Ratings Special: Has "American Idol" Fallen?

A recent article on Yahoo! indicated that online interest in FOX's blockbuster reality contest and TV's #1 program "American Idol" has cooled off. Have the ratings followed suit?

Over the past three weeks the show has scored the following results:

33.24 million (Tuesday, January 15)
30.28 million (Wednesday, January 16)
29.05 million (Tuesday, January 17)
26.80 million (Wednesday, January 18)
28.07 million (Tuesday, January 24)
25.33 million (Wednesday, January 25)

Last year at this time the show has averaged a much stronger 30-37 million viewers during the initial audition stages of the contest.

Although the show remains the #1 program on television, the gap between "Idol" and the #2 reality program "Dancing with the Stars" is getting smaller and smaller.

Unlike "Idol," the ABC celebrity dancing contest has actually gone up, breaking the 21 million mark last fall.

Last year, after a high-rated audition stage of "Idol" the ratings went down as a disappointing group of finalists battled it out in live performance shows.

Will this year's ratings continue to fall or will they perk up once we learn who the finalists are?

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