Even though “The Big Bang Theory” beat “American Idol” in 8-8:30PM timeslot last week, the average for the entire “Idol” episode–an hourlong affair–still topped the rating for CBS’ flagship comedy.
FOX, therefore, could realistically claim “Idol” maintained its Thursday dominance.
That may not be true this week. According to the fast nationals, “Big Bang” tied the “Idol” hourlong average with a 5.4 adults 18-49 rating. On a half-hour basis, the CBS show cleanly defeated “Idol,” which only mustered a 4.8 for its first portion.
“Big Bang,” in fact, even won the head-to-head viewership game, scoring 16.0 million against the 15.5 million for “Idol.” For the hour, “Idol” managed a 17.0 million average.
While a loss to “Big Bang Theory” is rough at this point in the season, there was still some good news for “Idol” and FOX. Despite dropping massively on a week-to-week basis for this Wednesday’s airing, Thursday’s “Idol” actually held relatively steady in comparison to last week’s show. The series has definitely lost a lot of spark, but at least there are signs the nosedive is slowing.
Against repeats of “Person of Interest” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” and an episode of low-rated “30 Rock” instead of usual competitor “The Office,” new series “The Finder” better retained its “Idol” lead-out, delievering a series-best 2.9 rating and 8.5 million.