NEW YORK - The gripping men's college basketball final between Kansas and Memphis helped CBS into a virtual dead heat with Fox despite some four hours of "American Idol" programming last week.

The NCAA final was seen by 19.5 million people, according to Nielsen Media Research. Led by "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," five procedural dramas on CBS populated Nielsen's top 20.

CBS had the most to gain by the end of the writers strike, according to a report issued this week by researchers at Magna Global. It relied more on repeats instead of reality series during the strike, forcing its ratings down.

NBC did well during the strike with some of its reality series, but has sunk into fourth place since.

ABC's "Desperate Housewives" returned Sunday with 16.4 million viewers, Nielsen said. That's down from the 19.8 million for its last original episode in January. But the show tends to lose viewers with the approach of good weather; this week's viewership was virtually identical to the same week last year.

For the week, Fox averaged 10.27 million viewers (6.1 rating, 10 share), while CBS had 10.25 million (6.6, 11). ABC had 8.1 million viewers (5.3, 9), NBC 6.6 million (4.3, 7), the CW 2 million viewers (1.3, 2), My Network TV 1.1 million (0.7, 1) and ION Television 550,000 million (0.4, 1).

Among the Spanish-language networks, Univision led the way with 3.6 million viewers (1.8 rating, 3 share). Telemundo had 1.2 million (0.7, 1), TeleFutura 860,000 (0.4, 1) and Azteca 150,000 (0.1, 1).

Amid speculation that Katie Couric would leave as "CBS Evening News" anchor within the next year, her broadcast narrowly missed a record low viewership last week. The broadcast was seen by 5.6 million people (3.9 rating, 8 share).

ABC's "World News" won the ratings race, averaging 8 million viewers (5.6, 12), while NBC's "Nightly News" had 7.9 million viewers (5.4, 11).

A ratings point represents 1,128,000 households, or 1 per cent of the nation's estimated 112.8 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.

For the week of April 7-13, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: "American Idol" (Tuesday), Fox, 24.67 million; "American Idol" (Thursday), Fox, 20.13 million; "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 20.09 million; "Dancing With the Stars" (Monday), ABC, 19.68 million; NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Kansas vs. Memphis, CBS, 19.5 million; "Idol Gives Back," Fox, 17.75 million; "Dancing With the Stars" (Tuesday), ABC, 17.02 million; "Desperate Housewives," ABC, 16.37 million; "Without a Trace," CBS, 14.49 million; "NCIS," CBS, 14.05 million.

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On the Net: http://www.nielsenmedia.com

Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for April 7-13. Listings include the week's ranking, with viewership for the week and season-to-date rankings in parentheses. An "X" in parentheses denotes a one-time-only presentation.

1. (1) "American Idol" (Tuesday), Fox, 24.67 million viewers.

2. (X) "American Idol" (Thursday)," Fox, 20.13 million viewers.

3. (9) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 20.09 million viewers.

4. (4) "Dancing With The Stars" (Monday), ABC, 19.68 million viewers.

5. (X) "NCAA Basketball Championship: Kansas vs. Memphis," CBS, 19.5 million viewers.

6. (X) "Idol Gives Back," Fox, 17.75 million viewers.

7. (8) "Dancing With The Stars" (Tuesday), ABC, 17.02 million viewers.

8. (6) "Desperate Housewives," ABC, 16.37 million viewers.

9. (20) "Without a Trace," CBS, 14.49 million viewers.

10. (14) "NCIS," CBS, 14.05 million viewers.

11. (23) "Criminal Minds," CBS, 13.32 million viewers.

12. (27) "CSI: NY," CBS, 12.38 million viewers.

13. (20) "60 Minutes," CBS, 12.17 million viewers.

14. (X) "Prelude to a Championship," CBS, 12.04 million viewers.

15. (16) "Survivor: Micronesia," CBS, 11.59 million viewers.

16. (27) "Hell's Kitchen," Fox, 11.21 million viewers.

17. (68) "Don't Forget The Lyrics," Fox, 10.9 million viewers.

18. (44) "Medium," NBC, 10.86 million viewers.

19. (23) "Samantha Who?," ABC, 10.42 million viewers.

20. (23) "Deal Or No Deal" (Monday), NBC, 10.22 million viewers.