Fox closes season with 'Idol'-powered victory

By Paul J. Gough

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - The "American Idol" finale drove Fox to a primetime ratings win for the week ended Sunday, the last day of the 2006/07 season, according to Nielsen Media Research.

ABC was first out of the gate last week with Monday's "Dancing With the Stars" (20.2 million viewers, 5.3 rating/15 share in adults 18-49) and the finale of "The Bachelor: An Officer and a Gentleman" (12.7 million, 4.8/12). But NBC's "Heroes" (13.5 million, 6.2/15) coming out ahead of both in the key demo. Fox's "24" concluded its season with a sub-par 10.3 million, 3.8/10.

The penultimate episode of "Idol" (25.3 million, 9.7/27) gave Fox the win in adults 18-49 Tuesday, but a poor showing by the premiere of Fox's Steven Spielberg reality series "On the Lot" (7.6 million, 3.6/9) allowed ABC to win in viewership thanks to the "Dancing" finale (23 million, 6.7/17).

Fox again proved victorious Wednesday with the two-hour-plus finale of "Idol" (30.7 million, 11.5/31), which competed for an hour against ABC's two-hour season finale of "Lost" (13.9 million, 5.9/15).

Thursday saw the premiere of "So You Think You Can Dance" (9.5 million, 3.7/12), which helped Fox win the night in 18-49 despite a second poor showing from "On the Lot" (5.2 million, 2.1/6). But CBS won in viewership with a night of repeats highlighted by "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (13.8 million, 4.1/12), which even beat "Dance" in the demo.

ABC and CBS split Friday, with CBS winning in viewership and ABC in the demo thanks to "National Bingo Night" (5.5 million, 1.8/6) and "20/20" (5.8 million, 1.6/6). CBS won Saturday in viewers with two hours of "48 Hours Mystery" (5.5 million, 1.2/4 and 7.1 million, 2.0/7), while Fox won the demo.

Sunday was a day and night of racing, with ABC's Indianapolis 500 averaging 6.4 million viewers and a 1.9 in 18-49, while Fox's running of NASCAR's 600 in primetime averaged 7.5 million viewers and a 2.7 rating in the demo. It was the seventh consecutive year that the 600 topped the 500.

For the week, Fox averaged 11.6 million viewers and a 4.4/14 in the demo, followed by CBS (9 million, 2.2/7), ABC (8.9 million, 3.0/9), NBC (5.5 million, 1.9/6) and the CW network (2 million, 0.8/2).

Meanwhile, ABC's "World News With Charles Gibson" won the evening newscast race with 7.8 million viewers and a 2.0/9 in the adults 25-54 demo. That compared with NBC (7.2 million, 1.8/8) and CBS (5.96 million, 1.5/7). It was the fifth consecutive week the network had won the race, and it also won the May sweep period.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter