Simon Cowell's going-away party and the crowning of Lee DeWyze as the new "American Idol" brought more than 24 million viewers to Fox last week. That was down nearly 5 million viewers from the audience for last year's finale, the Nielsen Co. said Wednesday.
Cowell is leaving the show on which he was the defining character for a decade, although he will participate in a new show with Fox in 2011, "X Factor." The "Idol" conclusion and the increasingly popular "Glee" led Fox to win the week's ratings race. The network averaged 9.7 million viewers in prime time (5.6, 10). CBS dropped to second with an 8 million average (5.1. 9), ABC had 6.4 million, NBC had 4.7 million (2.9, 5), and the CW and ION Television had 1 million viewers (0.7, 1) each.
NBC's "Nightly News" topped the evening newscasts with an average of 7.6 million viewers (5.1, 11). ABC's "World News" was second with 7 million (4.7, 10), and the "CBS Evening News" had 5.3 million viewers (3.6, 8).
ASSOCIATED PRESS
1 American Idol, Wed. (Fox)
2 American Idol, Tue. (Fox)
3 Dancing With the Stars, Mon. (ABC)
4 Dancing With the Stars, 8 p.m. Tue. (ABC)
