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IDOL WORSHIP
The country embraced American Idol's velvet teddy bear last night. In an extremely close vote, Ruben Studdard defeated reformed geek Clay Aiken to win the second Idol championship. Roughly 130,000 votes (of a record 24 million) separated the two in the final count. (Host Ryan Seacrest initially said the split was 1,335, but Fox later corrected that.) Studdard's new single "Flying Without Wings" — which he performed for the first time Tuesday night — will be released June 10. Nielsen, meanwhile, estimates that an average 33.7 million viewers watched the two-hour climax, giving Fox its best Wednesday ratings in history. For the lowdown on last night's grand finale, click here.
The country embraced American Idol's velvet teddy bear last night. In an extremely close vote, Ruben Studdard defeated reformed geek Clay Aiken to win the second Idol championship. Roughly 130,000 votes (of a record 24 million) separated the two in the final count. (Host Ryan Seacrest initially said the split was 1,335, but Fox later corrected that.) Studdard's new single "Flying Without Wings" — which he performed for the first time Tuesday night — will be released June 10. Nielsen, meanwhile, estimates that an average 33.7 million viewers watched the two-hour climax, giving Fox its best Wednesday ratings in history. For the lowdown on last night's grand finale, click here.