Kris Allen
Kris Allen's shock victory over glam rocker Adam Lambert in this years American Idol final has drawn the smallest "Idol" finale audience since 2004,
Preliminary figures from Fox network on Thursday showed an estimated 28.8 million people watched the two-hour finale on Wednesday, down from 32 million last year and dropping for the first time in the 'Finale' history while in the process raising questions about the future of some of its key players.
American Idol still remains America's most watched TV show, but the worry is audiences have slipped to an average 26.3 million per twice weekly episode over the season, compared to a 2006 high of about 30.8 million.
The slide came even as producers added a fourth judge, Kara DioGuardi, to keep the show fresh. DioGuardi, a songwriter who helped pen the justifiably poorly received first single "No Boundaries" for Kris Allen.
With judge Paula Abdul's contract expires with the end of the current season, DioGauardi only on atwelve month contract and British judge Simon Cowell the only judge to tell contestants the brutal truth as well as the show's biggest asset talking about leaving when his contract exspires in May 2010, much remains unresolved.
Cowell travels weekly across the Atlantic to run his U.K. based shows "The X Factor" and "Britain's Got Talent" and has made no secret of the fact he would want to leave if "Idol" lost its six-year reign at the top on U.S. television.
An AOL Television poll this week found that 49 percent of "Idol" fans questioned would no longer watch if Cowell leaves.
Contract talks are expected before nationwide summer auditions begin for the next season of "American Idol," which will be broadcast in early 2010, with Fox executives have saying they hope all the judges will stay but negotiations will be primarily in the hands of joint producers 19 Entertainment and FremantleMedia.
Kara DioGuardi looks most at risk, despite a bikini-strip singing stunt on Wednesday regarded as a finale highlight, especially as Nigel Lythgoe, the former executive producer with "Idol," publicly saying he would never have agreed to four judges.
Lythgoe feels the judging panel has lost its chemistery telling Reuters. he missed the slapping and the punching and the 'what the hell did you mean by that?' adding even when Paula didn't make sense, I've got a talking point.
The fourth voice on the panel has squeezed performance times and caused the live show to run over time on occasions.
The declining ratings for "Idol" reflect a general fall-off in American TV viewing in the past two years, blamed on increased competition from videogames and the Internet.
But the AOL poll found that 70 percent of "Idol" fans are as obsessed with the show as ever. Almost 100 million votes were cast by text and telephone this year - a record - by fans choosing between Allen and Lambert in the finale.
The show's viewer focused format has previously produced stars such as Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood but also produced instantly forgetable so called idols such as Taylor Hicks and Ruben Studdard.
I will be interesting what the line-up will take next season, as the shows producers start to fight back in the ratings war.
Tagged in American Idol