Folks, We've Reached a J.-Lo Point on 'Idol'

Phil Stacey gave J. Lo goose bumps, only not in a scary Nosferatu way but in a "she's feeling his passion" way. But then he sang "Maria Maria" for viewers and Simon had nothing positive to say. Phil, who's no dummy, shrewdly took the opportunity to remind all the womenfolk out there in the audience that he has an adorable new baby girl, who, he says, just got a new stuffed cow she has somehow named "Simon Cow" even though she doesn't speak yet.

Jordin Sparks sang "The Rhythm Is Gonna Get You" like a slow march. J. Lo said she reminded her of Michael Jackson. No, I can't begin to explain. Jordin mouthed "I love you" to viewers at home, which must be stopped.

Blake Lewis said he's going to sing "I Need to Know," "by J. Lo's husband." Interestingly, J. Lo never referred to him as "my husband," only as "Marc Anthony." Simon called it the best performance of the night. Seriously, something is wrong with Simon this week.

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Sure, Fox has "American Idol" on Tuesday and Wednesday. But CBS takes Thursday, Friday and Sunday, bolstered last week by NCAA men's basketball championship play on Monday. CBS wins, though Fox did dominate among the younger viewers advertisers pay more to reach.

Here's a look at the week's strong and weak:

WINNERS

NCAA basketball championship game. About 19.6 million people watched Florida rout Ohio State to become the first school since Duke in the early '90s to win back-to-back national titles. That's about 2 million more than watched Florida whomp UCLA last year.

"The Ten Commandments." Sure, Cecil B. DeMille's cheese-tastic flick is down 15 percent year to year. But it still attracts enough young viewers to win Saturday night in its third decade on ABC.

"Entourage." A "Sopranos" lead-in goosed viewing levels for the return of HBO's ensemble comedy; its nearly 4 million viewer tally was more than a million better than June's season-debut crowd.

LOSERS

"The Sopranos." Despite an orgy of press excess, Sunday's official kickoff of the final batch of episodes logged just 7.7 million viewers. Back in March '06, 9.5 million caught the Sunday start of Season 6. In its heyday, back in September '02, the fourth-season opener logged nearly 13 million. HBO notes that each episode of its series runs several times each week and is available on demand.

"The Shield." Tuesday's sixth-season debut of FX's corrupt-cop drama drew a disappointing 2.1 million viewers -- the series's smallest debut yet. Previous low was its third-season opening audience of 2.8 million; 3.4 million tuned in for its fifth-season starter.

"Andy Barker, P.I." NBC yanked the Conan O'Brien-exec-produced sitcom from Thursday nights effective immediately; last week's episode logged just 4.07 million viewers. The final two episodes of the six-episode order will be burned off Saturday, wrapping up Andy Richter's latest try at a prime-time sitcom; earlier efforts include "Quintuplets" and "Andy Richter Controls the Universe."

"Prison Break." Last week's season finale audience -- about 8.1 million viewers -- was no match for last season's May finale haul of more than 10 mil.

"Desperate Housewives." Nicked by "The Sopranos," ABC's drama logged its lowest ratings for an original episode -- still about 16 million viewers, making it the night's most watched program.

The week's 10 most watched programs, in order, were: Fox's Tuesday and Wednesday "American Idol"; CBS's "CSI"; Fox's "House"; CBS's NCAA basketball championship; ABC's Monday "Dancing With the Stars" and "Desperate Housewives"; CBS's "Shark"; ABC's Tuesday "Dancing With the Stars" and CBS's "Without a Trace."