'Idol' worship for Fox
Wow of a bow for music talent show's second season
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The whammo debut, along with the unexpected success of unscripted stunner "Joe Millionaire" and continued growth for soph drama "24," seems to put Fox back on track to challenge for second among adults 18-49 for the season after a difficult fall.
It also marks the first time in the current era of unscripted skeins that one network has had two monster reality hits on the air at the same time. "It's a game-changer," one rival webhead observed.
Even on the heels of other recent successes with nonscripted series -- including the boffo "Millionaire" and ABC's "Bachelorette" -- these results were glass-shattering, leaving both Fox execs and industry insiders stunned:
- The 90-minute premiere of "Idol" became Fox's highest-rated series telecast in adults 18-49 (12.4/30), adults 18-34 (14.0/36) and total viewers (26.50 million) since "The X-Files" in November 1997. Show also did a titanic teen score (15.2/40).
- This is the third highest-rated season or series premiere of the season among adults 18-49 (behind NBC's "Friends" and "ER") and the fourth highest among total viewers (behind "Friends," CBS drama "CSI" and "ER").
- The premiere outperformed last summer's huge "American Idol" finale by 16% in both adults 18-49 and total viewers. It also bested the 18-49 average for each of the past three finales of CBS' "Survivor" and topped every episode of ABC's "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette."
- From 8-10 p.m. (including a 30-minute spec at 9:30 highlighting the show's initial season), Fox topped its combined major-network competish by 7 shares in adults 18-49 and by 19 shares in adults 18-34.
- Including sports programming, Tuesday was Fox's fourth highest-rated night ever in adults 18-49, adults 18-34 and teens (behind only Super Bowls in 1997, 1999 and 2002) and the fifth highest in total viewers (behind the three Super Bowls and Game 7 of the 2001 World Series.)
Fox Entertainment prexy Gail Berman called the launch of "Idol" an "extraordinary achievement for the show and the network."
"We've never seen numbers like this," Berman added. "Everybody's thrilled and the hallways are jubilant."
Fox pep rally
Berman and Fox alternative titan Mike Darnell had a small champagne toast to celebrate the numbers, while Fox Television Entertainment Group chairman Sandy Grushow gathered the troops on the fourth floor of the net's Pico Boulevard HQ for an impromptu pep rally.
Darnell, who brought "Idol" to Fox from the U.K. via FremantleMedia and came up with the idea for "Joe," said he was "flabbergasted" by the boffo bow.
"The promotion and publicity teams here did a great job getting the word out about the show," he said. "We thought it would do well, but we had no expectations it would do this well. It's just incredible."
Grushow said the halo effect of "Idol" extends beyond the Fox Broadcasting Co.
"After all the hand-wringing in the press about reality TV, the simple fact is that when an aspirational show like 'American Idol' can galvanize an audience of this size, it's good for broadcast television."
Indeed, Darnell said the debate about the public's appetite for unscripted skeins is essentially over.
"I think the genre has broadened out to a point where it's no longer one or the other," he said. "It's like saying that 'The Simpsons' does well, so there's only so much of an audience for animation. It's all just good television."
If the second "Idol" mirrors the pattern of the first, Nielsen numbers might cool a bit in the coming weeks before heating up again as the show builds to a May climax. Even at reduced rating, however, the twice-weekly presence of "Idol" promises to provide a major lift to the net's overall average as well as serve as an invaluable launching pad for new scripted skeins such as "Oliver Beene" and "Wanda at Large."
Indeed, Berman Wednesday stressed the importance of Fox maintaining a sked balanced between scripted and alternative programming (although during the February sweeps, 6½ of the net's 15-hour primetime sked will consist of unscripted skeins.)
Other nets idled
As expected, the other nets took a hit on Tuesday, with shows like ABC's "8 Simple Rules" (4.0/10) and the WB's "Gilmore Girls" (2.1/5) hitting firstrun season lows in adults 18-49 and a repeat of NBC's "Frasier" (2.3/5) hitting an all-time in-season low. ABC's laffers placed second each half-hour in the demo from 8 to 10, while CBS' older-skewing dramas were runners-up in adults 25-54 and total viewers and seemed least affected by "Idol"-mania.
NBC's second preview episode of "Meet My Folks" did well at 10, winning in adults 18-49 (5.6/14) and matching the net's best score in the hour since October 2001. Show now moves to its regular Saturday-at-10 slot.
"Idol," whose premiere Tuesday and 90-minute seg on Wednesday focused on auditions for the show, settles into its regular sked in two weeks (one hour on Tuesday and half-hour on Wednesday).
