Fox’s American Idol continued its season 8 ratings roller-coaster ride Tuesday night, averaging 23.5 million viewers for 90 minutes of performances and painful critiques. That’s down 10 percent from last week’s special Wednesday airing. Idol led into the premiere of Osbournes: Reloaded, but only 9.3 million viewers stuck around for that variety show at 9:30 p.m. — which allowed CBS to win the 9 p.m. hour with The Mentalist, according to preliminary numbers. ABC premiered the reboot of Rob Thomas’ Cupid, starring Bobby Cannavale and Sarah Paulson, to 7.6 million viewers. The Alphabet was still in the basement for the 10 p.m. hour, but, as the network happily noted in a press release, "Cupid greatly improved the time period for ABC, up by 23 percent in total viewers and by 35 percent in adults 18-49, over the net’s average with original drama programming in the hour this season (Eli Stone)." Yes, beating Eli Stone‘s ratings is a noteworthy accomplishment.
| Time | Show | Viewers (in millions) |
|---|---|---|
| 8 p.m. | American Idol (Fox) NCIS (CBS) The Biggest Loser: Couples (NBC) Better Off Ted (ABC) Reaper (The CW) |
23.5 16.8 8.7 3.6 (repeat) 2.4 |
| 8:30 p.m. | Better Off Ted (ABC) | 3.1 (repeat) |
| 9 p.m. | The Mentalist (CBS) Dancing With the Stars Results (ABC) 90210 (The CW) |
16.9 13.0 2.0 |
| 9:30 p.m. | Osbournes: Reloaded (Fox) | 9.3 |
| 10 p.m. | Without a Trace (CBS) Law & Order: SVU (NBC) Cupid (ABC) |
12.7 9.3 7.6 |
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Ken Tucker on Osbournes: Reloaded
Ken Tucker on Cupid
Cupid stars Bobby Cannavale and Sarah Paulson take the EW Pop Culture Personality Test
Cupid was stupid. I couldn’t get past the first fifteen minutes. I had to erase the show. Maybe it will improve, but the lead Bobby just was wrong for the role of Cupid. But at least the show got respectable numbers but coming off Dancing with the Stars; I would have expected better.
Adam = colorful brilliance in drab of mediocrity!!! Bravo Adam!
I’m finding American Idol very boring this season. There is nothing else to watch so I’m stuck with it. Wish the other networks would try putting on better shows, if people had a choice, they wouldn’t be watching the AI train wreck as much.
i love that 90210 is plummeting in the ratings despite heavy promotion from CW. Also, Cupid without Jeremy Piven is stupid. haha, pun intended.
Check out the profiles of the guys from American Idol on http://DontDateHimGirl.com! It’s hilarious!
Osbourne’s vile show must go away! I watched like the first skit or whatever it was & my teenager left the room, in disgust!
Maybe if Idol cut their show to only 1 hour more would be watching. Just gets too long with all the commercial breaks. I have watched Idol since show 1. This year I am not too sure if I like all the changes, the 1 1/2 hour shows are too long though.
I made sure to turn the channel the secong Idol was over because I do not want to encourage the Osbourne show to stay on the air. There was a reason they went off the air in the first place. Like I really want to see some guy watch his grandmother strip. The commercials were bad enough.
Well of course the Osbournes got low ratings. Half the markets in the country either didn’t run it, or ran it late at night due to “content”. In my area, it didn’t run until midnight. Personally I thought it was hysterical.
The Osbournes might not have been right for that time slot but in Milwaukee we did not have the opportunity to find out as the local affiliate bumped it to 1 am and aired a special on drugs instead.
Who in their right mind would watch the Osbournes? Ozzy’s mind is trashed from all the drugs he has done, His wife’s reality show showed her character and the way she deals with other people, and the two kids are losers. Same goes for anything that Hulk Hogan and his family do. ALL losers!
American Idol always takes a few weeks to really get into showing off the final contenders talents. Many go through complete transformations, ending up with a whole new look.
What do you think about the 4-person judge arrangement and do you think that Kara adds anything to the show? I am hoping that she isn’t brought back next season since I am already tired of her long-winded critiques. Feel free to add your feelings and vote at http://www.IdolShowdown.com