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 (1-15) 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!!!!!