As you may have heard, two important things happened last night. Simon Cowell said farewell to American Idol last night and Paula Abdul made her triumphant return. Also many other guests including William Hung, Janet Jackson, Bret Michaels, and every winner (minus David Cook) returned for that moment. Oh, yeah, and Lee DeWyze was crowned winner over Crystal Bowersox. But, although Idol was the winner in the ratings last night, the show was down 16% in viewers. Last year the finale had 28.86 million and last night only pulled in 24.2. This was the lowest viewed finale since the first when 23.02 million viewed Kelly Clarkson win. Is this showing that Cowell pulled out at the right time? Next year we will know!