Iovine gets props for Idol turnaround

JUST CALL HIM JIMMY IDOL: Jimmy Iovine is having a very good week. The IGA chief is not only looking at the biggest-selling debut in ages with Lady Gaga’s Born This Way, he’s also getting big props for the key role he played in reinvigorating the previously moribund American Idol franchise, turning it into an A-list production. As a result, the show averaged 24.9 million viewers, a 4% increase over last year. As N.Y. Times TV critic Alessandra Stanley put it this morning, “Scotty McCreery, the 17-year-old from Garner, N.C., won, but the real competition wasn’t between him and fellow Southerner Lauren Alaina, 16, of Rossville, Ga. All along, the contest was between American Idol past and American Idol present. It turned out that even after 10 seasons, with fewer frills and a different cast of judges, the ratings soared. American Idol is indestructible.” (5/26p)