AMERICAN IDOL - THERE'S IDOL -- AND EVERYTHING ELSE

THERE'S IDOL -- AND EVERYTHING ELSE

Thanks largely to three episodes of American Idol, Fox scored its eighth straight weekly victory last week. With each of the Idol shows drawing nearly 30 million viewers, the shows that followed them were also able to claim solid numbers even with fewer than half the audience of the Idol lead-ins. ABC was also a big winner last week with 15.7 million viewers tuning in to Oprah's Big Give on Sunday night and 12.7 million watching the TV movie A Raisin in the Sun the previous Mond ay. CBS held up adequately with a steady diet of reruns in the wake of the writers' strike, drawing its biggest numbers (12.5 million) for 60 Minutes and Survivor, two of the few original shows it currently airs. With the exception of ABC's TV movie and its hit drama Lost, all of the other top-ten programs were shows produced without WGA or SAG employees.

The top ten shows of the week according to Nielsen Research:
1. American Idol (Tuesday), Fox, 16.0/24; 2. American Idol (Wednesday), Fox, 15.7/24; 3. American Idol (Thursday), Fox, 14.9/23; 4. Oprah's Big Give, ABC, 9.5/15; 5. < I>Deal or No Deal (Monday), NBC, 9.2/14; 6. ABC Premiere Event: A Raisin in the Sun, ABC, 8.6/13; 7. Don't Forget the Lyrics, Fox, 8.4/13; 7. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, ABC, 8.4/13; 9. 60 Minutes, CBS, 8.1/13; 10. Law and Order, NBC, 7.7/13; 10. Lost, ABC, 7.7/12.

05/03/2008