Ratings: 'American Idol' crushes Thursday competition

Ratings: 'American Idol' crushes Thursday competition

Mar 27, 2009 | by Margaret Lyons

Fox's ratings machine American Idol dominated Thursday night, averaging 22.3 million during its hour, beating ABC, NBC, and the CW combined. CBS held strong with solid ratings for the NCAA basketball tournament. Samantha Who? returned from hiatus for its first new episode since December, but the comedy struggled without a post-Dancing With the Stars time slot, losing part of its lead-in audience from newcomer In the Motherhood. Without CSI to compete with, Grey's Anatomy grabbed its biggest numbers in months. And the penultimate ER found a larger audience than usual.

Time	Show	Viewers (in millions)
8:00 p.m.	American Idol (Fox) NCAA Basketball (CBS) In the Motherhood (ABC) My Name is Earl (NBC) Smallville (The CW)	22.3 10.1 6.7 5.9 3.7
8:30 p.m.	Samantha Who (ABC) The Office (NBC)	6.5 4.9 (repeat)
9:00 p.m.	Grey's Anatomy (ABC) Hell's Kitchen (Fox) The Office (NBC) Supernatural (The CW)	15.8 10.9 8.4 3.2
9:30 p.m.	30 Rock (NBC)	7.2
10:00 p.m.	Private Practice (ABC) ER (NBC)	10.5 10.2