Has "American Idol" finally jumped the shark? Some critics think so, and the latest Nielsen ratings show ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" is outdrawing Fox's singing competition. "Dancing" beat both episodes of "American Idol" to become last week's most-watched prime-time television program.

It marked the first time any regular series other than post-Super Bowl shows has topped "Idol" in five years. The ratings for "Idol" have been slipping while the audience for "Dancing With the Stars" has been climbing. The two-hour "Dancing" on March 29 averaged nearly 23 million viewers while "Idol" averaged 22 million viewers. The last time an "Idol" episode was topped in the ratings was one night during the recent Winter Olympics on NBC.

The last time both "Idol" episodes in a week were beaten by a regular series was 2005 against the series finale of CBS' "Everybody Loves Raymond," the CBS drama "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" and the first-season finale of ABC's "Desperate Housewives."

But "Idol" draws a younger audience, and that makes it a financial success, According to the Nielsen company, "Idol" asks $642,000 for a 30-second commercial while "Dancing," with its older audience, gets about $209,000 per 30 seconds.