Image Credit: Fox

Critics knocked last night’s American Idol auditions in Portland as having the worst singing performances this season. (Though others noted, hey, at least the contestants were entertaining.)

Ratings-wise, Idol delivered 18.2 million viewers and a 5.9 rating among adults 18-49. That’s down 9 percent from last week, which is a shame — last Thursday, it appeared as if the reality hit was stabilizing in the ratings. Still, Idol was the night’s top-rated show. Its lead-out, Mobbed (7.9 million, 2.9), did pretty well, with Idol boosting it by a whopping 123 percent. (Still, it only attracted half the audience of its lead-in.)

ABC aired repeats. CBS had the special Super Bowl’s Greatest Commercials (8.7 million, 2.1), up 5 percent from last year. NBC had Whitney (4.4 million, 1.7) and Are You There, Chelsea? (4.1 million, 1.7), followed by repeats. CW had a steady One Tree Hill (1.5 million, 0.7) and a ridiculously low-rated Remodeled (745,000, 0.3).

Read more:
‘American Idol’: Portlandia
‘Idol’ If They Mated: Conan O’Brien and Andy Richter

Image Credit: Fox

The NFC Championship Playoffs did American Idol a solid on Sunday: The competition show posted a 7.9 rating among adults 18-49 and attracted 19.8 million total viewers, according to preliminary ratings.

The show ran late on the east coast (10:57 p.m. to 11:57 p.m.) due to football overtime, so Fox plans to re-air the auditions (which included Jim Carrey’s daughter) on Tuesday from 8 to 9. It will replace a repeat of Glee.

The combo of football and so-so singing gave Fox a win in adults 18-49 and total viewers. In fact, Fox says it delivered the highest-rated night on any network — on any day of the week — in one year (since Fox aired the Super Bowl on Feb. 6). Each 18-49 ratings point equals 1.3 million viewers.

ABC ran a distant second in the demo (2.0/4) after airing America’s Funniest Home Videos (1.2/3, 5.1 million), Once Upon a Time (3.2/7, 9.2 million), Desperate Housewives (which, at 2.6/5, is a series low, 7.4 million), and Pan Am (1.3/3, 3.8 million).

CBS was third with a 1.6/3 in the demo. Originals of 60 Minutes and Undercover Boss earned a 1.5/3 and 2.2/5, respectively. (Viewership levels were 7.9 and 9.1 million). Those were dang repeats of The Good Wife and CSI: Miami.                       

And NBC, bless its pathetic little heart, posted a mere .9/2, with the final two originals episodes of Prime Suspect earning a .8/2 and a .7/2. The first one averaged 4.2 million and the second one brought in 3.6 million.

Image Credit: Fox

UPDATED: The Idol has landed.

The 11th season debut of Fox’s American Idol had the biggest year-over-year ratings drop for a premiere episode in the show’s decade-long history. Idol delivered 21.9 million viewers and a 7.4 in the adult demo on Wednesday night, according to Fox’s time-zone-adjusted national ratings. That’s down 24 percent from last year.

The reality veteran still easily won the night (with Fox outperforming all its rivals combined) and the show will almost certainly rank as this week’s top-rated entertainment program. Still, the decline is a disappointment for Fox, though not entirely unexpected.

Here’s three reasons for the fall: READ FULL STORY »