America Idol Dominates Airwaves - Most Popular TV

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American Idol is taking over the airwaves!


From E Online

By Joal Ryan1 hour, 54 minutes ago

So, last week on American Idol, Barry Manilow sang, Kevin Corvais lost--and yada yada yada.

Forgive the Seinfeldism, but not since the sitcom popularized the all-purpose cutting-to-the-chase phrase has a TV show been more popular than Idol.

Through last week, Idol was averaging 32.1 million viewers on Tuesday nights and 30.5 million on Wednesday nights, per Nielsen Media Research. No show has averaged 30 million-plus since the 1997-98 season when two shows performed the feat: Seinfeld (34.1 million); and ER (30.2 million).

Idol is in its fifth season--the same age Seinfeld was when it finally became a Top 10 show. Unlike Seinfeld, Idol has been a hit since its inception. The difference this year is that it's the biggest hit it's ever been.

Compared to last year, viewership for last week's show featuring performances by the remaining 11 finalists was up 21 percent, Fox said. The assembled 33.4 million helped Idol mark its best ever Tuesday night. The installment easily placed number one in Nielsen's rankings for the TV ratings week ended Sunday.

Wednesday's elimination episode (27.7 million, second place) was up 37 percent from the comparable elimination episode in 2005 (though down slightly from last week), Fox said.

Additionally, the episode is believed to have attracted the largest audience for a live performance of "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing" since the Eisenhower administration. Manilow did the honors--and without the assistance of a Lawrence Welk bubble machine.

Idol will try to keep its Seinfeldian streak going Tuesday night with the 10 remaining contestants vocalizing to the sounds of the 21st century.

Puffy shirts are optional.

Elsewhere:
CBS' The New Adventures of Old Christine (11th place, 15.1 million) is doing its best to break the Seinfeld curse for Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Ms. Louis-Dreyfus, Jenna Elfman called. She'd like her old Monday time slot back for Courting Alex (75th place, 6.3 million). Wednesdays are feeling a tad lonely. Presumably, the cast of CBS' Out of Practice (68th place, 6.9 million) also wouldn't mind being moved back to Mondays. Another week, another big premiere for a show airing after Wednesday's Idol. This time, the lucky stiff was Unan1mous (ninth place, 16 million). ABC's Lost (eighth place, 16.1 million) was found anew by fans after approximately 100 years between new episodes. Repeat or no, ABC's Grey's Anatomy (13th place, 14.9 million) was the week's fifth-most watched show among 18-to-49-year-old viewers. Can a network really buy viewers with suitcases stuffed with cash? Go ask NBC's Deal or No Deal (sixth place, 16.8 million), which hit a series high on Monday night. ABC's American Inventor (19th place, 13 million) slipped a bit in its second week. Perhaps executive producer Simon Cowell should start stuffing that suitcase about now. Not-bad news for Invasion supporters. The new detective series The Evidence (47th place, 9.1 million) didn't do much better, or worse, in ABC's post-Lost time slot than the benched sci-fi series. Burglar-boasting Heist (52nd place, 8.7 million) couldn't make off with better than a third-place finish for NBC in the 10 p.m., Wednesday hour. Starting April 11, Veronica Mars (139th place, 2.3 million) is due to be moved from Tuesdays to Wednesdays, where a repeat last week finished stone-cold dead last among English-language broadcast network shows--155th place, 1.2 million viewers.

Overall, most watched CBS took a hit when the men's college basketball tournament kept CSI, Survivor and Without a Trace on the bench. Still, the network managed to eke out a weekly win in total viewers, averaging 12 million to Fox's 11.9 million.

Fox did its thing in the 18-to-49 demo, posting a sizable lead over second-place CBS.

ABC (9.7 million) ran third in both categories; NBC (9.5 million), fourth.

Here's a look at the 10 most watched prime-time shows for the week ended Sunday, according to Nielsen Media Research:

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[mm256]

wow, i'm surprised that Deal or No Deal made it to the top 10 list!