It's that time again, time to watch thousands of Americans step in front of the camera and make a fool out of themselves; isn't television great? If you are one of the lucky few, and we do mean few, who does survive the first round of verbal abuse from now-infamous judge Simon Cowell then your chance of becoming at least semi-famous begins to increase a hundred fold.
But aren't viewers tired of watching the same abuse, the same idiots and similar music for a fifth time?
No! The Season 5 premiere of American Idol has encountered a viewership that even makes beloved Simon a little giddy.
American Idol Rocks Ratings
According to Variety, American Idol kicked off its fifth season with its best-ever premiere numbers Tuesday night, rising nearly 10% ahead of last year's score.
The show's numbers helped the Fox dominate television viewership with a total of 35.4 million watching Idol. The closest network to compete was CBS with 12.8 million viewers for NCIS.
The Season 5 opener of American Idol came in 9% ahead of last year in 18-49 and 6% better in total viewers. There is only one other Idol episode that achieved higher ratings and that was the season two finale that aired in May 2003.
The 35.4 million viewers also made Idol the highest-rated primetime entertainment telecast in the demo since the finale of Friends on NBC in May 2004.
The season premiere of American Idol continues tonight (Wednesday) with one full hour. For this episode the American Idol judges will take auditions in Denver.
The show will then continue its regular schedule and air every week on Tuesday at 8PM.
American Idol returns for a fifth season. 
Add to Heffee!
