FOXAmerican Idol cooked.
Last night's season finale was up about 1 million viewers from last year's, averaging 31.7 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research estimates.
Likewise, Tuesday's showdown show was a ratings improvement over last year's, with 27.1 million checking out David Cook and David Archuleta, compared to the 25.3 million who monitored the Jordin Sparks-Blake Lewis sing-off.
On last night's finale, Cook, 25, defeated early-season favorite Archuleta, 17, a win that came as a surprise to non-users of DialIdol.com, where Cook had been shown to be the leading vote-getter for weeks, and/or non-followers of the Vegas oddsmakers, who had favored the elder of the two Davids.
Suspenseful or no—and no doubt ardent Archuleta fans had trouble processing his 12 million vote deficit—Idol viewership built throughout the night, peaking in its final, Cook-crowning, George Michael-warbling half-hour with 36.3 million.
In Idol history, the Fox show's seventh-season finale ranks ahead of those crowning Kelly Clarkson (season one, 18.2 million), Fantasia Barrino (season three, 28 million), Carrie Underwood (season four, 30.3 million) and Sparks (season six). It ranks behind the confetti nights of Taylor Hicks (season five, 36.4 million) and Ruben Studdard (season two, 38.1 million).
The bottom line: It's Idol's third biggest finale.
In the just-concluded TV season, Wednesday's finale should finish as the third most watched show not called the Super Bowl. Outdrawing it were the Oscars and Idol's own season premiere.
Topping itself has been Idol's season-long problem. While its numbers are still the biggest in TV—the show finished the year No. 1 and No. 2, again—the numbers just weren't as big as last year. Even Tuesday, the biggest in weeks by far, was below Idol's season average for the night.
TV's other top franchise, ABC's Dancing With the Stars, also had trouble keeping up with itself.
Tuesday's finale averaged 20.1 million who saw skater Kristi Yamaguchi sew up her mirror ball. The number was, yes, big, but not bigger than last spring's finale (23 million) or last March's season premiere (21.1 million).
Great expectations can be killers. As Archuleta could attest.
(Originally published May 22, 2008 at 10:15 a.m. PT.)