'American Idol' premiere most-watched ever

LOS ANGELES -- American Idol is back and bigger than ever.

The Fox TV talent contest's season premiere was the most-watched in its six-year history, drawing an estimated 37.3 million viewers in the United States Tuesday, according to preliminary ratings from Nielsen Media Research.
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In addition, the show -- broadcast in Canada by CTV -- had an average audience of just over three million, peaking at 3.6 million.

The U.S. figure represents a five per cent increase over last year's record premiere audience of 35.5 million, qualifying it as the best debut ever for Fox, the network said. Final ratings will be released next week.
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"American Idol continues to make entertainment history,'' Simon Fuller, the series' creator and executive producer, said in a statement Wednesday. "These amazing numbers from our season-6 premiere defy all reasonable expectations.''

The top-rated show, which also airs Wednesday, is breaking television's laws of gravity that bring declining viewership for aging shows.

It's received a boost from its high-profile alumni, including hot recording stars Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood and "Dreamgirls'' star and Golden Globe winner Jennifer Hudson.
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American Idol, which gives viewers the chance to pick the finalists and winner, began as usual with scenes from U.S.-wide auditions. The early rounds feature both promising singers and those who serve as targets for acerbic judge Simon Cowell before they're booted out.

'American Idol' Has Biggest Ever Season Premiere

"American Idol" is back and bigger than ever.
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The Fox TV talent contest's season premiere was the most-watched in its six-year history, drawing an estimated 37.3 million viewers Tuesday, according to preliminary ratings from Nielsen Media Research.

That represents a 5 percent increase over last year's record premiere audience of 35.5 million, qualifying it as the best debut ever for Fox, the network said. Final ratings will be released next week.
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"`American Idol' continues to make entertainment history," Simon Fuller, the series' creator and executive producer, said in a statement Wednesday. "These amazing numbers from our season-six premiere defy all reasonable expectations."

The top-rated show, which also airs Wednesday, is breaking television's laws of gravity that bring declining viewership for aging shows.
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It's gotten a boost from its high-profile alumni, including hot recording stars Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood and "Dreamgirls" star and Golden Globe winner Jennifer Hudson.

"American Idol," which gives viewers the chance to pick the finalists and winner, began as usual with scenes from nationwide auditions. The early rounds feature both promising singers and those who serve as targets for acerbic judge Simon Cowell before they're booted out.
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Did Anybody Not Watch American Idol?

Los Angeles - To answer the headline: Yes, some bodies did not watch Tuesday's American Idol season premiere.

But most channel-surfing bodies did.
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By Idol's last half hour, nearly 15 percent of the nation—not just the TV nation, but the entire nation—was subjecting its collective ears to the sounds, and screeches, of Minnesota.

In Minneapolis, a city with a definite rooting interest, nearly half of all TVs in use from 8-10 p.m. were tuned to Idol.

Overall, the two-hour opener, featuring guest judge Jewel, averaged an estimated 37.3 million viewers, making it the most watched Idol premiere ever, Fox said.

The broadcast peaked from 9:30-10 p.m., Nielsen Media Research numbers show, with a whopping 41.5 million catching the final bits of bad (and good) from the Minneapolis-based audition round.
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By comparison, during the same half hour, the other four broadcast network shows—ABC's America's Funniest Home Videos, CBS' The Unit, NBC's Law & Order: Criminal Intent and the CW's Veronica Mars—drew 26.9 million viewers—combined.

Tuesday was the kick off of Idol's sixth season. And the show didn't merely pick up where top-rated season five left off, it perked up.

The premiere was nearly 2 million viewers bigger than last January's, and nearly 1 million viewers bigger than last May's Taylor Hicks-crowning finale.
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And the stats to brag on just keep on coming: Most watched anything of the new year; most watched anything of the current season; and it ties the record for biggest Fox premiere among ever-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds (a distinction shared with The X-Files' opener from 1997).

Another one: The premiere came within about 800,000 viewers of tying the May 2003
Ruben Studdard-
Clay Aiken finale and vying for the title of most watched Idol ever.
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And yet another one: The premiere came within about 1.5 million viewers of matching the audience for last year's
Academy Awards telecast.

Lest you have trouble telling the shows apart, the Academy Awards is the one with the glamorous movie stars; Tuesday's Idol was the one with the opera singer dressed as Apollo Creed.

Idol resumes Wednesday with a two-hour episode chronicling its Seattle auditions.

