“Idol” Finale, “Glee” Disappoint

“American Idol” finalists Adam Lambert and Kris Allen have been called the most exciting and likable “Idol” finalists in years, respectively. Their final performances, however, did not draw well for FOX.

Ratings data for the evening reveals that part one of the eighth “Idol” finale drew the lowest adults 18-49 demographic rating and the second-lowest viewership figure for such an episode in the show’s history. The show posted a 13.2/22 rating with 23.7 million viewers and an 8.5 in adults 18-49. Though obviously good enough to give FOX the 8PM hour, the numbers represented virtually no spike over many of this season’s performance shows.

The news was even less positive for the heavily-hyped new series “Glee,” which showed no special ability to hold onto the “Idol” lead-in. Despite solid reviews, the musical theme and months of commercials, the show only drew a 6.2/10 rating with 9.9 million viewers and a 4.0 in the young adults demographic.

Worse was the fact that the show lost viewers from half hour one to half hour two, indicating the show’s failure to hold initially interested viewers for the duration of the program. The “Dancing with the Stars” finale did provide ample competition, but “Glee”‘s failure to retain better than virtually any comedy, drama or reality series put in the “Idol” lead-in definitely is cause for concern.

FOX, nonetheless, remained optimistic, treating the rating as a significant positive.

“The measurement for success last night was never about the demo rating,” said spokesperson Joe Earley. “We’re definitely happy with the way ‘Glee’ performed, we knew how tough the competition was going to be, last night was a marketing experiment and we got almost 10 million people to see it, which is fantastic. We could work all summer long marketing the show and not get those many people, and certainly not in the fall.”