"But Idol is dropping nearly every week and last night was down 50% from its Thursday night premiere this season..."

"... and that’s scary."

They've obviously got themselves to blame, for several reasons, the main one being the desire to make it a "girls" year. Before the voting even started, they'd stacked the deck to exclude a "boyfriend"-type guy for the young girls who watch the show with their parents. "Idol" lost track of idolatry. The girls liked the boys, but somehow that couldn't be permitted to keep happening year after year. But that was the show! Was.