Series Description

The American Idol TV show is a 60 minute competitive singer musical series that premiered on the FOX Network on June 11, 2002. Singers compete to become the newest "American Idol". After each contestant performs, the judges give their opinions which are sometimes very complimentary and sometimes extremely critical. After each episode ends, the viewing audience votes on whose performance they most liked. The one with the fewest votes is eliminated and the performances and voting continues weekly until the ultimate winner is chosen. That individual wins a million dollars and a recording contract. The losers also often do quite well in their careers due to the exposure they got on the show.

American Idol Cast

Host: Ryan Seacrest (2002-)

American Idol Judges:

Randy Jackson (2002-)
Mariah Carey (2013-)
Keith Urban (2013-)
Nicki Minaj (2013-)
Simon Cowell (2002-2010)
Paula Abdul (2002-2010)
Kara DioGuardi (2009-2011)
Jennifer Lopez (2007-2012)
Steven Tyler (2011-2012)
Ellen DeGeneres (2007-2011)

American Idol Trivia:

American Idol is a "spinoff series" of a British TV show that aired from 2001 to 2003 titled, "Pop Idol". While everyone refers to the show as simply "American Idol" today, its original title was "American Idol: The Search For a Superstar".

As of this writing (August 2010), American Idol has been the top ranked TV show on television for six consecutive seasons! It is the only series to have ever done that! There have only been two other series that even made it for five consecutive seasons. They were first, "All in the Family" and then "The Cosby Show". When you consider that American Idol is a 60 minute series that airs two or three times per week compared to those other shows that were broadcast for 30 minutes once each week, the feat of becoming number one becomes almost unbelievdable!

Kris Allen and Kelly Clarkson are the only American Idol winners that didn't have their whole audition aired on TV. There was a short clip of a portion of Kris' audition shown but nothing at all was shown of Kelly's audition.

Executives at other networks commonly refer to American Idol as "The Death Star"! They figure that the quickest way to kill a series is to schedule it in American Idol's time slot! FOX takes advantage of the huge draw with a widely demographic audience to promote their other series, yet again reaking havoc on the other networks' shows!

There have been some celebrities invited to participate as judges for a few episodes. They included Avril Lavigne, Katy Perry, Shania Twain, Victoria Beckham, Neil Patrick Harris ("How I Met Your Mother"), Kristin Chenoweth ("Pushing Daisies"), and Neil Sedaka among others.

No trophy was given to the American Idol winners until the eighth season.

During the seventh season auditions in Dallas, Texas a very pregnant Idol contestant Antoria Gillon auditioned while she was in labor. Even though she was considerably disadvantaged, she did qualify for the finals in Hollywood but didn't make it on the show.

TV Documentary Movie

From Justin To Kelly: The Rise of Two American Idols (6/20/2003)