Guess we know what America's doing tonight...
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Here are some ratings tidbits, meanwhile, for the TV week ended Sunday, per Nielsen Media Research stats:

The Sunday portion of Fox's 24 season-opening extravaganza (ninth place, 15.8 million) did its best to drag down ABC's Desperate Housewives (seventh place, 16.8 million). All in all, though, Wisteria Lane held up better than Los Angeles.ABC's Grey's Anatomy (fourth place, 23 million) pounded a rerun of CBS' CSI (20th place, 12 million), if you'll forgive the fight metaphor. ABC's Ugly Betty (14th place, 13.5 million) was looking pretty good even before the Golden Globes. CBS' broadcast of the 33rd Annual People's Choice Awards (23rd place, 11.3 million) hit its best numbers since 2004—and it may be about time to declare the awards-show ratings slump officially over. Donald Trump's The Apprentice (58th place, 7.3 million) was down 20 percent from its so-so season premiere. And somewhere
Rosie O'Donnell is smiling. NBC renewed four series Wednesday for the 2007-08 season; The Apprentice wasn't one of them. And somewhere Rosie O'Donnell is laughing. Just because The Apprentice hasn't been renewed, doesn't mean it won't be. It just means that My Name Is Earl (24th place, 10.9 million), The Office (31st place, 10.1 million), Heroes (69th place, 5.7 million—for a repeat) and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (75th place, 5.2 million—for a Saturday-night repeat), the four shows greenlighted for new seasons, are presently trumping Trump.NBC's Grease: You're the One That I Want (43rd place, 8.3 million), down nearly 30 percent from its premiere, could use an injection of greased lightning about now. NBC's Crossing Jordan (60th place, 6.7 million) could use a do-over for its sixth-season premiere about now. CBS' reality series Armed & Famous (45th place, 8.1 million) didn't tank in its premiere, arguably making
LaToya Jackson and
Erik Estrada sort-of famous again.Overall, Fox dominated the network races—and without the benefit of American Idol, which will be part of next week's Nielsen rankings. (Monday's Golden Globes and the second half of 24's season opener also won't show up until next week's rankings.)
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Instead, Fox used college football's national championship game (first place, 28.8 million) and an NFL playoff contest (second place, 27.4 million) to score big wins in total viewers (15.3 million) and the 18-to-49 demographic.

CBS (12.8 million) finished with a pair of second-place finishes; ABC (8.7 million), with a pair of third-place finishes; and, fresh-out-of-football NBC (8.4 million), with a pair of fourth-place ones.

The CW (2.9 million) distinguished itself with Smallville (79th place, 4.7 million) and Beauty & the Geek (93rd place, 3.9 million).

Here's a look at the 10 most watched prime-time shows for the week ended Sunday, according to Nielsen Media Research:
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1. BCS National Championship (Ohio State v. Florida), Fox, 28.8 million viewers

2. NFL Playoff Game (Philadelphia vs. New Orleans), Fox, 27.4 million viewers

3. NFL Playoff Postgame (New England vs. San Diego), CBS, 24.6 million viewers

4. Grey's Anatomy, ABC, 23 million viewers
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5. House, Fox, 17.8 million viewers

6. 60 Minutes, CBS, 17.5 million viewers

7. Desperate Housewives, ABC, 16.8 million viewers

8. CSI: Miami, CBS, 16 million viewers
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9. 24, Fox, 15.8 million viewers

10. Two and a Half Men, CBS, 14.8 million viewers

'Idol' premiere draws 37.3 million
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NEW YORK -- Rival network executives who hoped that Fox's "American Idol" would show signs of age in its sixth season weren't happy after Tuesday's premiere scored the show's second-highest ratings ever.

"Idol" averaged a monster 37.3 million viewers and a 15.7 rating/36 share in the adults 18-49 demographic, according to preliminary data from Nielsen Media Research. Final data will be released today.

The ratings were up 5% in viewers and 3% in adults 18-49 compared with last year's premiere, which certainly was no slouch (35.5 million, 15.3/34). But even more stunning, it was the second-biggest telecast for "American Idol" since it debuted in summer 2002. The top ratings performer was the May 21, 2003, telecast that featured finalists Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard facing off. That episode averaged 38.1 million viewers and a 16.8/37.

