Lindsey Vonn’s downhill skiing gold medal run on NBC lured enough viewers away from Fox’s "American Idol" to have it place second in its time period, a feat that hasn’t happened in six years, The Hollywood Reporter says.
The Associated Press says the last time "Idol" wasn’t first in its time period was in May 2004, when a special Monday edition was trumped by an episode of NBC’s "Fear Factor."
"Idol" has consistently captured its time period for the last 222 episodes, but a stellar Wednesday by Team USA (six medals on Wednesday, three of them gold) allowed the coverage to best the singing competition, which posted a season low 6.9 rating in the 18-49 demographic last night.
NBC’s 9 o’clock Olympic coverage landed a 9.0 rating in the same demo, and drew in 29.4 million viewers for the night.
—Andrew Krukowski
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