American Idol Fans Hate to Miss an Execution

Viewership climbs by 4 million for final, Michael Sarver-eliminating minutes; Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice enjoy strong Thursday ratings

You think American Idol fans don't know the drill?

Last night's results show grew by about 4 million viewers from its first half-hour to its exciting Michael Sarver-eliminating conclusion. Overall, Idol averaged 22.4 million, up about 1 million from last week.

Elsewhere:

• CSI, Survivor and Eleventh Hour were off again, due to college basketball; most everything else was on. And up from last week.

• Grey's Anatomy (15.8 million) and Private Practice (10.5 million) had big nights.

• Hell's Kitchen (10.9 million) hit an Idol-assisted season high. 

• If ER (10.2 million) were always this healthy, it might not be about to fade to black.

• The Office (8.4 million), 30 Rock (7.2 million), Smallville (3.7 million) and Supernatural (3.2 million) had OK nights.

• Should Ugly Betty fans be worried? At 8 p.m., the first half of ABC's new comedy block, In the Motherhood (6.7 million), beat My Name Is Earl (5.9 million) in total viewers and adults 18-49. At 8:30 p.m., Samantha Who? (6.5 million) held onto its lead-in. Overall, the two shows combined to basically match what Betty's been doing, demowise. Viewerwise, they came up a bit short.