Idol Ratings Down

Even having a combination of a new judge, a Bikini Girl, and a slew of good and bad singers, American Idol still struggled with viewership. Fox still managed to beat all other networks, but the Tuesday season premiere of American Idol was down about 10 percent from its season premiere last year. It was down 3.3 million in 2008 and 7.3 million from two years ago, when the sixth-season premiere earned 37.4 million viewers. The gold lining is that the show garnered the highest viewed TV audience for 2009.

For the other networks, CBS remained solid in second place, with its crime show lineup of NCIS at 8 p.m. (18.5 million), The Mentalist at 9 p.m. (18.1 million) and Without a Trace at 10 p.m. (12.4 million). NBC was third with The Biggest Loser from 8 to 10 p.m. (8.8 million), followed by Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (9.7 million). ABC trailed in fourth. Its recent acquisition, Scrubs, was down 30 percent. This is not a good sign for the show, and Scrubs may need to go to its own ICU.

American Idol has launched the careers of recording stars including Kelly Clarkson and Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson. The last winner, David Cook, has achieved a Billboard top 20 hit with the song, "Light On," and his self-titled album peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Album charts.