"American Idol" Viewers Disappearing - Like Syesha's Chances

NEW YORK — Contestants are disappearing as the "American Idol" finale approaches. Unfortunately for Fox, so are the viewers.

The 21.8 million people who watched last Tuesday's competition was the show's smallest Tuesday audience in more than five years. The show did better the next night, with 22.9 million, but that was the smallest Wednesday audience in three years, according to Nielsen Media Research.

They were still the most popular programs in prime-time last week. Even though it is the May ratings "sweep," no other show cracked the 20 million viewer mark, once considered routine for television's top programs.

Another one-time big event, the finale of a "Survivor" season on CBS, was seen by 13 million viewers and didn't crack Nielsen's top 10.

Americans also preferred to spend Mother's Day with their own moms, if possible. NBC's special "America's Favorite Mom," ranked No. 107 for the week with just 2.4 million viewers.

CBS was the nation's most popular network last week, averaging 10.6 million viewers in prime-time (6.7 rating, 11 share), followed by ABC with 9.5 million (6.2, 11). Fox won among the 18- to 49-year-old demographic but, reflecting the "American Idol" decline, slipped to third among all viewers with an 8.9 million average (5.5, 9). NBC had 6 million viewers (4.0, 7), the CW had 2.6 million (1.7, 3), My Network TV had 1.2 million (0.8, 1) and ION Television had 410,000 (0.3, 0).

Among the Spanish-language networks, Univision led with 3.6 million viewers (1.8, 3), Telemundo had 950,000 (0.6, 1), TeleFutura had 640,000 (0.3, 1) and Azteca had 130,000 (0.1, 0).

ABC's "World News" won the evening news ratings race, averaging 8 million viewers (5.5, 12). NBC's "Nightly News" had 7.8 million viewers (5.4, 12) and the "CBS Evening News" had 5.6 million (3.9, 8).

A ratings point represents 1,128,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 112.8 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.

For the week of May 5-11, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: "American Idol" (Wednesday), Fox, 22.87 million; "American Idol" (Tuesday), Fox, 21.76 million; "Dancing With the Stars" (Tuesday), ABC, 18.38 million; "Dancing With the Stars" (Monday), ABC, 18.11 million; "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 18.07 million; "Grey's Anatomy," ABC, 16.02 million; "Desperate Housewives," ABC, 15.42 million; "Without a Trace," CBS, 14.67 million; "CSI: Miami," CBS, 14.11 million; "NCIS," CBS, 13.6 million.

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ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co. CBS is a division of CBS Corp. Fox is a unit of News Corp. NBC is owned by General Electric Co. Telemundo is owned by General Electric. TeleFutura is a division of Univision. ION Television is owned by ION Media Networks.

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On the Net:

http://www.nielsenmedia.com

Comments

[WIpatriot]

I guess you nailed it.

[Menocu]

when Shyeesha sang "Incredulous Gary" I almost threw my shorts away. I think it is a big conspiracy that he was in "that" thing. i mean, come on, a hovercraft? I could have squeezed lemons and come out with a harder and more righteous presumption. Come on FORD, bring back the OC, save the Diamondback Whales and stop building on the natural habitat of the woodlands rascal. These commercials that Shy-esa stars in fund this malarky. I expected better/worse.

[LuoPrincess]

I think that ever since Obama nation has boycotted the entire Fox channel, the viewership has gone down and all the minority, foreigners (Carly and Michael Jones) are voted off, I am surprised that Syesha made it this far! David Cook is overrated but David Archulada is sweet however very predictable. Syesha is the only one with personality.

[bryand1]

S'yesha has survived, with admirable effort at times, though it has undermined the show's already flimsy integrity. When much better singers like Michael Johns and Carly get kicked off before kareoke/way way way off broadway quality singers like S'yesha and Jason - well, obviously this isn't a singing competition at all...it's about demographics and the idiotic producers' agenda. What's most tired about AI isn't young people singing their hearts out - it's the lunacy of the judges who're mentally bloated, phony as h*ll, and more interested in their own fame than anything. Randy has about six words in his vocabulary, Paula's a pretty train wreck who should be horrified at the choreography they force on these kids, and Simon's just a snobby older b*tch with an unrequited crush on aging boytoy Ryan. It's a club about money...and while the singing is fun to watch, the rest is painful.

[Puller58]

I still like the joker who wrote the book claiming he did it with Paula. The fact the little airhead is still on the show proves how much integrity the producers have.

[Anonani]

Sometimes I feel like I'm back in New Orleans when watching the judges put a hex on the ones they don't like. Tonight, Paula and Simon both hexed Syesha! The only one who did not was brudda man and I think he's afraid to make her cry again. That could not have been good for his PR.

But I voted for Syesha tonight because I think she is a fantasic singer. Now I like David A too, but the judges have truly overdone their praise of this kid.

[bajaboy]

Syesha is gonna knock 'em dead on Broadway when she completes her obligations to AI. This young lady has everything she needs for true stardom in a Broadway musical production.

[jgalvan]

Right, along with the other million girls who are just if not more talented and trained at the finest New York academies of fine art. That one girl your referring too, whats her name? Well I forget now was only chosen after 12 dozen other girls turned it down because they wanted a fat ugly girl who could sing. And now everyone thinks that's the way to do it, give me a break, all this girl does is holler and scream and makes these little too late runs at the end. Personally I believe that she should have been booted along time ago but because of her heritage, she had that block of votes. Its down too the two Davids and I am so sure that little David is going to win the whole enchilada. Bye Syesha count your blessing that you been around when you should have been back in little Havana along time ago.

