Syndication Off Its Game With Basketball In Action

The luck of the Irish did not rub off on the syndication brigade, most of which lost ratings ground for the week ending March 17, St. Patrick's Day.

The annual NCAA men's basketball tournament caused pre-emptions for some syndicated shows on the CBS stations and affiliates. The games also posed stronger-than-usual competition, particularly March 14 and 15, when CBS aired 10 hours of the games each day. Another 17 hours of games aired during the weekend.

The weekly hours were the hardest hit; seven of the top eight were down. "ET Weekend" (an average 3.3 rating) fell 23% but retained its lead among the weeklies for a 15th consecutive week. "The X-Files" (2.7) was down 7%, while "Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda" (2.6) fell 16%. Also at a 2.6, "The Practice" bucked the trend with a 13% increase. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (2.3) fell 12%, "Stargate SG-1" (2.3) was down 18%, "World's Wildest Police Videos" (2.3) was off 12%, and "ER" (2.3) was down 4%.

Among the strips, all the court shows were down with the exception of "Divorce Court" (2.8) and "Judge Greg Mathis" (2.4), which were both flat. "Judge Judy" (5.6) was down 7%, "Judge Joe Brown" (3.3) was down 8%, "The People's Court" (2.0) was off 8%, and "Judge Hatchett" (1.8) was down 10%.

Elsewhere, only one talk show managed to increase its week-to-week rating. "Live! With Regis & Kelly" (3.6) was up 9%. The talker, hosted by Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa, was coming off its lowest rating of the season the previous week.

In the rookie race, "Texas Justice" (2.1) continued as the highest-rated newcomer of the season. It was flat week-to-week. "Crossing Over With John Edward" retained its second place with a 1.9 rating, also unchanged.