Even though Tuesday was supposed to be a big evening for singing competition shows on TV, it didn’t turn out well in the ratings, with both NBC’s “The Voice” and Fox’s “American Idol” reporting “disappointing” ratings, Joe Adalian writes in New York Magazine.

“To be more accurate: ‘The Voice’ numbers were disappointing, while ‘Idol’s' were pretty much disastrous, at least based on historical comparisons,” Adalian writes.

The one-hour performance finale for “Idol” was the least-watched episode in the program’s history, with just 6.6 million viewers, the story notes. “Not the least-watched finale, but the least-watched episode, period, going all the way back to when the show was an infant in 2002, and (some) real human beings voted for Justin Guarini instead of Kelly Clarkson,” Adalian notes.

He adds: “‘The Voice’ has already started to fade, not too long after it first exploded. Millions of viewers gave up on ‘Idol’ this year, but there's growing evidence that viewers are growing tired of singing competitions in general.”

Fox has canceled “The X Factor” and is planning to cut down the hours devoted to “Idol,” but “the other networks don’t seem willing to acknowledge music fatigue,” Adalian notes.