About 31 million people watched Wednesday as Jordin Sparks was crowned the youngest, and least Southern, "American Idol" ever.While that's about 5.4 million viewers shy of last year's finale -- "Idol's" best coronation ratings ever -- it's a better performance than the show enjoyed on the final Wednesday in '05, '04 and '02.
It's also something of a relief for Fox, which the night before suffered an ignominious ratings defeat when ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" season finale gave that network an average audience of 23 million viewers for two hours, while Fox aired just one hour of "Idol," with its average of 25 million, followed by a one-hour preview of the new reality series "On the Lot," which held just 8.5 million of those viewers.
Fox finished the night with fewer than 17 million viewers, ABC with nearly 18 million. It's the first time ever that Fox has not won an "American Idol" Tuesday.
Fox decided to forgo the traditional airing of the "House" season finale in the hour following the last "Idol" performance night. Instead, it unveiled the let's-make-a-movie competition series there, because ooooh, it's from Steven Spielberg! Last year, on the comparable Tuesday, the season finale of "House" logged 25.5 million.
This year, the season finale of "House" is airing next week, when the official TV season, and the May sweeps ratings derby, are over.
As a result of Fox's "House" delay, ABC finished the May sweeps ranked No. 1 across all female demographic groups, including a tie with Fox for No. 1 among chicks aged 18 to 34. This most likely would not have been the case had the "House" finale aired Tuesday night.
Funny how things turn out.
