Fast overnight ratings from Marc Berman:
Holy bomb-out Batman!
In an unprecedented move, Fox replayed the American Idol performance show from early in the season which was devoted to the music of Michael Jackson. There was little interest, however, with a fourth-place 4.22 million viewers and a 1.4/ 4 in the demo from 8-10 p.m.
If FOX had re-packaged it in some way, rather than just running a straight-up re-run, it might have faired better. Unless you’re a die hard, watching a competition knowing the outcome isn’t very interesting.
The NBC Dateline special featuring the Martin Bashir 2003 documentary on Michael Jackson that led to his 2005 trial for child molestation won its timeslot:
Capping off the evening on NBC was more coverage of Michael Jackson on Dateline at 6.69 million viewers (#2) and a first-place 2.1/ 6 among adults 18-49 at 10 p.m. Still hard to believe, isn’t it?
