The season 8 finale of American Idol, which saw the crowning of a stunned Kris Allen over judges’ favorite Adam Lambert, was down 12 percent from the May 2008 showdown between David Archuleta and David Cook. Although 32.5 million viewers tuned in for the last half hour of Wednesday’s Idol finale, the average for Fox’s two-hour extravaganza (27.7 million) was down nearly 4 million viewers from season 7’s last show.
| Time | Show | Viewers (in millions) |
|---|---|---|
| 8 p.m. | American Idol (Fox) The New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS) Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBC) MOVIE: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (ABC) MOVIE: Take the Lead (The CW) |
27.7 5.6 5.0 (repeat) 3.4 1.3 |
| 8:30 p.m. | Gary Unmarried (CBS) | 5.5 |
| 9 p.m. | Criminal Minds (CBS) Law & Order: SVU (NBC) |
13.8 4.3 (repeat) |
| 10 p.m. | Law & Order (NBC) | 6.7 |
More ‘American Idol’:
Kris Allen post-finale Q&A
Adam Lambert post-finale Q&A
Michael Slezak’s recap of the finale
Michael Slezak’s live blog of the finale
‘American Idol’: On the scene for the finale!
EW’s ‘American Idol’ HQ: ‘Idolatry’ video series, photo galleries, and more
Comments (1-30) of 87 Add your comment
AT & T CONFIRMED FROM THEIR DATA THAT 38 MILLION VOTES CAME FROM ARKANSAS. THE POPULATION OF ARKANSAS IS ABOUT 2.8 MILLION. WE KNEW THAT THEY WERE USING GIZMO AND DIAL IDOL SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY.
One Arkansas church group of 105 people said they got in over 436,655 votes using the software and their texts. This is not American Idol as voted by millions, this is a few hundred thousand people trained in one state skewing the results (plus the Gokey fans).
IDOL IS NO LONGER A TALENT/SINGING CONTEST, THIS IS A REGIONAL VOTING AND TECHNOLOGY CONTEST. Kris admitted “Adam deserved this. I don’t like how the voting was done”
And yes, Elvis, lost a talent contest at the Mississippi fair before he was a recoding artist.
The true Idol has lost, and that is why Simon did not stand up when everyone else did.
Get over it, “Legend”. There are real injustices going on in this world. Perhaps you can focus on something that matters.
I agree, something has to be done about the voting. Computers can be blocked to voting once, why can’t phones? My two teens tried over and over to vote for Adam but could never get past the busy signal. This whole thing has been a travesty. None of my family wants to watch this show anymore.
These conspiracy theories are hilarious. Keep it up, Glambert fans!
Too bad. This was by far the most entertaining Idol finale ever. Just packed with stars. FOX needs to do a better job advertising the finale, spotlighting all the stars who will perform.
Well said. This show is no longer a singing contest.
Archie broughtthe innocense to the show. He is so unique. In my heart is my champ!!
If this is true, then I am done watching American Idol unless they change the voting rules.
Adam won by a landslide then.
David squared FTW!!!
That’s because last season was better. No one moved me this season as much as David Cook did last year, and I stopped watching midway through the season. Archie, while not my favorite, was also a sweetheart.
That’s because last season was better. No one moved me this season as much as David Cook did last year, and I stopped watching midway through the season. Archie, while not my favorite, was also a sweetheart.
Kris is not America’s Idol, Arkansas can have him they deserve his dismal talent after what they did to steal the title from Adam. I will never watch the show again because they could have rejected the improper votes.
Conspiracy theories aside, ttjean is right. This isn’t a signing contest anymore as is made apparent by the number of people voting after the show WITH THEIR WALLETs for all the runners up that are outselling the so-called Idols. In the next year we’ll see who American really voted for when they debut albums hit stores. Considering the past, I’m betting on the runner up.
How many contestants did Kris screw to win,at least Danny, Allison and Adam? He sure has some balls to do this to his friends. He must have known what they were doing to tweak the vote.I don’t ever want to see his face again!
David squared forever!!!!!
Please do not call this vote theft a “theory”. The facts are out there Kris is a disgrace.He needs to set this straight. What would Jesus want him to do? Give your title to the man it belongs to Kris!
Are you surprise??? The Davids FTW
I love Archuleta and for me, this year was not as engaging. I didn’t like this year’s Top 36 system with the drastic cuts. I also don’t feel like I know the Top 10 contestants as well.
Re Arkansas – AT&T now says that count can’t be correct and will issue a clarification. But so what if it is. People are allowed to vote as many times as they want. Last year Idol said on average there were 38 votes cast per phone line. That includes all of the people who think you can only vote once and the people who voted for the whole allowed 4 hours and cast humdreds of votes. If Idol wanted it different, they would need to change the voting system.
Ummm, this is the way people have been voting on Idol forever. I voted hundreds of times a night for David Cook last year. The Glambots are just too hysterical for me–conspiracy voting theories… please!!! Just realize that not everyone liked Adam, nothing against him personally, seems like a nice guy but not for me.
I didn’t really get into this year on Idol… David Cook is one of the greatest talents to come out of that show.
Nothing compares to last season, no goosebumps at all.
Nobody compares to the talent of last year. Archuleta FTW! He is amazing!
I heard over 40 million watched the last 7 minutes (overrun).
I know I was watching Criminal minds (OMG HODGES!!!), but I switched the channel for the results.
http://tvdonewright.com/2009-2010-season-preview/
Honestly, that’s not surprising that the ratings are down. Last year, the Davids were consistently good. And when it came down to the end, it really could have been anyone’s game. I think this year, people really thought Adam would win (with all the hype and buzz), so why turn it? So glad Kris proved everyone wrong!
I don’t this the 4th judge was a bad thing, but the votes from the judges together passed over or dropped a few singers that should have made it to the finals. It appears that the judges were perhaps in colusion on certain contestants. I certainly think that the judges where overly critical on contestants that they did not like personally. Simon was definitely guilty of this with the pretty blond with the tatoed arm. I think with proper work she could become a major singing star. She has the raw talent, but needs to be “handled” and “coached”. I know I could have worked with her on stage present, clothes, picking of songs, hair and how to bring an audience to their feet with every performance. I had to hear the judges keep saying you picked the wrong song….I don’t think a contestant should ever pick their own songs. I think they should be assigned songs that fits their talent and abilities. This is a singing contest and American Idol, this year at least, just let them flounder around
Apparently, I can’t type, lol. I meant to say “why tune in?”
After this bullsh*t, I will NEVER watch AmIdol again. To invest as much time as I did into watching the program and have it turn out this way, it’s just not something I am interested in participating.
Long live RuPaul’s drag race!!!
I live on the west coast. I went to the blogs to find out who won. Once I found out is was Kris I decided not to even watch it!
i dont know why people liked adam – he is a horrible singer
Do any of you honestly believe that California voted for Adam any differently than Arkansas voted for Kris? Each state votes overwhelmingly for its own. That’s just common sense, so why is everyone so outraged? Kris won fair and square, and that’s that. Don’t try to pretend that you won’t watch next season – that’s just your sense of outrage talking, and you all know it.
well, i know i didn’t watch. i saw the results on the internet and had no need to watch all the hoopla. the two davids last year were much better singers and funner to watch.
Well, last year was wayyyyy better than this year, but even when my dear David Archuleta lost the title he is still our idol and look at him now. He is better than… well, you know… The same thing will happen with Adam. He will have a huge carreer ahead of him while Kris will have a very busy year, that is all…