viewers — the WWE program’s second-smallest audience since at least July 31 (if not longer) — and a 0.5 rating, matching its lowest demo number of 20210.
THE CW | I Ask You: Whose Line Is It, Anyway? (765K/0.1) and Fool Us, Penn & Teller Dares You (796K/0.1) were steady.
The Live+Same Day numbers reported in our ratings column do not reflect a show’s overall performance, given the increased use of delayed playback via DVR and streaming platforms, plus out-of-home viewing. These numbers (Nielsen fast nationals, unless denoted as finals) instead aim to simply illustrate trends or superlatives. Go, Orange!
Want scoop on any of the above shows? Email InsideLine@tvline.com and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line.
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