American Idol closed out its eighth season last night with an impressive total audience of 28.84 million for the two hour finale. On average the show had an audience of 24.33 million this season.

During this season there has been talk about how the show has lost some of its luster. There were even rumors about two of the judges leaving the show. Compared to past seasons the show’s audience has somewhat diminished recently…

…but it has holds the #1 spot among the most popular network programs, every year since 2004, and it is still attracting between 27% and 127% more viewers than the other top 20 competitors.

More than a comfortable lead in any race and a sure sign that American Idol will continue well into the future.

Last week was the season finale for Fringe, the new J.J. Abrams show. The series had a strong first season, finishing even stronger than it started. The final episode had a total audience of 13.5 million viewers, a record high for the series and 45% higher than the season finale for Lost, perhaps an indication of which series is now taking the mantle.

It probably helped that the series had American Idol as its lead-in since January 20th, during its last 10 episodes. Note the substantial spring in the following graph.

Episodes that followed American Idol are demarcated by a light background in the following graph. Before January 20th, House was the lead-in at 8:00 p.m. It should also be noted that repeat episodes of Fringe are demarcated by a dark background in the graph, aired in October, December and January.

Looking at just new episodes of Fringe, it seems that American Idol boosted its total audience 18% more than House (also no ratings slouch), giving Fringe an extra boost during its infant season.

It is not surprising therefore that Fox anounced today that next season two of its most promiment new dramas, Past Life and Human Target, are respectively programmed Tuesday and Wednesday at 9:00 p.m., following American Idol.

Fringe, incidentally, is being cut loose of its training wheels, and moving on to Thursdays at 9:00 p.m., following Bones.