Here's an early warning to American Idol fans: You won't be happy Wednesday.

Fox affiliate WXIX-TV (Channel 19) will delay the 90-minute special revealing the 32 semifinalists until 11 p.m., because of the UC-DePaul basketball game.

"Quite frankly, it could be a no-win situation," says John Long, Channel 19 general manager.

When Channel 19 didn't air the UC-East Carolina game two days ago, the station received so many complaints that news anchors mentioned the lack of UC coverage on the 10 p.m. news.

Imagine how many calls Channel 19 will get when it delays American Idol, which has blown away the TV competition here by drawing 25 percent of all viewers twice this week. The second episode, on Wednesday, improved by one ratings point over Tuesday's huge audience, from 17.9 to 19. That means about 162,298 Tristate residents watched the talent competition Wednesday.

The good news is that Fox will let Channel 19 air American Idol later that night. "Normally, we'd run it on the weekend. But because it's so hot, Fox is letting us do it later that night," Mr. Long says.

For those who can't wait, Dayton's Channel 45 will air the show live (8:30-10 p.m.) Wednesday, Channel 45).

More good news for Idol fans: After the DePaul game, Channel 19 won't have any more UC basketball conflicts on Tuesday or Wednesday this season, he says.

As for not carrying Wednesday's UC-East Carolina game, Mr. Long explains: "We're only allowed a certain amount of (prime-time) pre-emptions by Fox, and we're to our prescribed limit."

By the way, American Idol Wednesday gave Channel 19's 10 p.m. news a terrific ratings boost. The newscast averaged a 17 rating, beating the 11 p.m. ratings for WKRC-TV (12.5), WCPO-TV (10.3) and WLWT-TV (7.4).

Local idol: Kenny Mathis of Forest Park will appear on American Idol Tuesday (8 p.m., Channels 19, 45) in auditions taped in Nashville. Channel 19's news broadcast a clip of his performance Wednesday.

It will be revealed on Wednesday if he's among the 32 semifinalists competing in Fox's live weekly talent contest Feb. 4-May 7.

Simon says: American Idol judge Simon Cowell didn't hear much that he liked at Detroit auditions, broadcast Wednesday.

"As bad as I thought your dancing was, your singing was worse," he told one Michigan man. "Your hair is the best part about you."

He told one woman: "Your problem is: If you want to be a singer, you have to have talent."

And to a Detroit lifeguard he said: "If your lifeguard duties were as good as your singing, a lot of people would drown."

Earlier in the show, Mr. Cowell was practically left speechless by a singer in Los Angeles: "That was absolutely dreadful ... I quit. I quit the show. You can't sing."

`Alias' aid: Who will be the winner of Super Bowl XXXVII Sunday?

ABC executives hope it's Jennifer Garner's Alias spy drama, which follows the game with a special one-hour episode (about 10 p.m., Channels 9, 2).

"We've discovered that most people have never seen a single episode of Alias," says Susan Lyne, ABC Entertainment president.

"They've stayed away from it because they heard it was complicated. A lot of people think it's actually about aliens. It's been confusing."

Ms. Garner stars as Sydney Bristow, a recent college graduate working undercover for SD-6, a top-secret division of the CIA.

For Sunday, ABC has produced a special episode designed to introduce the characters to viewers. Sydney and co-worker Michael Vaughn (Michael Vartan) try to figure out what has happened to their boss, Arvin Sloane (Ron Rifkin) when he's abruptly replaced by a new director (guest star Rutger Hauer).

"It is very provocative, and will surprise you on a lot of different levels," Ms. Lyne says. "If you've never seen Alias before, you can really enjoy it. And I think it will be an explosive episode for Alias fans."

Alias ranks No. 65 of 136 shows this season, averaging about 9.1 million viewers at 9 p.m. Sunday. But it's the top-rated Sunday drama for viewers ages 18-34, more popular than American Dreams, The Practice or Law & Order: Criminal Intent, says Jeff Lindsey, ABC publicist for ratings.

"Alias has a great core audience, but we'd like to expose it to more people," Mr. Lindsey says.

If ratings don't dramatically improve after the Super boost, ABC could move Alias to another night for fall.

"We always talk about where we can give Alias a better berth," Ms. Lyne says. "Clearly there are options out there, but we're not going to pursue them this year."

E-mail jkiesewetter@enquirer.com