Last night, FOX's American Idol proved there is life after Simon Cowell by beating its own ratings for not only last week, but last season's comparable episode as well.

On last night's episode, the final four competitors took on songs by legendary songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who wrote such classics as "There Goes My Baby," "Yakety Yak," "Hound Dog" and "Jailhouse Rock," just to name a few. Oh, and "Stand By Me." Can't forget that one. In any case, Idol outperformed last week and last year. It was up 5% from last week, and it beat last season's top four episode by 1%, with 24.96 million viewers. Looks like Idol still has some blood flowing through its veins, even after all these years. I imagine the show will be around for a long time yet to come.

And if you missed the Leiber and Stoller episode of Idol, check out our handy recap.

CBS' Survivor: Redemption Island was down 3% this week, with 10.74 million viewers. For the second week in a row, Survivor has charted a series low. It's so strange to me, seeing as how this season is one of the most entertaining in recent memory, what with all of the Crazy Phillip shenanigans and devious Boston Rob schemes. It's sad to think that this decade-old reality show is waning, but I'm sure it has a few seasons left in it, at least.

For more Survivor, check out our recap of last night's episode.

FOX's Breaking In, after news of its cancellation, was dead even with last week, with 7.64 million viewers. Good, but not good enough for FOX to give the Christian Slater vehicle a second season. Enjoy it while it lasts, Slater fans.

ABC's comedies were up almost across the board, with The Middle (7.16 million viewers), Better With You (5.96 million viewers) and Modern Family (10.11 million viewers) all up from last week. And then Happy Endings showed up and ruined everyone else's fun. The tepidly received sitcom maintained low ratings this week, with 4.24 million viewers. Anyone hoping on seeing a second season of Happy Endings might want to prepare themselves for some sad news.

Source: Nielsen

(Image courtesy of FOX)