Cupid fails to woo viewers

The programme has been accused of denigrating marriage

Opinionated Pop Idol judge Simon Cowell has suffered his own humiliation after his TV dating show failed to ignite the imagination of US viewers.

Despite massive promotion, the debut episode of Cupid was heavily beaten in the ratings by a repeat episode of legal drama Law and Order.

Cupid pulled in 7.4 million viewers on Wednesday night on CBS, five million less than rival NBC's Law and Order shown at the same time.

Cowell is executive producer rather than main presenter, although he does appear on the show - but all the publicity has been about him.

He became a popular love/hate figure in the US after the enormous success of American Idol, the US version of Pop Idol, and his cutting put-downs to the contestants.

The final of American Idol 2 attracted an audience of 23 million people who tuned in to see who was crowned winner.

Controversy

Although the ratings for Cupid were less than impressive CBS did see a 46% rise in viewers over the same time slot last year, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Cupid sees a 25-year-old woman search for a husband with the help of her two friends to sift through potential partners.

She and the man she eventually chooses will win 1,000,000 (£615,000) if they marry and stay together for a year.

Even before Cupid aired it ran into problems when one Californian affiliate of CBS refused to screen the programme because it felt it "denigrated marriage".

Cowell has just signed a deal to present American Idol for another three years.