"American Idol's" season premiere was down nearly 5 million viewers from last year's, the biggest season-to-season drop in franchise history. But the program did continue to dominate it's time slot.

Idol averaged 21.6 million, per estimates, and scoring a still-huge, if diminished, 7.4 rating among 18-to-49-year-olds.

Personally, I think the performance shows are now diluting each others audiences. You have American Idol, X-Factor- The Voice and America's Got Talent.

I'll be curious to see how each of these shows continues in the future and which will have the plugged first. Nothing lasts forever, right ?

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