Of course everyone knows that Fox brought in Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj as judges on American Idol this season to boost the ratings of their flagging reality talent show.

Well, looks like it's not working…

The show's 12th season opener premiered with the lowest ratings ever since 2002, down some 19% from 2011's opening premiere. And that show's ratings were down 24% from 2010's opening show; and the year before that the ratings were down by 17%.

Which begs the question – is anyone watching this show anymore? Why not just cancel it and call it a day?

Still, despite the terrible numbers AI still gave Fox one of it's highest rated nights for this seasons. Which begs another question – if that's the case, then is anyone watching Fox anymore?

The head of reality programming at Fox, MIke Darnell, tried to put a spin on the disappointing numbers: "We knew the show would be down, but god bless it did a very good number; it was much bigger than The Voice’s premiere."

He went on to blame the low numbers for the show on tough competition from NBC's The Voice and America's Got Talent and Fox's own The X Factor, and said that all three shows "are eroding." 

But he remains optimistic about AI this season: “There is so much talk and buzz about the new judging panel that I’m bullish that we will cut the (ratings) deficit…We have several really good contestants, and the show is more dynamic with the judges; it feels very refreshed,”

In other words, we're f____d.