As expected, American Idol was Tuesday’s top-rated show, as fans had their last chance to judge Adam Lambert and Kris Allen before tonight’s season 8 finale. Dancing With the Stars’ crowning of Shawn Johnson fell 3 million viewers shy of the title. All eyes were on Fox’s sneak peek at Glee, at least figuratively. Though the well-reviewed high school-set musical comedy from Nip/Tuck’s Ryan Murphy finished just behind DWTS in the coveted adults 18-49 demo for the 9 p.m. hour, Fox can’t be entirely happy. It held on to less than half of its tailor-made Idol lead-in and, more worrisome, dropped 3.5 million viewers over the course of the 60 minutes. The episode will be available on the network’s website throughout the summer, leading up to the series’ fall bow, which, of course, will be the true test.
| Time | Show | Viewers (in millions) |
|---|---|---|
| 8 p.m. | American Idol (Fox) NCIS (CBS) Dancing With the Stars (ABC) Most Outrageous Moments (NBC) Reaper (The CW) |
23.1 16.1 7.7 (repeat) 3.0 (repeat) 1.8 |
| 9 p.m. | Dancing With the Stars Finale (ABC) The Mentalist (CBS) Glee (Fox) Law & Order: SVU (NBC) 90210 (The CW) |
20.1 16.8 10.7 3.5 (repeat) 2.1 |
| 10 p.m. | Without a Trace (CBS) Law & Order: SVU (NBC) |
11.3 6.7 (repeat) |
More TV News:
Michael Slezak recaps American Idol
Adam B. Vary is on the scene at last night’s American Idol
Annie Barrett recaps Dancing With the Stars
Ken Tucker on ‘Glee‘
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Glee was not only up against the DWTS finale but the season finale of the Mentalist as well. That’s why I didn’t watch/DVR it, I was already overbooked. I am happy to see I can catch it online though before it debuts in the fall.
Ok, but seriously? Yeah, AI was a great lead in…. on any other night. But when you have another comptetitive mega-show doing its freakin’ finale, you can’t expect a brand new show- which will be online all summer and doesn’t actually premier until fall- to do that well!! I dvr’d Glee and watched it as soon as DWTS was over. I loved Gell with all my heart. In fact I downloaded both songs (which will more than likely prove to be a weekly even come fall) and made Rehab my ring tone
AND yippee for Shawn Johnson!!
Between Idol, DWTS, and SVU (not a rerun), I had to hold off on recording My Boys. I only caught part of Glee, it is 100% my cup of tea… I’ll watch it online this summer (repeatedly)
I really don’t think glee will stick. The timeslot is just too competitive.
http://tvdonewright.com/2009-2010-season-preview/
I forgot “Glee” was on last night. Started feeling ill when those poor AI boys had to sing that gawd awful Kara song, and turned the TV off. Between all those commercials and Kara’s ridiculous song writing skills, I chose to read a book.
Ratings drop during Glee = All the 12 year old girls went to bed and their moms went to finish up the laundry. Grandmas dozed off and the kitty cat stepped on the remote. Glee was awesome!!
did not even get a chance to watch Glee, because I was watching, NCIS, Dancing with the Stars, American Idol, and the hockey game all at the sametime…programming sucks…monday, tuesday and wednesday great tv…thursday and friday nothing worth my time…so I cram allmy tv watching into 3 days…and then stay away from it for the rest of the week, unless its hockey playoffs
Geez…I didn’t realize how many people were watching reaper. it’s a shame because it was a great show. I’ll miss Sock and his antics.
Law and Order- SVU was NOT a repeat last night. Just can not compete!!!
Glee was a disappointment! I would had watched it with the family, but the overtly gay agenda killed our interest. It should be called gay club.
Wow! What a dumb thing to say. I thought the show was perfect.
I also think a lot of people that would have been into the show were more focused on voting for Idol than they were on watching TV. I really hope people give this show a chance, because it absolutely deserves it!
nooooooo I love gleeeeeee…. maybe people were to worried voting to care about a new show… and that wasn´t Glee is fault it was the manager programing´s choice….
I was out last night, unfortunately, but I’ll be Hulu-ing Glee as soon as I’m home from work today. It sounds awesome.
@Steve Rogers – Gay agenda? Really? Did you GO to high school?
@Angie – this was the one and only time this season that SVU lost in the demos, and that’s only because it was up against the series finale of Without a Trace. SVU can compete so well, in fact, that it’s been renewed for season 11 and it’s NBC’s highest rated scripted show… meanwhile WAT has been canceled. It’s the other shows that can’t “compete”.
I agree with Steve Rogers. Doesn’t Fox understand why American Idol is popular? It is one of the few family friendly shows on television. The center of music (Nashville) is much less liberal than the coasts (New York and California).
Regarding Steve Rogers and Kim from Texas: isn’t it nice to know that narrow minds still exist in this day and age?
Glee was amazing! A great show, a fantastic family show. All round great. Please, please watch it. I don’t want it to go the way of ‘Pushing Daisies’
Haven’t we learned from the current television cuts that these numbers really mean absolutely nothing anymore?
I liked Glee, but I am not sure it will last:
The hottest celeb scenes at http://www.actressscene.com
Glee club or gay club, I don’t give a rat’s behind. It’s no more impressive or fantastic than an episode of High School Musical or Hannah Montana on the Disney channel. And if it had been on the Disney Channel the same lowlife’s singing praise’s for Glee would have had nothing but nastiness to say about High School Musical. You might think that writing nice little comments about garbage is smart but the truth will prove you lot of snake in the grass demons wrong eventually anyway. And I could care less how many idiots you get to back you. You can’t beat righteous indignation.
I thought Glee was unbelievably good, one of the best pilots I’ve seen in years, and I will continue to rewatch it in my DVR all summer in anticipation for the fall. As for anyone who thinks a show with a whopping one gay character isn’t family-friendly, well, I certainly would never want to meet your bigoted family anyway. Go ahead and keep watching dumb reality shows that take jobs away from writers and actors, because that’s really moral.
I found ‘Glee’ disappointing! I was really looking forward to it but I thought they showed all the best bits in the extended promo. All the characters were worn out stereotypes and the entire season one plotlines feel like they will be pretty predictable. I don’t think I will be watching again.
matt2…go get laid u have too much pent up anger
GLEE WAS AWESOME!!!!! i am so glad its one… do NOT kill it fox.. .dont make a nbc move and destroy a show after two episodes.
I liked Glee. I know several commenters have complained that there were too many gay characters, references, and scenes. I think that there were too many heterosexual references. Straight people…ugh!
I thought it was really good… i usually don’t like high-school musical type things but this was surprisingly pretty good.
Glee was AMAZING. If you didn’t watch it, DO. It is so different from anything on television right now. It was probably one of the best pilots I have ever seen.
Glee is too good for the masses. TV is for people who think CSI and Law and Order are “real” and “edgy”…basically stupid people.
Glee was AMAZING!!!!!
Glee was fabulous. I will be watching. In regard to some of the comments, its scary knowing that ignorance still exists in society.