“American Idol” ratings have slipped-and rather than blaming the staying power of Sanjaya, the show’s producer, Nigel Lythgoe, is blaming this year’s early adoption of Daylight’s Savings Time.

Nielsen stats show that the Tuesday performance shows are down about 10 percent compared to last season (from roughly 31 million viewers to 28). Wednesday night’s results episode was the least watched episode of the season.

According to the team at “Idol,” ratings tend to drop each season as the days become longer and the weather gets a lot warmer:

“Even if we lost 50 percent of our audience, we’d still be in the top three shows in the country,” Lythgoe said at a press conference on Monday.