One day after the ABC special “Fallen Idol” was supposed to scandalize the nation, the nation issued a collective yawn and moved on.
   The big scandal that was supposed to have caused so much trouble for Fox and for its No. 1 show, the alleged affair between “American Idol” judge Paul Abdul and 2003 finalist Corey Clark, has become very much a non-story.
   Never mind all the convincing evidence ABC marched out to make its case. Only 13.8 million people bothered to watch the special, barely half “Idol’s” audience that night. “Idol” itself got almost no boost from the controversy.
   Perhaps more significant, the online message boards, which light up at the slightest hint of controversy, all but ignored the ABC report. The continuing buzz over who should win buzzed on, unabated. What talk there was of the scandal was calmly pro-Paula.
   Even Fox, which never fell into a scandal it couldn’t turn to its own advantage, seemed ready to dismiss the controversy with a smartly worded statement yesterday that promised an investigation but in language that essentially ensured that no investigation would ever take place.
   “We have concerns about the motives behind last night's purported news special, as much of it was filled with rumor, speculation and assertions from a disqualified contestant who admitted during the special to telling lies,” said the statement from Fox and the “Idol” producers, Fremantlemedia and 19 Entertainment.
   “Regardless, we are absolutely committed to the fairness of this competition. We take any accusations of this nature very seriously, no matter their source, and we have already begun looking into them.” 
   But it went on to say that without Clark’s help, there wasn’t much to investigate, and anyway, the judges don’t vote on the finalists. So who really cares.
   That’s perhaps the most relevant point out of all of this. Even if Paula slept with 30 contestants, does it really matter?
   No one with any sense thinks “Idol” is a legitimate talent show. It’s a popularity contest, a cheesy bit of entertainment that’s a huge hit not because these kids can actually sing but because it’s fun to tear them down and build them back up.
   Abdul, while certainly a big part of the show, isn’t responsible for its success. 
   If ABC had really wanted to expose “Idol,” it would have better spent its energies looking into the allegations of voting irregularities that arose at the end of last season. As the message boards make clear, what viewers care about is the contest, who's going to win, and against that some sideline sexual hanky-panky is hardly worth a nod.
   There's certainly no reason to believe that Fox would boot Abdul even if it did confirm her affair with Clark and her alleged efforts to better his chances. 
   “Should she go? Oh, who the hell cares, really? If I genuinely thought that this was a genuine competition (which it never has been), I'd be mad. But, it's not. It's a freakin' TV show,” said a fan on Television Without Pity’s “Idol” message board.
   “In the scheme of things, this scandal is pretty minor and meaningless by Hollywood entertainment standards, anyway,” said another. “She can write her own book about her experience and then quietly fade back into oblivion and nobody much will care. It's not exactly ‘Quiz Show.’”
   Indeed—a recent America Online poll found that only 54 percent of respondents believe the “Idol” voting is fair. And 47 percent they didn’t believe Clark’s allegations.
   Truth is, the audience likes Abdul and wants to believe the best about her. And most of all, they want to keep their focus on the interesting and compelling contestants. 
   Judging from Clark’s performance on ABC’s “Primetime” and “Good Morning America” and CNBC’s “Donny Deutsch” yesterday, he's the loser in an odd way in all this, a doofus who lost as a contestant and didn't have the good sense to move on in his life. And even he says Abdul should stay. 
   “She didn't do nothing but have sex with someone. Everybody has sex. They should keep her,” Clark told “Extra.”
   Watching him prattle on about Abdul’s irresistible bod and how he really needed to get “this 900-pound gorilla” off his chest, the biggest question became: Is Paula such a fool that she’d risk a great gig to help this guy?
   In the end it will not matter. Unless another former contestant pops up with the same claims, and many were already rushing to Abdul’s defense, Abdul’s not going anywhere.
   “Idol” got some relatively harmless publicity, and ABC got a small sweeps bump. But two weeks from now no one will even remember Corey’s last name. 
   In the end, as ABC's news producers surely must have realized, their story lacked tragic figures in the dramatic sense. The characters, including Abdul, are bit players, and they were only diminished as the story unfolded.