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**AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian**Courtney Orton reporting
The show thousands of Utahns watched for months is over. When Utah's David Archuleta lost "American Idol" last night, many Utahns felt they had lost, too.
Last night, 270,000 Utah households tuned in to watch "American Idol," according to preliminary Nielsen Media Research numbers. That's close to 1 million people in Utah alone.
The final moment of "American Idol" was not music to the ears of many Idol fans. Kenzie and Tisha Fukuda said, "He read the wrong paper. They printed it wrong. That's just a mistake."
CharLee Brush said, "I thought he was going to win. I'm angry!"
These fans watched intently, voted and cheered on their favorite hometown star week after week.
Cheyenne Marquez said, "His voice and his smile, it just brightens up my day. It makes every bad day turn good."
Steve Thomsen teaches media impact classes at Brigham Young University. "David Archuleta becomes one of us. He is a part of us," he said. He says when shows like "American Idol" end, fans can feel a sense of loss.
"A lot of people will just move on to the next show with great anticipation, will wait for January when Idol returns again. But for a lot of people, there truly will be a void, an emptiness that will have to be filled that could create some emotional challenges and problems for them," Thomsen explained.
That type of die-hard fan feels an attachment to the person on TV. Thomsen calls it a para-social relationship.
"They've seen them in a variety of different situations, circumstances; they've learned about them; they've come to know them. It's much like developing a normal relationship. The primary difference however, is that the relationship is only one way," he said.
A counselor at Valley Mental Health said most people don't feel a major sense of loss when a show like "American Idol" is over.
They say most of the time, that sense of sadness, disappointment, or anger goes away rather quickly.
E-mail: corton@ksl.com
