Even as American Idol's two Davids sing their last tunes tonight, the TV season ends on a sour note for the major networks.
Combined, the top 5 broadcast networks lost 3.4 million viewers this season, their biggest one-year decline, thanks in part to the three-month writers' strike. But audiences began bailing last fall, well before the walkout shut down much of the industry.
NIELSENS: The weekly ratings report
Only Fox saw year-to-year gains (helped by its turn with the Super Bowl), despite an 8% decline for top-rated Idol. The network wins its fourth consecutive season among young adults — and its first among viewers of all ages, snapping CBS' five-year streak.
(For the May "sweeps" period, which also ends tonight, CBS claims a victory among total viewers, and Fox wins the young-adult crown.)
But overall, prime-time TV viewership is up slightly this season, as viewers just flocked to basic-cable channels. Only one of the top 10 declined this season.
The major networks scored no new breakout hits. But Fox's The Moment of Truth, a lie-detector game show helped by its post-Idol launching pad, was the top newcomer, while ABC's Samantha Who? was the top new scripted series, with help from its own lead-in, No. 2-ranked Dancing With the Stars.
Top hits suffered, however, as CSI and Grey's Anatomy — which compete on Thursdays — were off sharply, even with DVR-delayed viewing factored in.
A look at how the networks fared:
•Fox Fewer fall losers (K-Ville, Nashville) meant a steadier season, and the Super Bowl didn't hurt, especially since 24 took the year off. Ushering in Idol just as the strike took its toll elsewhere helped Fox expand its young-adult lead, a record 40% ahead of No. 2 ABC.
•CBS Aging dramas and a lack of new hits, both scripted and reality, gave CBS the biggest declines among the top 4. Cane, Kid Nation and Viva Laughlin all proved quick flops; Moonlight and Shark also are goners. Tentpoles Survivor and CSI are weakening but still dominant in their Thursday slots.
•ABC The water-cooler dramas that made this network the buzz king spelled trouble when the strike cut them short. But Dancing With the Stars proved more durable than most other reality hits, and the network will relaunch three new dramas that never fully got traction last fall.
•NBC It weathered the strike better than most because of its reality-heavy lineup and by comparisons with an even-worse previous season. Yet top drama Heroes was losing momentum even before the strike. And of late the network's lineup has virtually collapsed amid a sea of Law & Orders and a sharply declining Deal or No Deal.
•CW The offspring of WB and UPN now ranks behind cable's USA Network, and this year lacked a focus or formula for success. Gossip Girl has excited more bloggers than viewers, and aside from Top Model, CW's reality fare is tanking. Rebranding the network for young women only may help, or else niche it out of existence.