Idol Starts Big, Not Bigger
E! Online, Jan 16, 2008 8:23 am PSTWhen we tell you American Idol's premiere was smaller than last year's, just know we mean smaller as in slightly less gigantic.
Tuesday's two-hour, seventh-season opener, spotlighting the competition's Philadelphia auditions, averaged 33.2 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research estimates, more than last weekend's football games, more than any other entertainment show this season, but, yes, less than the sixth-season opener.
More precisely, the show was lighter by more than 4 million viewers, a loss of about 10 percent.
It goes down as the franchise's least watched premiere since 2004, when the road to Fantasia began before 29.4 million, and as the smallest premiere since the show's era of ridiculously high ratings commenced in 2006.
With the exception of 2005, when the opener grew by 4.4 million viewers, despite the prior season's perceived lack of overall talent, and an overabundance of Jasmine Triases, Idol's premiere ratings seem directly linked to how its previous finale played out.
Hence, the much-anticipated Ruben Studdard-Clay Aiken showdown begat then-record numbers for season three, the Carrie Underwood-Bo Bice sing-off begat then-record numbers for season five, and the star-spawning season five, featuring Chris Daughtry, Bucky Covington, Kellie Pickler, finalist Katharine McPhee and winner Taylor Hicks, begat record numbers for season six.
Season seven, by comparison, follows a year that got smaller as it went along, and crowned a champ, Jordin Sparks, who has sold fewer albums than any previous Idol winner.
The bottom line: Idol was down Tuesday, but as long as Milo ("No Sex Allowed") Turk doesn't end up sneaking into Hollywood, if not the finals, it might just rise again.
Elsewhere on Tuesday night, CBS' NCIS (15.9 million) was beaten but not bowed by Idol—unlike NBC's Biggest Loser (7.2 million).
The second part of the CBS miniseries Comanche Moon (12.5 million), meanwhile, wasn't as big as the first part, but it put up a fight against Idol—unlike ABC's season premiere of According to Jim (4.1 million).
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