[ American idoL ]

American Idol is an annual American televised singing competition, which began its first season on June 11, 2002. Part of the Idol franchise, it originated from the UK reality programPop Idol.

The program seeks to discover the best young singer in the country, through a series of nationwide auditions. The outcomes of the latter stages of this competition is determined by public voting by phone. The format features three judges who critique the contestants' performances in order to facilitate the voting: record producer and bass player Randy Jackson; former pop star Paula Abdul; and producer and managerSimon Cowell. Ryan Seacrest is the host.

The show usually airs on Tuesday and Wednesday nights and has millions of viewers. In its six seasons, its six winners have been, in order of their season, Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Hicks, and Jordin Sparks. All of the American Idols are from the Southern U.S, five from the South and one, Jordin Sparks, from the Southwest. Hicks was the oldest winner at 29, Sparks the youngest at just 17.

In the show, hopeful contestants are screened by preliminary panels to be selected for singing talent or humorous potential and human interest. The audition process is long and tedious, beginning with tens of thousands of candidates strategically interviewed and eliminated before being individually auditioned by show producers Ken Warwick and Nigel Lythgoe (often slide shows of horrendously terrible candidates are shown from this interview).

Contestants then audition before the three main judges - Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson - in selected cities across the United States. Sometimes a celebrity fourth judge may be added. These are generally held at large convention centers where thousands of people wait in line for auditions. Contestants are required to sing a short one-minute a cappella snatch. Those who impress the judges enough move on to the second-round auditions, which take place in Hollywood (typically only several dozen out of the thousands in each city move on).

Much like the original Pop Idol, one of the most popular segments of each season are initial episodes showcasing Idol hopefuls auditioning before the panel. These early episodes feature a mixture of the finer auditioning singers and many of the outright "rejects"; these included Season 1's portrayal of Lady Marmalade, Season 2's performance of Madonna's Like a Virgin by Keith Beukelaer and Season 3's rendition of Ricky Martin's She Bangs by William Hung.