To answer the headline: Yes, some bodies did not watch Tuesday's American Idol season premiere.

But most channel-surfing bodies did.

By Idol's last half hour, nearly 15 percent of the nation—not just the TV nation, but the entire nation—was subjecting its collective ears to the sounds, and screeches, of Minnesota.

In Minneapolis, a city with a definite rooting interest, nearly half of all TVs in use from 8-10 p.m. were tuned to Idol.

Overall, the two-hour opener, featuring guest judge Jewel, averaged an estimated 37.3 million viewers, making it the most watched Idol premiere ever, Fox said.

The broadcast peaked from 9:30-10 p.m., Nielsen Media Research numbers show, with a whopping 41.5 million catching the final bits of bad (and good) from the Minneapolis-based audition round.

By comparison, during the same half hour, the other four broadcast network shows—ABC's America's Funniest Home Videos, CBS' The Unit, NBC's Law & Order: Criminal Intent and the CW's Veronica Mars—drew 26.9 million viewers—combined.

Tuesday was the kick off of Idol's sixth season. And the show didn't merely pick up where top-rated season five left off, it perked up.

The premiere was nearly 2 million viewers bigger than last January's, and nearly 1 million viewers bigger than last May's Taylor Hicks-crowning finale.

And the stats to brag on just keep on coming: Most watched anything of the new year; most watched anything of the current season; and it ties the record for biggest Fox premiere among ever-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds (a distinction shared with The X-Files' opener from 1997).

Another one: The premiere came within about 800,000 viewers of tying the May 2003 Ruben Studdard-Clay Aiken finale and vying for the title of most watched Idol ever.

And yet another one: The premiere came within about 1.5 million viewers of matching the audience for last year's Academy Awards telecast.

Lest you have trouble telling the shows apart, the Academy Awards is the one with the glamorous movie stars; Tuesday's Idol was the one with the opera singer dressed as Apollo Creed.

Idol resumes Wednesday with a two-hour episode chronicling its Seattle auditions.

Guess we know what America's doing tonight...

Here are some ratings tidbits, meanwhile, for the TV week ended Sunday, per Nielsen Media Research stats:

• The Sunday portion of Fox's 24 season-opening extravaganza (ninth place, 15.8 million) did its best to drag down ABC's Desperate Housewives (seventh place, 16.8 million). All in all, though, Wisteria Lane held up better than Los Angeles.
• ABC's Grey's Anatomy (fourth place, 23 million) pounded a rerun of CBS' CSI (20th place, 12 million), if you'll forgive the fight metaphor. 
• ABC's Ugly Betty (14th place, 13.5 million) was looking pretty good even before the Golden Globes.
• CBS' broadcast of the 33rd Annual People's Choice Awards (23rd place, 11.3 million) hit its best numbers since 2004—and it may be about time to declare the awards-show ratings slump officially over.
• Donald Trump's The Apprentice (58th place, 7.3 million) was down 20 percent from its so-so season premiere. And somewhere Rosie O'Donnell is smiling.
• NBC renewed four series Wednesday for the 2007-08 season; The Apprentice wasn't one of them. And somewhere Rosie O'Donnell is laughing.
• Just because The Apprentice hasn't been renewed, doesn't mean it won't be. It just means that My Name Is Earl (24th place, 10.9 million), The Office (31st place, 10.1 million), Heroes (69th place, 5.7 million—for a repeat) and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (75th place, 5.2 million—for a Saturday-night repeat), the four shows greenlighted for new seasons, are presently trumping Trump.
• NBC's Grease: You're the One That I Want (43rd place, 8.3 million), down nearly 30 percent from its premiere, could use an injection of greased lightning about now.
• NBC's Crossing Jordan (60th place, 6.7 million) could use a do-over for its sixth-season premiere about now.  
• CBS' reality series Armed & Famous (45th place, 8.1 million) didn't tank in its premiere, arguably making LaToya Jackson and Erik Estrada sort-of famous again.

Overall, Fox dominated the network races—and without the benefit of American Idol, which will be part of next week's Nielsen rankings. (Monday's Golden Globes and the second half of 24's season opener also won't show up until next week's rankings.)

Instead, Fox used college football's national championship game (first place, 28.8 million) and an NFL playoff contest (second place, 27.4 million) to score big wins in total viewers (15.3 million) and the 18-to-49 demographic.

CBS (12.8 million) finished with a pair of second-place finishes; ABC (8.7 million), with a pair of third-place finishes; and, fresh-out-of-football NBC (8.4 million), with a pair of fourth-place ones.

The CW (2.9 million) distinguished itself with Smallville (79th place, 4.7 million) and Beauty & the Geek (93rd place, 3.9 million).

Here's a look at the 10 most watched prime-time shows for the week ended Sunday, according to Nielsen Media Research:

1. BCS National Championship (Ohio State v. Florida), Fox, 28.8 million viewers
2. NFL Playoff Game (Philadelphia vs. New Orleans), Fox, 27.4 million viewers
3. NFL Playoff Postgame (New England vs. San Diego), CBS, 24.6 million viewers
4. Grey's Anatomy, ABC, 23 million viewers
5. House, Fox, 17.8 million viewers
6. 60 Minutes, CBS, 17.5 million viewers
7. Desperate Housewives, ABC, 16.8 million viewers
8. CSI: Miami, CBS, 16 million viewers
9. 24, Fox, 15.8 million viewers
10. Two and a Half Men, CBS, 14.8 million viewers