"Repulsive" Osbournes: Reloaded Repels Idol Fans?

Wed., Apr. 1, 2009 12:00 PM PDT by Joal Ryan

If you consider the kiss-a-granny bit that led off the show, and the cussin' kids who followed, maybe Osbournes: Reloaded did all right, after all.

The reality family's variety premiere theoretically entertained 9.3 million viewers, preliminary Nielsen estimates showed. Gifted with an American Idol lead-in, but left in a tough time slot, nonetheless, Reloaded won some, and lost some—mostly Idol viewers. Oh, and the headline writer who called the banned-in-Panama City show "repulsive, repellent [and] ridiculous." (But other than that…)

Among the big four networks, Ozzie, Sharon, Jack and Kelly's latest venture overall finished fourth, or last, in the crowded 9:30 p.m. half-hour. But perhaps more key to a demo-coveting network, the show ran second among adults 18-49 who get a kick out of watching little kids pretending to be big salty sailors.

As much as Osbournes: Reloaded fell off from Idol—and it lost a whopping 60 percent of the Idol audience—it didn't fall off much more than most post-Idol fare. On the same night a year ago, Fox's steady Kitchen Nightmares blew 53 percent of its Idol lead-in.

Still, Fox itself didn't sound terribly hyped by the Osbournes' performance...

In the spin department, the network didn't do much more than note Reloaded scored the season's highest-rated reality debut. Something that tends to happen when you debut after TV's highest-rated show.

Even if you do start off with a kiss-a-granny bit.

Elsewhere on night marked by Dancing With the Stars exits and a 90210 return:

• Idol's Top 9 show was 30 minutes longer than last year's and 2.6 million viewers lighter—23.5 million viewers versus 26.1 million.

• Overall, it wasn't a great night for any show. Almost everything was off from last week's Obama-skewed Tuesday. One of the biggest losers was Dancing With the Stars (13 million), which was down 3 million from the previous results episode (which, thanks to the president, didn't air opposite the sidelined Idol).

• With Idol back, The Mentalist (night-best 16.9 million for a scripted series), NCIS (16.8 million) and The Biggest Loser (8.7 million) all were off a tad.

• Returning from an early and extended spring break, 90210 found itself in a strange world where Reaper (2.4 million) draws a bigger overall audience than its precious self (2 million). 90210 did double Reaper's numbers among women 18-34. It also lost about half of Reaper's audience among teen boys.

• Law & Order: SVU (9.3 million), which didn't air a new episode last week, ran just below its season average.

• The feel-good story that is the retooled and relaunched Cupid (7.6 million) began with last-place finishes at 10 p.m. among total viewers and 18- to 49-year-olds. The show did pull in a bigger audience for ABC than Eli Stone, which was averaging 6.2 million in the hour.