Home : American Idol : "Idol" Ratings Hit a Season J-Low

"Idol" Ratings Hit a Season J-Low

Posted Apr 11th 2007 12:47PM by TMZ Staff

Early numbers are in for last night's "American Idol." The sad fact -- Sanjaya may be up, but the numbers are down.
American Idol
Fifty-two million eyeballs (or, making the assumption most people have two eyes, 26 million people) tuned in last night to watch J.Lo coach the contestants, according to Marc Berman from The Programming Insider. That's almost a million less than last week, four million less than the same week last season, and 11 million less than the January premiere. Ouch!

But let's get real: "Idol" still rocks. The two weekly shows are consistently #1 and #2 in the ratings, drawing nearly five million more viewers than third place "CSI." So the sky isn't exactly falling, but the juggernaut seems to be getting a little long in the tooth.

Tags: american idol, AmericanIdol

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46. Let's help get this show back to being a singing competition.

Here is how America can take back control:
www.voteagainsttheworst.com

Posted at 3:14PM on Apr 11th 2007 by Elizabeth

47. Um, make Blake take his shirt off. PLEASE. Then my friends and I will watch.

Posted at 3:18PM on Apr 11th 2007 by Jeff

48. Its boring this year not enough different styles of music..

Posted at 3:45PM on Apr 11th 2007 by Moose

49. I was/am not impressed at all with this season's picks.. no one impresses me.. Blake is pretty good not even watching anymore.. I liked Bo Bice and Taylor Hicks in the past...also liked Constantine...this season it is very boring....

Posted at 4:05PM on Apr 11th 2007 by sf

50. In the past love the show...NOT this year. It is sad that a nice kid like Sanjaya is at the top when he isn't talented enough and needs more personal growth. Makes me dislike Howard Stern even more as he set out to destroy this show and it could happen. The judges just say same thing over and over and you can perdict exactly what they will say. Where is all the excitement? Boring shows.

Posted at 4:05PM on Apr 11th 2007 by Margaret

51. I agree with everyone else in the fact that this season is just incredibly boring. With the talent that AI had last year I really thought this season would be great, but apparently they decided they couldn't top last seasons group, so they didn't even try. Don't get me wrong there are some good singers this year, but they are BORING and predictable!

I saw an interveiw with Gina (voted off last week) and she said she didn't think the auditions were fair. She said you have to go through 2 (or 3-I can't remember) rounds before you even get to Simon, Paula, and Randy and they let a lot of great singers go before that because they want to make good television. I never really thought about it before, but it's really obvious now. How do all those crappy singers make it to the televised auditions? If this is supposed to be about talent and "a singing competition" as we constantly hear Simon say then none of those people should even make it that far. I agree, it's fun to watch, but that's not what it should be about...it should be about the singing.

As far as Sanjaya, every season there are contestants who people complain about sticking around too long. I remember Nikki McKibbin from Season 1, Carmen Rasmusen from Season 2, and remember John Stevens from Season 3? They were complained about too just like everyone's complaining about Sanjaya.

Here's my idea for a season of AI: Bring back two or three of the most popular contestants from each season that didn't win...Chris Daughtry, Elliott, Bo, Constantine, Jennifer Hudson, Diana DeGarmo, Kimberly Locke and Clay, Tamyra Gray, and many more...let let those "best of the best" duke it out each week. I'm sure many might not want to come back, and many may not be able to due to other contractural agreements, but it sounds fun to me and at least we would be guarenteed each week that we were seeing a great "singing competition".

Posted at 5:46PM on Apr 11th 2007 by eh

52. This Idol season is by far the worst.......stopped watching, will tune in next season................... let me know who wins, ahhh, silly me, we already know..............!

Posted at 4:13PM on Apr 11th 2007 by Belle

53. IT'S TOO FAKE WITH SANJAYA STILL ON THE SHOW. DANCING WITH THE STARS IS STILL A REAL COMPETITION.

Posted at 4:21PM on Apr 11th 2007 by GET RID OF SANJAYA NOW !!!

54. show does sort of blow this year...really no one interesting to watch... it does suk

Posted at 4:57PM on Apr 11th 2007 by douch950

55. AI will continue to lose ground until people start voting for talent and no hair and legs!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted at 5:42PM on Apr 11th 2007 by johnnie f.king

56. The talent isn't there this year. Lets face it they are all 2nd place winners in a dog beauty contest.

Posted at 5:46PM on Apr 11th 2007 by stan

57. Would anyone really want to listen to Blake on the radio? I'm voting for Melinda and LaKeisha. If they don't win, I hope it's Sanjaya, as a protest vote.

I think of the decline in talent--the inability of Idol to get 20 good singers--this way: This is the 6th season of Idol, a bajillion people have auditioned in the past 5 seasons, most great singers have already made their way to one of the audition cities, there just isn't much unmined Idol-quality singing talent out there. There might be some people who are good for Broadway, or as lead singers in bands, but there are only so many that are the type to really make an impression on American Idol.

If there's a season 7, the producers better hope some good singers who recently turned 16 show up, because that's the only way they're going to find new talent--it has to be born. Unless incredibly talented singers have been living under a rock for the past 6 seasons and only now decide to try out--but that's not likely.

Posted at 6:18PM on Apr 11th 2007 by TheDeclineOfIdolWasInevitable

58.
Industry Rumor is Taylor Hicks' legal counsel is not practicing in Mr. Hick's best interest due to spiteful opposition of Hicks long-time manager, Jaan Childs. It's been said that many believe that Hicks “sold out” day one and that his 15 minutes are up. Unfortunately, the Alabama soul singer's instant success seems to have led to an inflated ego, which may be fueling the singer’s downward spiral. However, the chatter among Industry executives is that his attorney, Mike Douglas of Friedman Leak who issued not one but two lawsuits against manager, Jaan Childs is a result of contentious behavior and is an irresponsible attempt to avoid compensating Childs as per the terms of Hicks’ contract in order to control Hicks while saving face.

Legal experts claim Douglas's inexperience and lack of understanding should be of great concern to Hicks. Hopefully, Hicks’ has enough sense to resolve the suit before his representation jeopardizes the longevity of Hicks’ career.

Justin Timberlake may have been foreshadowing the future by targeting, Hicks as it's often true " what goes around comes around" ... INSIDER WEEKLY

Posted at 6:38PM on Apr 11th 2007 by Staff Writer

59. I did was bored with the show last year. Figure it is rigged. Started watching it this year because of Sanjaya......it has made the show worth watching to see what he will do each week.........as long as he is on the show I will keep watching........we he goes, I go........

Posted at 9:22AM on Apr 12th 2007 by Mary says Howie the enabler causa sine qua non

60. whats with this dumb fake show this is insane to say the least, give it up simom . i believed in you to choose the best but you blew it this year. not a fan anymore . not wasting my time.

Posted at 9:48AM on Apr 12th 2007 by jewell

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