‘Idol’ outdoes itself for the big finale
After the endless predictions of a cakewalk for Taylor Hicks, it would’ve been nice to report a shocking upset on Wednesday’s finale for Fox’s “American Idol,” which logged a record 36.3 million viewers. That wasn’t in the cards, of course, but at least viewers got to see all their old favorites strut the stage once more, including Kevin “Chicken Little” Covais, the apple-cheeked kid who seemed blissfully unaware of the double entendres lurking within the Burt Bacharach tune “What’s New Pussycat?”
Before crowning Hicks the winner over runner-up Katharine McPhee -- with just a few minutes left in the broadcast -- the producers for the most part cleverly avoided the sentimentality of some past seasons (hello, Fantasia Barrino) and handed out awards in various tongue-in-cheek categories; McPhee’s father, for instance, received a richly deserved nomination for turning on the waterworks whenever his daughter opened her mouth to sing. They even made time for Michael Sandecki, an all-but-forgotten audition reject, who looked ready to pass out when his hero, Clay Aiken (who seems to have swiped Jennifer Love Hewitt’s hair), joined him onstage to sing “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me.” Who or what could top that? Why, Prince, of course, who made it all look easy with a big final number.
It was quite a show, and the people came out for it. The boffo numbers for the two-hour Season 5 finale -- with a 14.1 rating among adults ages 18-49 -- made it the biggest finale for the series, according to early figures from Nielsen Media Research. It easily surpassed the tally for the Aiken-Ruben Studdard finale in 2003 (34.2 million), which set the previous record for “Idol” season wrap-ups. “Idol” even gave Fox the most-watched night in its 20-year history, not including sporting events.
Given all the hoopla for “Idol,” the two-hour Season 2 finale of ABC’s drama “Lost” fared surprisingly well. The first hour squared off against the second hour of “Idol,” but “Lost” still managed to average 17.6 million total viewers (7.5 rating/17 share in 18-49) from 9-11 p.m. This was “Lost’s” best performance among young-adult viewers since February, and helped recover some of the ground the drama has lost to “Idol” in head-to-head competition this spring.
Not surprisingly, Fox will end up winning both the 2005-06 season and the May sweep among young adults. For the May sweep, Fox held a commanding lead (4.8 rating), trailed by CBS (3.6), ABC (3.5) and NBC (3.1).