[Charity]

syesha's "heritage"? "she had that block of votes"? wtf? sounds a bit racist to me and paranoid.

btw, syesha has been my pick for awhile - imagine that, me, a white 60 yr old woman with two college degrees and an interest in show business.

so, is your explanation of the two male top finalists that their reasons for being there is their (white) block of voters? LOL.

[observing]

21 million is nothing?? Yeah, Bauder I bet 21 million anything is small to you. This is the same old beating the drums of the competition. I'll consider AI dying at 5 million.

[commentguy1234]

Impossible not to have heard of all these knuckleheads from the show in the age of media cross-promotion and blogs like this.

As for being above-board with their voting, how can that be when the vote tallies are secret? They only reveal the total number of votes, not the distribution.

The judges often don't even see a performance before they critique, or base it on rehearsals. They admitted this in the Paula scandal.

They booted one woman for nude pictures, but not some guy who starred in gay porn. Kicked off one guy for having a criminal record, but kept another criminal who beat his wife.

Paula had an affair with a contestant (backed by phone records).

Deceptive editing to make it appear that contestants are auditioning before the three celebrity judges, when they really audition three or more times with producers.

The show was found to have changed the results to have Ruben win over Clay (who is gay).

And every Idol winner has fallen, quite conveniently, into a different musical category where they can't siphon off sales from each other.

Finally, next time you watch, pay close attention to the bottom of the screen at the end of the show and note the disclaimer which states that the producers can PICK the winner.

[JFM]

Another conspiracy theorist heard from. What you claim as facts are mere opinion. Many of your claims just don't pass the smell test; never mind that you just haven't offered anything close to proof. Best not to make accusations without some.

[TurgidCaterwauling]

Both David Cook and Syesha should hope they lose to Artichoke. Otherwise they'll end up having to record this year's sappy song.

Note to producers regarding next year's show: In your quest to find next year's pop superstar, think about having Civil War songs night, Barber Shop quartet night, Dixieland night, Opera night, Folk music night, and yodling night. Note to contestants: It's all about song selection.

[WIpatriot]

Sweet!

[jgalvan]

Can't wait, all that screaming and me having to find my remote to turn it down.

[theidaexpress]

Finally people are seeing sense.
http://www.theidaexpress.com

[pennyfortheguy]

love ya ;)
you're an independent thinker.

[commentguy1234]

Syesha WILL win, because the show is rigged. With their last winner facing a prospect that she may not sing again, the producers need a replacement for their lst young, female pop star, Jordan Sparks. Since female pop stars sell more records than men, Syesha is the only choice. They had been steering this competition towards a male contestant to compliment Jordan Sparks, but now they have to change course. I won't be satisfied until Idol, and every other craptacular reality show, is off the air. Ten years of this crap is quite enough.

[JFM]

I don't pretend to have any more inside information than you do, but I am less cynical, and I believe I probably have more common sense. I very much doubt this show is rigged. I close look at the winners and near-winners over the show's history strongly suggests that Idol voting is above-board, if not the transparent process it could be. If the show were really rigged, the producers would find a way to "pad" the judges' comments, too, to provide for better television. Though too many performances border on karaoke, it's the judges' remarks which really need some refreshing and updating. The parodies of Randy, Paula and Simon's rehashed remarks, now all cliches, would be funnier if they weren't so obviously true. Still, I find the show one of the more authentic reality competitions, because FOX delivers exactly what it promises: to create a new chart-topping pop star, something this country continually craves. You can't say the same about the need for the winner of any other reality show.

[slobone]

Hmm, you seem to know an awful lot about this show that you hate...

[popmanifesto]

Not that it matters, but Syesha will be gone tomorrow night. And AI's first young, female pop star was Kelly Clarkson, their very first winner and along with Carrie Underwood their most successful. Are you just making this stuff up off the top of your head? I think so.

[LiberalBuzz]

Personally I think America is getting tired of the over the top productions and obvious set ups for emotional songs and reactions. Not to mention some of the behind the scenes idiocy. It just comes across as far to planned out, no belief in anything different, just the same old same old.

Besides, they are all beginning to sound alike. The same sort of inflections in their songs, the same over the top singing/yelling wailing that just gets so tiresome.

I also think the revelations that most of these people are not the amateurs we were led to believe they were, isn't helping.

[dartagnan]

"Besides, they are all beginning to sound alike. The same sort of inflections in their songs, the same over the top singing/yelling wailing that just gets so tiresome."

Yep. The performances are incredibly predictable. The contestant starts out singing softly (often out of tune) while the girls (they seem to be all girls) standing in the front row wave their arms over their heads (often out of time). Then the singer turns up the volume, building to a high-pitched, shrieking crescendo, at which point the audience cheers. The judges all seem to love this. And if any contestant chooses a song that has an identifiable melody and words that can be understood, he/she gets told it's "karaoke" or "cabaret" or "Broadway."

AI is emblematic of what's wrong with the pop music industry today -- too many screaming divas recording tuneless songs that all sound the same.

[MiraMcB]

The Mosh Pit must DIE!!!!

[Charity]

absolutely correct, dartagnan - you know, when i think about it, that type of slow start to building crescendo began to be raved over on "star search" when sam harris was a contestant (and whatever happened to him?) it wasn't enough just to sing the song, one had to beat it to a pulp.

of course, i think rap and hip-hop beat the hell out of melody so much that when one sings it straight they are deemed far too un-cool for any attention. i think part of the initial attraction to david archuleta was his pure, unstrained voice. but noooo - he does all the silly little runs now when he sings too.

ah, well, he'll still have a decent enough career.

[OKIE]

What a mean headline. Completely out of line.

[slobone]

Syesha is a survivor. They keep trying to get rid of her, and it keeps not happening...