NEW YORK (AP) -- Despite the Easter Sunday return of "Desperate Housewives" on ABC and an extra "American Idol" on Fox, CBS scored an easy ratings victory thanks largely to the most-watched NCAA men's basketball tournament since 1994.
The four regional finals this past weekend, three of them overtime contests, drew an audience 44 percent higher than the same games last year, according to Nielsen Media Research.
CBS still has this weekend's Final Four to anticipate, with Louisville, Illinois, North Carolina and Michigan State still alive.
After a nearly two-month absence that left some fans grumbling, "Desperate Housewives" returned with an original episode and was seen by 24.1 million people. That helped the debut of the medical drama "Grey's Anatomy" directly after it, which was sampled by 16.2 million viewers.
ABC has three more "Grey's Anatomy" episodes for upcoming Sunday nights, and then will decide on a regular time slot for the show.
With a hit lineup now on Sundays, ABC ended the traditional Easter showing of "The Ten Commandments." The movie was aired instead on Saturday, March 19, switched from one of the most-watched nights of television to the least.
Between Fox's "House" and ABC's "Grey's Anatomy," NBC's "ER" -- still a popular show -- was only the third most-watched medical drama last week.
Last week's "American Idol" flub, where the voting had to be done over after the wrong phone numbers were given out over the air, gave Fox an opportunity to air a special third edition Thursday. It was seen by 20.2 million people.
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