‘Idol’… keeps… growing

Cory Bergman February 20th, 2007

NBC calls American Idol the Death Star. “I think Idol is the most impactful show in the history of television,” said NBCU CEO Jeff Zucker. Two seasons ago, in the show’s first five weeks, it averaged 28.3 million viewers. Last season it was 31.7 million. This season it’s 33.5 million. Starting tonight, Idol will air three nights a week for three weeks, expanding beyond its regular Tuesday and Wednesday nights to a Thursday hour as well. Of course, this would be the time to remind everyone that every network except Fox passed on the show when it was pitched to them back in 2001.