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SANJAYA RETURNS Tuesday, May 27 2008 
Demonstrating
yet
again
that
there
is
life
after
losing
on
American
Idol,
Nationwide
Insurance
announced
today
(Tuesday)
that
it
had
hired
2007
contestant
Sanjaya
Malakar
to
star
in
its
series
of
TV
ads
titled
"Life
Comes
at
You
Fast."
The
ads
will
target
the
South
Asian
market,
where
Malakar
received
considerable
press
attention
as
an
Indian-American
contestant
on
the
talent
show.
Although
judge
Simon
Cowell
relentlessly
battered
his
performances,
once
calling
them
"horrendous,"
the
good-looking
(more)NIELSEN WRITES SEASON FINALE Friday, May 23 2008 
Nielsen
closed
the
books
on
the
2007-08
broadcast
season
Wednesday
by
releasing
a
list
showing
how
each
of
the
major
networks'
regular
programs
fared.
Not
surprisingly,
the
top
of
the
list
was
dominated
by
the
two
weekly
American
Idol
telecasts
on
Fox
and
the
weekly
Dancing
With
the
Stars
telecasts
on
ABC
that
aired
on
four
different
nights
during
the
season.
Four
scripted
shows
also
made
it
into
the
top
ten:
ABC's
Desperate
Housewives
at
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After much hand wringing over the erosion of ratings for American Idol during its latest season, the two final episodes last week -- Tuesday's performance show and Wednesday's results show -- wound up capturing bigger ratings than the comparable finale a year ago. Tuesday's telecast drew 27 million viewers; Wednesday's, 32 million. Together they gave Fox an easy win for the final official week of the 2007-08 season with an average 7.3 rating and a 13 share. CBS and ABC tied for second with a 5.6/10, while NBC continued to trail with a 3.5/6. Meanwhile, Fox reality shows that produced solid ratings for the network when they followed American Idol continued to lead their rivals on their own this week, the first week of the summer season -- although their numbers were down from the previous week. Hell's Kitchen and Moment of Truth likely benefited from the fact that the competition was a slew of network reruns. On Wednesday, the two-hour return of Fox's So You Think You Can Dance led the field, with the first hour recording a 5.3/9 and the second, a 6.3/10. 
