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“American Idol” is taking over the country.

The fifth season of the singing competition is proving to be more popular than ever.

Entertainment Weekly notes that 33.4 million people watched last Tuesday’s episode. (That’s 11.2 percent of the nation’s population and more than half of the number of people who voted for George Bush in 2004.) That figure also topped the show’s previous record of 32.8 million set a week earlier, which makes it the most-watched program.

The second most popular show? Wednesday’s “American Idol,” which had 27.7 million viewers last week.

The show’s numbers are not only up 14 percent over last season, but it’s now blowing away its nearest competition. Last year it had only a 700,000-viewer edge over CBS’ second-ranked “CSI.” To date this year “Idol” holds a 6.8 million viewer lead over No. 3 “CSI.”

The audience-participation element of the show certainly has played a role in the success. Unlike political elections, it’s the one place your vote really does count.

But “Idol” has become about more than its numbers. It has completely ingrained itself into the pop-culture consciousness.

Last week our 13-year-old son’s latest issue of Rolling Stone arrived in the mail. Guess who was on the cover?

That’s right, “AI” judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson — sitting sit-by-side-by-side in a bed. Just under them was the headline: “Idol Worship: The Secrets of the Unstoppable Starmaking Machine.”

It’s no secret — it’s also no Seacrest — that these three figures have helped make the show what it is. Their interaction with the singers, as well as with each other, clearly has help drive the ratings skyward.

“Their chemistry is absolutely perfect,” said Columbia’s Lorien Owens, a fan of the show who is serving as one of The State’s Idol Watchers bloggers this season.

“The show struck gold with these judges.”

The magazine’s six-page spread, which primarily features Cowell’s role on the show in front of and behind the camera, serves as testimony to the power of this pop-music juggernaut.

OK, it also probably speaks more to how mainstream Rolling Stone has become since its iconic counterculture days. But it still means something significant, although we don’t expect to see Abdul singing Dr. Hook’s classic 1972 song, “Cover of the Rolling Stone,” on tonight’s show. (Unless she’s tipsy.)

You remember the words, right? “Rolling Stone, wanna see my picture on the cover; Stone, wanna buy five copies for my mother; Stone, wanna see my smilin’ face; On the cover of the Rolling Stone.”

It isn’t just Rolling Stone that’s taking notice either of the show’s reach either. The makers of the popular series of “Scene It?” DVD games have recently released a new game called “American Idol — All-Star Challenge DVD Game.”

It’s true.

Now you don’t have to wait until Tuesdays and Wednesdays to get your “Idol” fix.

Players can pop in a DVD and put their knowledge to the test by answering questions that range from easy (What group sang “Sweet Home Alabama” with Bo Bice in Season 4?) to hard (“What was Carrie Underwood’s audition city?”)

By the way, if you know the answer to Carrie Underwood’s audition city, then you are one very sick person. Unless you happen to be Carrie Underwood’s mother. Then it’s OK.

Rhonda Hunsinger, another of the Idol Watchers bloggers, understands why people have gotten hooked on the show. She was drawn to it in the first season by Kelly Clarkson’s powerful voice.

She loves watching the evolution of the contestants as they turn from raw, untested performers to confident, stylish entertainers.

“I’ve been addicted since the first season. It’s a fun show,” Hunsinger said. “So many people watch it that you’ve always got somebody to talk with about it.”

Yeah, about 33 million or so of them.

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American Idol News

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