Welcome to the debut of Idol Critic, the show that gives you the water-cooler buzz about America’s favorite show. Liza Persky, child of television, gives you a review of the show the morning day after.
I created the show with my partner, Peter Hauck. And to make it, we brought in Mary C. Matthews and Liza Persky, the producer and star behind one of my favorite internet series, 39SecondSingle. I’m rooting for Liza to stay single so she has nothing better to do midweek that sit on the couch and watch Idol.
We rushed this up so be nice about the temporary design at our site. It’s my fault. We’ll have more features coming soon.
What would make us most happy is if you make your own reviews of the reviews of Idol. Put them up on Blip or YouTube and tag them “idolcritic” and we’ll find them.
Make sure to come back next week for episode 2!
LATER: The New York Times reports on the unbeatable ratings juggernaut that American Idol is proving to be:
Kelly Kahl, the chief scheduler for CBS, summed up the “Idol” factor this way: “This is a big monolith sitting out there. It’s the ultimate schoolyard bully.”
If any of Fox’s rivals had hopes that this year might signal some hint that the monster — NBC favors the term Death Star — would finally betray some sign of weakness, those hopes were dispelled in just a week. Most television shows, no matter how successful, fall off sometime after their second or third season, but against all expectations, and most of the historic record of network television, “American Idol” has come back for its sixth season bigger and stronger than ever.
Last year at this time, five weeks into its season, “American Idol” was roaring along as television’s most-watched show, with an average of 31.7 million viewers (up substantially from its fourth season, when it averaged 28.3 million viewers over the same five weeks).
Improbably, this season the show has done even better, averaging 33.5 million viewers over its first five weeks. For perspective, at this point “Idol” could lose half its audience and still rank among the top 10 shows on television. And no one dares predict when this phenomenon will fade.
“Idol” is creating ever more powerful shock waves. A growing number of television executives have begun to regard “American Idol” as a programming force unlike any seen before. Jeff Zucker, the new chief executive of NBC Universal, said, “I think ‘Idol’ is the most impactful show in the history of television.”
Yes, even bigger than Anna Nicole.
