The Simon Cowell era of "American Idol" is sputtering to a close on Fox.

Viewership of the yearly contest that has dominated television for much of the past decade is off. The 19.4 million people who watched last Tuesday represented a 17 percent decline from the same week in 2009, according to the Nielsen Co. Wednesday's tally was off 10 percent.

It's pulling "Idol" back to the pack. The two airings were still the second- and third-most popular prime-time programs last week, but ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" was No. 1.

Meanwhile, it appears CBS' "60 Minutes" had a "Conan bump" in the ratings, a trend that TBS can only hope continues. Nielsen said 13.5 million people watched Conan O'Brien's first interview since leaving "The Tonight Show," with Steve Kroft. That's about a million more than the newsmagazine usually gets in April.

O'Brien begins a talk show on TBS in November.

ABC has reasons not to be happy about the premiere of "Happy Town," a series it debuted last week on Wednesday night. It ranked No. 57 for the week with an estimated 5.3 million viewers.

CBS won the prime-time viewership race last week on the strength of its regular lineup, averaging 9.5 million viewers (6.1 rating, 10 share). Fox had 8.3 million viewers (4.9, 8), ABC had 7.7 million (5.0, 9), NBC had 5.7 million (3.7, 6), the CW had 1.9 million (1.3, 2) and ION Television had 1 million (0.7, 1).

NBC's "Nightly News" topped the evening newscasts with an average of 7.7 million viewers (5.1, 11). ABC's "World News" was second with 7.1 million (4.8, 10) and the "CBS Evening News" had 5.3 million viewers (3.6, 8).

ASSOCIATED PRESS

1 Dancing With the Stars, Mon. (ABC)

2 American Idol, Wed. (Fox)

3 American Idol, Tues. (Fox)

4 NCIS (CBS)

5 NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS)

6 The Mentalist (CBS)

7 60 Minutes (CBS)

8 CSI (CBS)

9 Dancing With the Stars, Tues. (ABC)

10 The Good Wife (CBS)