28.2 mil say 'sayonara' to 'Idol's' Sanjaya

By Paul J. Gough

April 20, 2007, ET

NEW YORK -- Sanjaya's dismissal highlighted Wednesday's "American Idol" and pushed Fox to an overwhelming win in primetime.

"American Idol" was the night's top show by far in all key measures, with 28.2 million viewers and a 10.9 rating/27 share in adults 18-49, according to preliminary estimates released Thursday by Nielsen Media Research. It topped out at 30.4 million viewers at 9:30 p.m.

Not much else caused many waves on Wednesday, with "Lost" (11.7 million, 5.1/13) winning 10 p.m., though it was down 16% from its prior season average in adults 18-49 (6.1/16).

NBC won the 8 p.m. hour in the demo with "Thank God You're Here" (7.2 million, 2.7/8), while Fox's "Bones" (7.9 million, 2.5/7) won in viewership and CBS' "Jericho" (7.8 million, 2.3/7) tied with ABC's "According to Jim" (6.7 million, 2.2/7) and "Notes From the Underbelly" (6.6 million, 2.4/7) in each of the half-hours in the demo.

It narrowly beat in viewers a repeat "CSI: NY" (11 million, 3.2/8), though "Lost" was dominant in the demo. NBC was far behind with a repeat "Medium" (6 million, 2.0/5).

Nightly averages: Fox (18 million, 6.7/18); CBS (9.8 million, 2.8/8); ABC (7.4 million, 3.0/8); NBC (6.7 million, 2.3/6); and the CW (4.1 million, 2.0/5).

28.2 mil say 'sayonara' to 'Idol's' Sanjaya

By Paul J. Gough

April 20, 2007, ET