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Idol ratings are down ten percent

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American Idol results showThe ratings are down! The ratings are down! Is this the beginning of the end for the juggernaut called American Idol? Perhaps the Sanjaya-haters are actually following through with their threats to tune out until the controversial singer is sent packing.

Should producers be worried? Maybe just a little.

According to Nielsen, the ratings for the Tuesday night performance shows have dropped about 10 percent compared to last season (from about 31 million to 28 million viewers). And last Wednesday's results show (April 4) reportedly had the lowest ratings of the season.

Producer Nigel Lythgoe isn't sweating the drop in ratings. He said, "Even if we lost 50 percent of our audience, we'd still be in the top three shows in the country."

Nice try, Nigel, but that's not exactly correct. If Idol's numbers did drop in half, it could be beat (according to March 27th ratings) by CSI, House, and Dancing with the Stars (both nights). Of course, Idol has a long way to go before it alienates 16 million fans and sinks into fifth place just ahead of Shark or 'Til Death.

Lythgoe, however, isn't blaming Sanjaya's hair for the ratings dive. He thinks the fact that Daylight Savings Time came three weeks earlier this year, is the reason a small portion of the audience has drifted away.

With the ratings for the results show at an all time low, I'll repeat my belief that producers are making a mistake by going to one-hour results shows starting this week (April 11). Thirty minutes allows plenty of time for the celebrity guests to perform and for us to find out who is going home. Anything longer than that is just going to be a lot of unnecessary filler positioned around a ton of commercials.

I imagine that extending the results show isn't going to win back those fans who have drifted away. If anything, it might be time for Idol's producers to acknowledge that "sometimes less is more."

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