"Idol" slide continues after judge mix-up (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - A night after Tuesday'smuch-discussed on-air blunder by "American Idol" judge PaulaAbdul, the results show of the talent show lost 1.2 millionviewers from the previous week.

With "Idol" (22.1 million viewers vs. 23.3 million) alreadyhaving dropped in nearly every episode in recent weeks,however, that means the reality show has once again hit afive-year low. A year ago, the show averaged 29 millionviewers.

On Tuesday's episode, a last-minute procedural changeresulted in the judges critiquing contestants' first round ofperformances instead of waiting until the end of the secondround. Abdul gave a negative review of contestant JasonCastro's two songs.

The only problem: Castro had sung only one song.

His second performance -- of Neil Diamond's "SeptemberMorn" -- was from the "Idol" rehearsal and was scheduled forlater during the show. Judges are supposed to base theircritiques on how contestants perform during the live telecast,not the rehearsal.

The on-air gaffe has unleashed a tsunami of comments fromfans online accusing Abdul of being, at best, unfairlyprejudging of Castro and, at worst, part of a competitionseries where judges' comments are determined in advance. Abdulsaid the next day that she was "confused."

At the other end of the reality ratings spectrum, the CWdebuted "Farmer Wants a Wife" (2.4 million) up against "Idol,"and the result was a lower premiere rating than the CW'sprevious reality effort, "Crowned." "Farmer" did slightlyimprove on its time-period average, however.

Fox won the night with 14.1 million viewers, followed byCBS (10.5 million), NBC (8.4 million), ABC (6.2 million) andthe CW (3.2 million).

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter