Monday, May 25, 2026

“American Idol” Second Day Ratings Collapse From Premiere

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I am rooting for “American Idol,” as I told you yesterday. But the ratings for Thursday are bad news. The second day of “Idol” was a disaster. The demo rating fell from 4.7 to 3.9. The total viewers went from 15.19 million t0 13.35. Basically around 2 million sampled the show on Wednesday and did not return. Ruh-roh.

“Idol” still won the night. Keith, JLO and Harry narrowly beat a re-run of “The Big Bang Theory.” The whole CBS night consisted of reruns. But soon first run episodes of their competition will return. And then I’m really worried. Why did those 2 million people leave?

I really hoped we weren’t headed into a long trend downwards. Maybe the producers have some ideas. They should be implemented quickly..

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009 and previously edited Fame magazine and wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. is articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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