NEWSMAKERS

NEWSMAKERS

Strong opening week for CBS, Turner with NCAA hoops tourney

NEW YORK

One week into March Madness, CBS is feeling good.

Based on ratings from the nation’s largest media markets, the Nielsen company said CBS and the Turner Networks had the second-best performance over the past 29 years for the first four games of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. The only year to do better in that period was 2015.

Nielsen did not have exact viewership numbers, but Duke’s close call Sunday against Central Florida was particularly popular.

In an otherwise quiet week for prime-time television, CBS’ “60 Minutes” was the only show to top 10 million viewers.

Last Friday, when word got out that special counsel Robert Mueller had completed his work and cable television began talking about it, Sean Hannity of Fox News Channel had 3.13 million viewers, just behind colleague Tucker Carlson’s 3.2 million. Rachel Maddow of MSNBC had 2.9 million, Nielsen said.

CBS easily won the week in prime-time, averaging 6.2 million viewers. ABC had 4.4 million viewers, NBC had 4.3 million, Fox had 2.8 million, ION Television had 1.4 million, Univision had 1.2 million, Telemundo had 1.1 million and the CW had 920,000.

For the week of March 18-24, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: “60 Minutes,” CBS, 10.25 million; “The Voice” (Monday), NBC, 9.88 million; “NCIS,” CBS, 8.46 million; “This is Us,” NBC, 7.65 million; “God Friended Me,” CBS, 7.53 million; “NCIS: Los Angeles,” CBS, 7.16 million; “American Idol” (Sunday), ABC, 7.08 million; “Survivor,” CBS, 7.06 million; “Grey’s Anatomy,” ABC, 7 million; NCAA Men’s Basketball Tourney: Minnesota vs. Michigan St., CBS, 6.49 million.

Cardi B responds to backlash over her drugging, robbing men

LOS ANGELES

Cardi B is trying to clarify herself after a video resurfaced online where the rapper said she drugged and robbed men for money.

The Grammy winner posted a statement Tuesday on Instagram that she had “very limited options” and needed to do anything to “survive.” The former stripper says she wasn’t trying to glorify her actions, but felt it was necessary at the time.

Cardi B is facing backlash from the Instagram Live video she says is from three years ago. Some on social media have criticized the rapper for her admission with the hashtag #SurvivingCardiB in reference to the R. Kelly documentary “Surviving R. Kelly.”

Cardi says the men she spoke about in the video were ones she dated and they were “conscious, willing and aware.”

Associated Press