American Idol might still be the No.1 show on TV, but the ratings continue to slip.
Wednesday’s Portland auditions episode had 18.19 million viewers and a 5.9 rating among adults 18-49. That’s down from last week and of course last year. Thursday’s show from St. Louis had 17.4 million total viewers, according to the Nielsen ratings system. That’s just about even with last week, but far less than last season.
For the third week in a row, American Idol was beaten Thursday in the important 18-49 age group by CBS’ “The Big Bang Theory.”
So what’s behind this season’s ratings? Music Editor for The Hollywood Reporter has an idea.
“Last year, they came out with such a bang,” said Shirley Halperin who also writes the Magazine’s “Idol Worship” blog. “It was such a novelty to see Lopez and Tyler. They really upped their game in terms of celebrity quotient. This year feels kind of like the sophomore album. Everything seems a little ho-hum.”
Judge Randy Jackson want’s to point out an important factor.
“Idol’s in its 11th season, it’s still the number one show on television, not by the huge margins it was before,” Jackson told THR.
maybe because the show has been BORING!!!!!!!!! and 18-34 year olds have very poor attention spans
Yep, yep , uh huh, uh huh, boring, boring boring boring boring!!
so I stopped tuning in and you know I am one of AI’s loyal fan.
However I am planning to tune in again once the final 12 starts.
Hopefully the show will be a little more interesting, dynamic and fun
to watch. Right now if they do not do something better than what we
have seen the show will continue to slide in ratings, since there are a lot
more shows coming out that are far more entertaining than AI right
now. I watched “The Voice last night and wow, what a difference.
I’ll stop there, Pr63, you be the judge, watch tonite’s 2nd blind audition
and compare, I think you will see a night and day difference.
How are you, NY Giants rules 🙂
my husband is the giants fan but we’re both ranger fans and they kicked flyer butt yesterday afternoon!! didn’t see the voice but maybe i will tonight and, as they say in school, compare and contrast. but doesnt’ the voice have adam levine who has no idea of who adam lambert is?? (notice how cleverly i’ve worked in the true adam’s name!)
My thoughts too, Ed. AI is boring and The Voice wowed. (I may DVR Idol if I think of it and jump the commercials, but not much to like yet.)
I agree aswell…here in New Zealand its a small country and our TV channels dont expand as much as USA so AI is so popular with all the other music competitions out their…but its gets a bit repetitious and alot would tune in more towards the top 12 there on, its more drama we want to see more than talent because we all know they have talent!!! (Melanie Amaro’s shock elimination and return in X Factor USA to become winner!) which looked suspiciously scripted!!…also the judges “dark horse’s” they choose against all odds (and sometimes against viewers popularity!!) that also brings excitement and viewers to see there progress…but when they sing we are going to expect it to be close, if not, exactly on par with the original….and that to me is BORING!!! no matter how popular the song is…its the elimination thats the only exciting part of the week, and honestly when your favourite is eliminated, its back to “The Big Bang Theory”, re-runs of “Friends” or for me MW3 playstation 3!!!!!
I definitely have to agree with Ed & Pr63…..the audition shows were boring as hell………It should get better with Hollywood & Las Vegas weeks. We can only hope…….
I agree that the auditions have not been that exciting, but I do think it will get much better during Hollywood Week.
As much as I love the idea of the Voice, and the judges on the Voice…the show still doesn’t do it for me as much as Idol does. I have to disagree with others on the talent…Idol has much better talent than The Voice does thus far. The only two from last night’s show that really stood out for me were Christina’s past co-star from TMMC, and the guy who was classically trained. We shall see. I do think The Voice will be much better this season than it was last year though.
I watched the Voice and didn’t find myself bored constantly. I quite enjoyed it. The blind auditions is quite a nice clever hook unlike the Idol auditions which have become quite boring over the years. On Idol you’ve got the really good ones, the just ok ones, and the horrible ones. You knew who the judges were going to say yes or no to. The blind auditions on the voice leave for some kind of suspense as you don’t know which judge is going to turn their chair.