That -- and the fact that the reality juggernaut came back Wednesday for another two-hour episode -- gave Fox more cheer in its attempt to regain lost ground in the battle to win the adults 18-49 demo for the season.
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It was a tough fourth quarter for the network, which only had "House" as a reliable performer and had another disappointing World Series as well as several failures among new shows. Fox has stuck to its plan to premiere "Idol" and "24" in January rather than September and has in the case of "Idol" resisted the temptation to play it twice a year.

"It makes for a very painful fourth quarter for us, but it's worth it when we get here and see these kinds of numbers," said Mike Darnell, executive vp alternative and special programming at Fox Broadcasting Co. Beyond being happy about the strong return of "Idol," Darnell said he wasn't sure precisely why "Idol" is so strong again, other than the fact that it's good television and extraordinarily broad.

"I really was holding my breath because, like the rest of the television industry, you assume that this thing is going to hit a ceiling at some point, as good as it is," Darnell said. "It's not possible for something to go up in its sixth season and still (be) the biggest thing on television."
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On Tuesday night, "Idol" started strong with 31.1 million viewers and never looked back. It jumped to 37.1 million at 8:30 p.m., 39.7 million at 9 p.m. and 41.5 million by 9:30 p.m. It topped out at an 18.0/40 -- 40% of the U.S. homes using television were tuned to "Idol" then -- which was the best ratings for a telecast so far this season and the likely runner-up to only next month's Super Bowl.

It gave Fox another big night in this week of premieres, following Sunday and Monday's four-hour "24" opener and Wednesday's second two-hour premiere for "Idol." On the other hand, Fox is significantly behind in the adults 18-49 race, and it's going to take "24," "House" and "Idol" firing on all cylinders to have Fox notch another season-to-date win.

"We'll be in contention," Darnell said. "Whether we'll win or not, I don't know."
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Beyond "Idol," everything else -- including originals on ABC, CBS and NBC -- was dwarfed by comparison on Tuesday night. CBS did OK with "NCIS" (15.9 million, 3.8/9) from 8-9 p.m.

And though Fox went off the air at 10 p.m., those viewers didn't return to the Big Three in any measure. "Law & Order: SVU" (14.1 million, 4.7/12) won the 10 p.m. hour against a new "Boston Legal" (9.9 million, 2.7/7) and "48 Hours Mystery" (8.1 million, 2.6/7).
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For the night, Fox averaged 37.3 million viewers and a 15.7/36 in the demo, followed by CBS (12 million, 3.2/8), NBC (9.6 million, 2.9/7), ABC (7.2 million, 2.1/5) and the CW (1.5 million, 0.6/1).


Fox's 'American Idol 6' premieres to record debut ratings...again

American Idol's return received a tremendous reception from viewers last night, with 37.3 million sets of eyes watching. If ratings results from the premiere are any indication, the Fox mega-hit ratings juggernaut should continue to steamroll the competition during its sixth season.
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Tuesday night's two-hour sixth season debut of Fox's sixth American Idol edition delivered the show's best premiere ratings ever. Sound familiar? It should, as unlikely as it might seem, the sixth season premiere managed to continue Idol's nearly unprecedented ratings growth over previous seasons. Compared to last year's January 17 fifth season premiere, Idol 6 showed improvements across the board, up 3% among Adults 18-49, 1% among Adults 18-34, 4% with Teens and 5% in total viewers.

In addition to drawing the show's best ever debut numbers among overall viewwers, Idol's premiere produced the series' highest premiere numbers ever in the Adults 18-49 demographic with a 15.7/36 rating/share, as well as in the Adults 18-34 demographic with a 14.8/38 rating/share, according to Nielsen's preliminary Fast National ratings. Overall, the premiere ranked as the series second highest rated telecast ever among Adults 18-49, Adults 18-34 and total viewers, behind only American Idol 2's finale on May 21, 2003 (and Idol 6's debut didn't even have any appearances by Clay Aiken or Reuben Studdard!).

