Source: http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/newsletters ... /index.jsp

1. "XX Winter Olympics" (NBC) 17.9/27
2. "American Idol" (FOX) 14.4/21
3. "Dancing With the Stars" (ABC) 12.3/17
4. "CSI" (R, CBS) 10.0/14
5. "Survivor: Exile Island" (CBS) 8.7/13
6. "Primetime Live" (ABC) 8.6/13
7. "Without A Trace" (R, CBS) 8.0/12
8. "Skating With Celebrities" (R, FOX) 5.0/7
9. "Everybody Hates Chris" (R, UPN) 2.3/3
10. "Movie: Just Married" (WB) 2.2/3
11. "Everybody Hates Chris" (R, UPN) 2.0/3
12. "Eve" (R, UPN) 1.6/2
13. "Love, Inc." (R, UPN) 1.5/2

Total viewers for the 8 P.M. showdown

Winter Olympics - 24.49 million (although probably less since this is an average for the entire night)
American Idol - 23.07 million
Survivor - 14.85 million
Dancing With the Stars - 14.78 million

Approximately 77 million people tuned in for one of the four.

As anger-inducing as it sounds, FOX needs to put SOME form of Idol on Thursdays. I think even a 30-minute recap would get over 12 million viewers. But, they can't just put reruns of That Modern-Lookback-at-the-70s Show or Skating with Has-Beens after Idol. They have to put something compatible and something good (more shows like "House", and less like "Life on a Stick" or "Bones") after Idol. They seem to think anything after Idol will get 20 million, and they won't. The people at FOX greenlight some great shows (and some shit shows), but they have no clue how to work with their schedule at all. They're idiots when it comes to scheduling.

"Let's pair up Skating with Celebrities and 24! Perfect combination!"

the head-to-head fast nationals from zap2it:

"The first live "Idol" results show of the season led the 8 p.m. hour with a 13.2/20 (and dominated the 18-49 demo as well). NBC's Olympic coverage was second at 11.2/17. The penultimate "Dancing with the Stars" posted a 9.7/14 for ABC. CBS dropped to fourth with "Survivor: Panama," 8.5/12. "

The 10 PM coverage of the Olympics are at 30 million viewers and if the average is 24 million, the 8-10 hours must be at around 18-20 million.

I had a terrible nightmare the other day.

During the next winter olympics, fox commercials will say, "Why watch the Winter Olympics when you can watch two of your favorite shows back to back, American Idol VIII, and Speedskating with the Celebrities. Watch some of your favorite [s]washed up[/s] stars pair up with these former speed skating champs!"


The horror.

That is weird.

I had a pretty horrible nightmare the other day myself. I was the messiah, and I was being chased by the devil - who took the form of a Ringwraith from LOTR. Unfortunately my legs weren't working very well, so I was practically dragging myself across the ground. Luckily the Ringwraith/Devil couldn't move very fast either, so I was just able to stay ahead of him, though he was very slowly catching up.

Eventually, I made it to the local pub - with no help from any passer-bys - where two gay midgets were busy lifting their small adopted child into a car. I begged them for help, and they offered to take me to the nearest demon doctor who, they assured me, could help me with my legs and keep the Devil at bay for the time being. Both midgets were then killed.

And that's where I woke up.

In conclusion, I think it's fair to say American Idol sucks.

Hm, the Olympics really took a bite out of everything last night. I'm surprised DWTS got hit so hard, I assume it went up for the second hour?

Oh and it should be noted that the only reason Primetime did well is because they interviewed that Dutch kid who was involved with Natalee Holloway's disappearance.

As for American Idol, I like it better when it airs Tues/Wednes. The only good part about it airing on Thursdays is I tape it and fast forward through all the crap to get to the eliminations.

Drugs are baaaaad, mmmmmmm'kay?

Dancing, and figure skating, have quite a bit of overlapping demos I think. Figure skating is almost a form of dancing, but just on ice. And yes, there is an "ice dancing" but no need to make it all confusing now.