American Idol's reign of terror may finally be over

Photo courtesy of billboard.com.

The unstoppable juggernaut that is American Idol may be coming to a close. After the departure of Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul, competition from shows like NBC's The Voice and FOX's The X Factor and the much talked-about resurgence of comedies in the 2011-2012 season, last night's audition episode was bested by that other ratings monster The Big Bang Theory

Leonard, Sheldon et al, after last week managing a threadbare win over Idol in the coveted 18-49 demo, this time scored a 5.4 rating versus the 4.8 of Idol's first half-hour. What's more, in head-to-head competition Big Bang outdrew Idol in total viewers as well, 15.96 million to 15.46 million. (The CBS sitcom also notched wins in the 18-34 and 25-54 demos).

via TVLine.

If this kind of performance continues, this could be the first TV season since 2004-2005 where Idol wasn't the most-watched show on television, which is good news for those of us who are tired of formulaic reality competition shows. Of course, in comparison to the most recent 30 Rock (1.6), Community (1.5) and Fringe (1.1) episodes, Idol's 4.8 is still looking pretty good, which is just more proof that the world hates everything I love.