JAMES Mathison has a recurring nightmare. What if he and co-host Andrew G, the Australian Idol judges, the producers, the network and everyone else involved in the program commit to making another series, only to discover they have drained the talent pool dry?

"Halfway through making the show we find that we've got no one good and there are still weeks to go," Mathison says, almost shivering at the thought.

He should be sleeping a little easier.

The fourth series of Idol got the mix of talent right this year, bouncing back after a somewhat lacklustre previous season. Audiences for the Sunday show are up 18 per cent on the previous year, while 37 per cent more viewers tuned in to Monday's verdict program this time round.

Similarly, Dancing With The Stars co-host Sonia Kruger admits she had doubts her show had legs after the first series.

"I thought, 'We're never going to get another bunch of celebrities who are as much fun'," she says. "But every single time it's been a blast."

Both Mathison and Kruger's fears highlight a simple truth.

These shows will fly or fall on the strength of the contestants.

DWTS, now in its fifth season, did not have the most high-profile array of stars this year. As stunning as chess player Arianne Caoili may be, the public knew little of her.

And while AFL player Anthony Koutoufides may be a household name in sports-mad Melbourne, there would have been many Sydneysiders questioning his star power at the start of the series.

And yet the show continues to be steady on its feet.

Although ratings have been down on previous series, it has easily won its Tuesday timeslot.

At any rate, this week roughly four million viewers will tune in to watch the grand finals of both shows, defying critics who routinely scoff the series' days on TV are numbered.

Kruger believes DWTS's enduring appeal, in part, rests on the public's appetite for brilliant, eye-catching dancing. Also, people want to watch a story unfold. They want to see a novice improve week by week.

"People tend to get behind the underdog," she says. "You look at Andrew Gaze. He was not the world's greatest dancer, but that smile more than made up for it and people took him into their hearts.

"The public likes knowing they are seeing real people. It's like seeing the layers of an onion being peeled."

So, any tips for which "real" people should be on next series?

"I would like to see the mufti (Sheik Taj el-Dene Elhilaly) on the next series. Although, we might have to rethink the costuming for the girls."

There is also a shift back to live entertainment, says Kruger. She reasons that viewers are turning away from more heavily edited reality programs and opting for the excitement of live TV.

After all, both DWTS and Idol are more like traditional live variety shows. Which, in DWTS's case, is probably why Hey Hey It's Saturday veteran Daryl Somers is such a natural host.

Mathison's under no illusion that it's the contestants' journeys up to and including Idol, rather than anything specific he or his colleagues, including judges Kyle Sandilands, Marcia Hines and Mark Holden, have done, which has struck a chord with viewers.

"With eight weeks to go we had Bobby (Flynn), who captured the imagination of the public. We had Lisa Mitchell, who people either loved or hated, but at least were passionate about, and you had Chris Murphy following his brother (Courtney)," says Mathison.

"All these little stories. I think that's part of what has made it compelling.

"In the end, if the judges were amazing and witty and concise and Andrew and I were well-dressed and had good haircuts it wouldn't matter if you didn't have singers who not only had good voices but were interesting."

Battling it out for Idol glory at the grand final at Sydney Opera House on Sunday are 17-year-old Jessica Mauboy from the Northern Territory and 30-year-old Damien Leith, from Sydney via Ireland.

It's the fresh-faced schoolkid and somewhat reluctant diva versus the one with Tic-Tac teeth and an angelic falsetto.

Mathison believes often off-kilter judge Holden may have been on the money when he said that, from a voting perspective, it was a battle between the baby boomers and the Generation Y-ers as to who would decide this year's contest. Generation X-ers, meanwhile, will swing between the two.

Whatever you think of Idol, you can't doubt that both Mauboy and Leith have received exposure through the show that they arguably never would have received on their own.

"How many opportunities would Jess get living in the Northern Territory? Then you have a 30-year-old (Leith) who works in a pharmaceutical lab.

Record companies aren't coming to your open mic nights to see these sorts of people."

So, who does he believe will take the prize?

"There was a time when I thought thousands of teenage girls spending hundreds of dollars on text messages would never let Dean Geyer leave," he says.

"I think it's impossible to pick."

Australian Idol final, Sunday, Ten, 7.30pm; Dancing With the Stars final, Tuesday, Seven, 7.30pm