Overnights
Fox's 'American Idol' hits season low
By Toni Fitzgerald
May 7, 2008 - 11:47:49 AM

“American Idol” slipped to another season low last night, but the Fox reality smash still remained well ahead of the competition.

“Idol” averaged an 8.2 adults 18-49 rating and hefty 23 share at 8 p.m., according to Nielsen overnights, down 6 percent from last week’s 8.7/24.

But “Idol” still thumped the combined Big Five competition in the hour, finishing 14 percent ahead of ABC, CBS, NBC and the CW’s combined 7.2 rating.

The slip came after judge Paula Abdul made a much-buzzed-about gaffe on last week’s performance show, which had messageboards humming for days. She critiqued what she thought was a two-song performance by Jason Castro, though he’d only sung one song.

Last night’s show averaged 21.2 million total viewers, down 3.2 million from last week. But as is becoming the common refrain this May sweeps, it was hardly the only show to dip.

CBS’s “NCIS” at 8 p.m. and NBC’s “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” at 10 were both off at least 18 percent from their previous season average, though "SVU" had an unusually low lead-in. The CW’s “Beauty and the Geek” at 8 p.m. slipped 20 percent week to week among the network’s target adults 18-34, from a 1.0 to a 0.8.

Still, some other shows had strong nights. The 100th episode of ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” at 9 p.m. was up 13 percent over its previous Tuesday average in 18-49s. And “Hell’s Kitchen” in the same timeslot had its best retention out of “Idol” in the demo this season, at 63 percent, though obviously that was partly because of “Idol’s” slide.

Fox was first for the night among viewers 18-49 with a 6.7 average overnight rating and an 18 share. ABC was second at 3.0/8, CBS third at 2.3/6, NBC fourth at 2.1/6, Univision fifth at 1.7/5 and CW sixth at 0.9/2.
 
At 8 p.m. Fox led with an 8.2 for “Idol,” with CBS second with a 2.8 for “NCIS.” ABC was third with a 2.4 for a “Stars” all-time favorites special, Univision fourth with a 1.8 for “Al Diablo con los Guapos,” NBC fifth with a 1.3 for “Most Outrageous Moments” and CW sixth with a 0.7 for “Geek.”
 
Fox led again at 9 p.m. with a 5.2 for “Kitchen,” followed by ABC with a 4.4 for the “Stars” results show. CBS was third with a 2.2 for “Shark,” Univision fourth with a 2.0 for “Fuego en la Sangre,” NBC fifth with a 1.4 for a repeat of “SVU” and CW sixth with a 1.0 for “Reaper.”
 
At 10 p.m. NBC took the lead with a 3.5 for “SVU,” while ABC remained second with a 2.2 for “Women’s Murder Club.” CBS was third with a 1.9 for a repeat of “CSI: Miami” and Univision fourth with a 1.4 for “Aqui y Ahora.”
 
Fox also finished first for the night among households with a 9.6 average overnight rating and a 15 share. ABC was second at 8.4/13, CBS third at 6.9/11, NBC fourth at 4.2/7, Univision fifth at 2.1/3 and CW sixth at 1.4/2.