I know that the argument about the possible ramifications of there being an audiance to the finale Agni Kai is pretty much over, but I'd like to offer an opinion on how it may have ultimately been irrelevant, based on an interesting piece of history concerning (you guessed it) Julius Caesar.

In the year 56 BC, Julius Caesar was having the fight of his life, embroiled in a war to conquer Gaul (modern day france, for you non history buffs), that would ultimately stretch on for ten long years before the barbarians finally submitted. Caesar was not in a very good position. He had only about 50,000 men with which to take on a war-force that altogether numbered in the millions. In order to win, Caesar had to fight dirty.

Perhaps the dirtiest victory of them all that he won occurred in 56 BC, against a horde of German barbarians who had come after Caesar and his army. He was outnumbered more than four to one by veteran enemy warriors who looked to be about to easily destroy him. Caesar's solution to the problem was to invite the Chieftain leading the barbarians to dinner. Servents set up a tent, with a table and a full meal carefully laid out inside, in the middle of a wide, open field. At either end of the field, the full armies of both the Romans and the Barbarians were camped, ready to attack the moment anything appeared to be going amiss with the meeting between the two war leaders.

Initially, everything appeared to be fine. Both Caesar and the Chieftain had left their weapons behind and were unarmed. Both pledged their solemn words of honor that they would not attempt to harm eachother in any way over the course of the meal. Everything was going swimmingly until halfway through the meal, when Caesar suddenly jumped clean across the table to land on top of the startled barbarian. Caesar then proceeded to stab his enemy to death with a steak knife. This done, he immediatly ran outside, killing the barbarian warriors who had come with their chief to the dinner with his trusty steak knife, jumped on his horse, and galloped back to his army at the Roman end of the field, while behind him the barbarians errupted in outrage, incensed at Caesar's treacherous slaying of their leader.

As soon as he was back amongst his men, Caesar immediatly ordered them to attack the barbarian horde. He had correctly realised the barbarian's main weakness - they were, quite frankly, stupid, at least as far as battle tactics went. Without their Chieftain, the only man among them capable of coming up with good tactics, they were helpless before the disciplined Roman Legions, guided by Caesar's impeccable strategy.

In the aftermath of the battle, a number of high ranking officers and senators who had been with the Roman Army came to Caesar and demanded an explanation for his blatent violation of his promise not to harm the Chieftain during their meal. Caesar's swift reply was that the chieftain had been a barbarian - and as such promises to him, even words of honor, did not count. The only person to whom a Roman's word of honor truly counted was another Roman. A few of the senators didn't quite accept this, and continued pestering him about it. Caesar told them that he still had the steak knife. The senators stopped complaining.

A lot of the rooting will come from societal pressure. Some people will root for Azula, and then others will catch on, scared to seem different. Of course, the same way could go for Zuko, but Azula has a much larger incentive for you to root for her.

Then there's the fact that Zuko is the prince that got banned, came back, LIED, betrayed his nation AGAIN, and then left to help their enemy. Zuko isn't exactly the flavor of the week in the FN.

AND THEN that Azula is probably the most active princess they've ever had. She managed to conquer Ba Sing Sei without an army, something even Iroh couldn't do. I'm sure the FN appreciates Azula just a tad bit more.