American Idol Streak Over

Fox franchise's season premiere falls just short of 30 million viewers for first time in six years

Paula Abdul's gone. Simon Cowell's leaving. And now, the streak is over.

For the first time in six years, American Idol didn't crack 30 million viewers with its season premiere, the latest results show.

Now, before Andrew Fenlon gets even more upset than he appeared in last night's Boston audition, it should be noted that the Fox franchise came awfully, awfully close to its old standard, with an audience of—get this—29.9 million, and was, per usual, awfully, awfully dominant.

Nothing awful about that.