Is America's Favorite Reality Show a Sinking Ship? - American Idol Not on Top

American Idol became the reality TV leader and FOX's flagship show early on - in fact, it was the phenomenal success of the first season that guaranteed the second. Ryan Seacrest shot to stardom, people started to remember who Paula Abdul used to be, Randy Jackson became a household name, and Simon Cowell became everyone's favorite jerk. And a star was born.

No, not the singers - the show. Within a relatively few amount of episodes, American Idol became so popular that no other network could even begin to compete. For years, the show led the ratings during the spring season. It seemed no reality show (or, for that matter, scripted show) would be able to match American Idol's success.

Despite this hit from FOX, CBS reigned for years as the leading network. Hits like CSI and Survivor lit the ratings on fire, then became the millstones that CBS can't shake back up. Somehow sticking out around all the forensics melodrama came the new drama Grey's Anatomy, taking the top slot in American whenever Idol was not on the air. When FOX's reality hit enjoys its off season, Grey's Anatomy holds the distinction of being America's favorite show. Until Grey's, no show could touch the Idolistic show.

Until now. Despite huge numbers in the fifth season (some nights, American Idol snagged more than thirty million viewers), the sixth season of Idol is only drawing around seventeen million. While this is enough for Idol to keep its top slot as American's favorite show, Grey's Anatomy is ever-so-slowly catching up (the same week AI had seventeen million viewers, GA enjoyed sixteen million).

The battle for first is hot and heavy between the two, both shows appealing to somewhat different demographics. Because the two shows air on different nights and times, this season they offer no head-to-head competition for each other. All Idol stands to lose is the prestige of being number one - an honor that FOX would definitely hate to lose. Right now, the ratings are relatively safe.

Next year, will CBS be brave enough to pit its hit show against Idol, to let ratings fall where they may?