Last night's two-hour Idol premiere hammered the total programming of the four other network broadcasters in the 8PM to 10PM ET/PT time period, outdelivering CBS, ABC, NBC and The CW's combined ratings by 78% among Adults 18-49 (a 15.7/36 rating/share vs. a combined 8.8/21 rating/share), 135% among Adults 18-34 (14.8/38 vs. 6.3/16) and 306% among Teens (14.2/39 vs. 3.5/11), as well as by 23% in combined viewership (37.3 million vs. 30.4 million). The premiere also managed to increase its viewership significantly throughout the two hour broadcast, going from just over 32 million in its first half hour to just under 41.5 million in its last.
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Last night's American Idol was also the highest-rated primetime telecast of the 2006/2007 season on any network among Adults 18-49, Adults 18-34, total viewers and Teens. And it didn't just edge the previously top-rated programs for the title, it blew them away. Idol beat Grey's Anatomy's September 2006 premiere (the season's previously top-ranked telecast among among the Adults 18-49 and Adults 18-34 demographics) by 43% among Adults 18-49 (15.7/36 vs. 11/26) and by 38% among Adults 18-34 (14.8/38 vs. 10.7/28). Idol also crushed Desperate Housewives' September 2006 premiere (the season's previously top-ranked telecast among among Teens) by 125% among Teens (14.2/39 vs. 6.8/18). Among total viewers, Idol's premiere beat last week's Fox broadcast of the BCS Championship Game by 30% (37.3 million vs. 28.8 million).

Given the new season's huge debut, last night's Idol 6 premiere was destined to set some all-time Fox records as well. It was the highest rated season premiere ever in total viewers on the network, and also tied the November 2, 1997 premiere of The X-Files as Fox's highest rated season premiere ever among Adults 18-49. The premiere of Idol 6 also gave Fox its highest rated night ever with entertainment programming among total viewers, as well as its second highest rated night among Adults 18-49 behind only its Joe Millionaire finale on February 17, 2003.

Clearly, ABC knew what it was doing when it decided to move Lost and Dancing with the Stars' upcoming fourth edition out of the way of Idol's sixth season return.
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IDOL PREMIERE STUNS WITH 37.3 MILLION VIEWERS

A staggering 37.3 million Americans tuned in to watch the sixth season premiere of hit talent show AMERICAN IDOL on Tuesday night (17JAN07). The figures, two million more than last year's (06) season debut, gave the show its second highest-rated telecast ever. Only CLAY AIKEN and RUBEN STUDDARD's final sing-off in May, 2003, brought American Idol more viewers - 38.1 million fans tuned in for that.

Access Hollywood | 'American Idol' Premiere: Hits & Misses From Minneapolis | Celebrity and Hollywood News Access Hollywood
'American Idol' Premiere: Hits & Misses From Minneapolis
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Football players will tell you that they don't feel like they've really started a season or a game until they either get that first hard hit under their belts. And you don't really know you've started a new season of "American Idol" until you get that first audio "hit." You know, the song from a contestant whose singing seems more suited to a hog-calling contest than a singing contest.

That moment came almost from the beginning when Jessica Rhodie of Cottage Grove, Minnesota, showed up. Her singing was almost as bad as her dress, which looked like someone super-glued a slip to the end of very short denim skirt.

Then there was Jesse Holloway of Gary, Indiana, who told the judges that he had a "nice range for a male." Once he started singing, he showed his range wasn't all that wide. Distressed, he bolted out of the audition room to grab a swallow of water. It didn't help. He came back and Simon says the water break "made no difference" because both attempts were "excruciating" and he sounded like a two-year-old. As you can imagine, none of that made Jesse happy.

After being shown the door, he said he was "fed up" with Simon, Randy, Paula and guest judge Jewel, saying they "need to be fired."
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American Idol Explodes with 37.3M Viewers!

Variety reports that Fox phenomenon "American Idol" opened to huge numbers Tuesday night, with the two-hour premiere ranking as the second highest-rated episode of the series to date -- and easily topping any primetime program this season.

According to preliminary nationals from Nielsen, the opening night of auditions on "American Idol" averaged a 15.7 rating/36 share in adults 18-49 and 37.3 million viewers overall, up about 5% vs. its premiere of one year ago. The only other "Idol" telecast to rate higher was the May 2003 season finale between Reuben Studdard and Clay Aiken.

This makes it the highest-rated entertainment telecast in adults 18-49 on any network since the series finale of NBC's "Friends" in May 2004. Compared to this season's previous top primetime telecasts, Tuesday's "Idol" premiere comes in 43% higher in adults 18-49 than the season premiere of ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" (11.0/26) and 30% bigger in total viewers than the college football BCS title game on Jan. 8 between Florida and Ohio State (28.8 million).
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From 8 to 10, Fox's 15.7 rating/36 share in adults 18-49 more than doubled the combined ABC-CBS-NBC total (7.7/17). It also tied "The X-Files" in 1997 as Fox's highest-rated season premiere to date in the key demographics.
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