Well for Idol Hollywood week starts this week so and it looks pretty interesting so hopefully since Idol is finally going to show something other than an audition episode, and something that will produce a little drama so I’m looking forward to that.
Hi Shawn, what I like about The Voice too is the lack of, or absence of
begging, pleading or arguing with the judges that they are better than what the judges/mentors think about them that occurs often with Idol.
What got my attention last night is there was one in particular who was
not chosen and was a bit pitchy but instead of being insulted by the panel , was actually encouraged, given the reason why he was not chosen and was told to try again. Self esteem intact he went about with his head high rather than feeling beaten up and made fun off by the
panel. While on Idol this habit of encouraging singers to make a fool of themselves on a regular basis is starting to annoy me. Just a thought.
Don’t get me wrong folks, I still like Idol but a bit tired of the same old
same old routine that they follow year after year, and franklly boredom
finally sets in with me. I should stay away from thinking, LOL.
I totally agree with you about the judges. I was really impressed with the judges last night when none of them turned their chairs yet they encouraged him not laughed at him like the Idol judges do.
Sorry I am long winded today, LOL, 2 more items I like to add & then
I will rest my case, The way auditions are set up. The Voice – it is live
and with back up musicians – Idol we have to wait until the final 24.
Also one thing I definitely like in The Voice is they allow the singers to finish the song whether it is good or bad instead of cutting them off too soon.
What I am trying to say is , it is hard to determine how good a singer is, if it is based only on a couple of bars and a few notes sang during the audition. It can go either way, a really good singer( nervous ) can falter on the first few notes but settles down and do well, or a so so singer that
managed to belt out a few good notes but was halted by the judges and given the golden paper and sent to Hollywood, then bust after.
I know the potential number of would be contestants are huge, this is why the judges do this but what if you are hiring a vocalist for your
band, would you hire that person on a couple of bars and a few good notes? As a matter of fact we are already wondering what happened to
a few good singers that did not made it to the final 24.
I’d also like to point out that the way the Voice is set up we don’t get the ones who are just looking for their 15 minutes of fame or the delusional people who think they can sing. The producers of the Voice filter out the bad ones and the only ones who do the blind auditions before the judges are the ones who actually can sing and have talent, even the ones who don’t get a judge to turn their chair. Unlike Idol and X-Factor that will put through the bad ones before the judges for comedy or whatever. I’m sorry but I was about to change the channel when during an audition episode of the X Factor when a guy flashed the audience. Or the one dude that Randy Jackson told to find people who liked hearing him sing. Why waste time on that crap?
But anyway I’m looking forward to Idol this week as Hollywood week looks to be interesting.
The problem I have with this show is these beginning stages where they show a lot of pointless things, or things I’d rather not see. The filler basically. Stuff like what goes on outside of the auditions, the bad auditions, etc. Now that we’re getting to Hollywood Week it might get a little better but I won’t hold my breath. There’s always something they can throw in to annoy me. I wish I could just not watch it until the live shows but I’m really just too curious about the whole process and I want to be able to hear songs I enjoy(that I would miss out on if I didn’t watch) as well as see some good performances. After all, some time between now and the live shows could be the time to pick my favorite(s).
Can’t believe they had a typo on the opening title Wednesday 2/1. It said “Audtion Day” instead of Audition. How did they let that happen?
its boring,I also agree with of the contestants that it is a singing competion and not a group one, they should eliminate that part and have individual singing instead which what the idol is about in the first place
The show is sad now, instead of highliting the talent, they have resorted to cheap drama like contestants getting sick and fainting off of the stage, and did it like a cheap tabloid show by spanning it over two nights. The format is soooo predictable now, it is totally boring!
The reduction of the contestants from 42 to 24 should take no longer than 3o minutes. Sit them all together and call out their names and this will eliminate the anxiety that the judges put the contestants through. This show has gotten boring and the judges are overrated and overpaid!!!
I agree, the judges on the Voice don’t laugh or sing along (so that you can hear them) with the contestant as the judges do on AI.