Hell freezes over: ‘Idol’ finally beaten, by Olympics

Posted Feb 18, 2010 by Walt Belcher

Updated Mar 5, 2010 at 11:23 AM

NBC ‘s coverage of the Winter Olympics racked up huge ratings Wednesday night, beating Fox’s “American Idol” by more than 60 percent. It’s the first time since 2004 that “Idol” been beaten in the ratings.

That’s 222 episodes of “Idol” that beat the competition.

The two-hour Tuesday “Idol” episode took the gold. It was seen by 23.6 million viewers, while 19.7 million watched the Olympics.

But last night, NBC’s coverage of three gold medal wins—including star skier Lindsey Vonn on the downhill course took the ratings lead.