“American Idol” is suffering in the ratings already. Last night the show drew a total of 9.24 million viewers and was swamped by “The Big Bang Theory” which had a total audience of 17 million. That’s right — at a time when no one watches broadcast TV, “Big Bang” had 17 million people tuned in. Wow.
But “Idol” had had 11.28 million people on Wednesday night. Not only that, they lost 700,000 pairs of eyes in the key demo– a 2.9 on Wednesday, a 2.2 last night.
I watched “Idol” last night (missing Randy Jackson) and I have to say, it was pretty good. The contestants headed to Hollywood Week look more promising than in a long time. They are also very young– 13, 14, 15 years old. One young lady named Tyana has the makings of a star. I noticed Keith Urban’s and Harry Connick Jr’s mutual reluctance to make these kids into “Idols”– meaning they will lose their individuality once they’re forced into the “Idol” mold.
Ratings wise, “Idol” is now no worse than any other Fox show. And it does better than all of them except “Empire.”
One funny thing: a young kid, proficient musician, I think he was 14, was asked to play a song on the guitar. The song he chose? Paula Abdul’s “Straight Up.” The kid was almost too clever for his own good. None of the judges commented on his selection.
