Reuters reports that the Fox television network finally has something to sing about.
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Fox's "American Idol: The Search for a Superstar," an adapted import of the British smash hit "Pop Idol," has stormed up the U.S. television ratings chart in its first two airings, with the premiere giving the network its best ratings for the time period in over a year.
The show, a variation on the star-search program format, attracted 9.9 million viewers to its 1-1/2 hour premiere on Tuesday night at 8:30 p.m.
It was the most-watched show on television that evening, attracting 14 percent of all viewers in the advertiser-coveted 18- to 49-year-old demographic and an even stronger 20 percent 12- to 17-year-old viewers.
Starting next week the show will adopt a viewer participation element -- one of the key components that made it such a hit in Britain. In each of the next three weeks, a group of 10 remaining contestants will perform on the air. The judges will eliminate one of those, and then viewers will choose which of the remaining nine they like best by dialing a toll-free phone number.
The top three vote-getters in each of the next three weeks will advance, and will be joined by a wild-card candidate brought back by the judges (hey, no one mentioned that the gneiuses behind 'Love Cruise' were involved with this show,) bringing the total to 10 finalists.
Those 10 will then engage in a 'Survivor'-like competition, with viewers deciding each week who gets the boot until the last remaining person gets a multimillion-dollar recording contract.