The American Idol phenomenon continues. The talent show’s ratings sweep to the top of Nielsen’s list each week, beating out other TV favorites like Ugly Betty, Survivor and My Name Is Earl.

A part of the show’s success is the judges who preside and critique a contestant’s performance. Among fans of American Idol, former pop star Paula Abdul and producer Randy Jackson are each viewed favorably by 77%. Only 5% of fans hold a very unfavorable opinion of them.

Idol’s brutally honest British judge, Simon Cowell, lags behind the others, but fared well considering his mean reputation. Sixty-eight percent (68%) have a favorable opinion of Cowell, while a quarter (25%) rate him unfavorably.

There are currently sixteen contestants remaining in the competition. Perhaps the most controversial contestant is New Jersey native, Antonella Barba, whose racy pictures have been posted on the internet.

As the show progresses with its sixth season, a little over a quarter (28%) of Americans believe that the reality show is getting worse as the years go by. Fifteen-percent (15%) disagree by saying the show has gotten better and 19% say it’s stayed about the same.

Idol fans will have to wait a few more weeks to declare this year’s winner. One amazing aspect of the show’s cultural impact was found last year when 68% of all adults were correctly able to identify Taylor Hicks as the winner.

For this survey, American Idol fans are defined as those who watch the show every week or almost every week. The national telephone survey of 264 fans has a margin of sampling error of +/- 6 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.

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