American Idol was based on the British show Pop Idol created by Simon Fuller, which was in turn inspired by the New Zealand television singing competition Popstars. Television producer Nigel Lythgoe saw a version in Australia and helped bring it over to Britain.[6] Fuller was inspired by the idea from Popstars of employing a panel of judges to select singers in audition. He then added other elements, including telephone voting by the viewing public (which at the time was already in use in shows, such as the Eurovision Song Contest), the drama of backstories, and real-life soap opera unfolding in real time.[7] Pop Idol debuted in Britain in 2001 with Lythgoe as showrunner—the executive producer and production leader—and Simon Cowell as one of the judges, and was successful with the viewing public.[8] In 2001, Fuller, Cowell, and TV producer Simon Jones attempted to sell the Pop Idol format to the United States, but the idea was initially met with poor responses from all the television networks including Fox.[9] However, Rupert Murdoch, head of Fox's parent company, was later persuaded to buy the series by his daughter, Elisabeth, who had seen the British show.[9] Although Fox's executives wanted to change the format, Murdoch insisted that it should remain the same as the British one. One change was nevertheless made due to the presence of multiple time zones in the United States that made it impractical for the country to vote in the same time period, an additional half-hour results show was therefore added the day following the performance show.[10] The show was renamed American Idol: The Search for a Superstar and debuted in the summer of 2002. Cowell was initially offered the job of showrunner, but turned down the offer; Lythgoe then took over that position. Much to the surprise of Cowell and Fox, it became one of the biggest shows of the summer.[11][12] With its successful launch in the summer, the show was then moved to January and expanded.[13] The show grew into a phenomenon largely due to its personal engagement with the contestants by prompting the viewers to vote, and the presence of the acid-tongued Cowell as a judge. By 2004, it had become the most-watched show on U.S. television, a position it then held for seven consecutive seasons until 2011.[14][15] However, after a few years of sharp declining ratings starting in 2012, with rating falls of over 20% each season,[16] the fifteenth season would be its last on Fox, ending its run in April 2016.[17] In May 2017, ABC acquired the rights to the series and the program returned for the 2017–18 television season.[18][19] The first season of the revived series, or the 16th season overall, started airing in March 2018.[20] Six seasons have been aired on ABC as of May 2023.[21]
Judges
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The show had originally planned on having four judges following the Pop Idol format; however, only three judges had been found by the time of the audition round in the first season, namely Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell.[9] A fourth judge, radio DJ Stryker, was originally chosen but he dropped out citing "image concerns."[22] In the second season, New York radio personality Angie Martinez had been hired as a fourth judge but withdrew only after a few days of auditions due to not being comfortable with giving out criticism.[23] The show decided to continue with the three judges format until the eighth season. All three original judges stayed on the judging panel for eight seasons.
In the eighth season, Latin Grammy Award-nominated singer-songwriter and record producer Kara DioGuardi was added as a fourth judge. Abdul left the show in 2009 after the eighth season as a result of failing to agree to terms with the show producers.[24] Emmy Award-winning talk show host Ellen DeGeneres replaced Abdul for the ninth season, but left in 2010 after just one season.[25] DioGuardi was let go from American Idol in 2010 after two seasons as producers favored a return to the three-person judge panel previously used prior to DioGuardi's appearance on the show.[26] Cowell also left the show in 2010 to introduce the American version of his show The X Factor for 2011.[27] Jackson was the only judge from the ninth season to return for the tenth.
Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler joined the judging panel in the tenth season,[28] but both left in 2012 after two seasons.[29] Jackson was the only judge from the eleventh season to return for the twelfth. They were replaced by three new judges, Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj, and Keith Urban, who joined Jackson in the twelfth season.[30] However, both Carey and Minaj left after one season,[31] and Jackson departed the show after twelve seasons as a judge but would return as a mentor for the thirteenth season in 2014, after which he left the show permanently.[32][33]
Urban was the only judge from the twelfth season to return as a judge for the thirteenth season. Lopez returned to American Idol for the thirteenth season and was joined by former mentor Harry Connick Jr.[1] After this, Lopez, Urban, and Connick Jr. remained on the show until its cancellation after the fifteenth season in 2016.[34][35]
Katy Perry,[36] Luke Bryan[37] and Lionel Richie[38] have served as the judges since the revival of American Idol began on ABC in 2018, marking the sixteenth season of Idol.[39]
Guest judges may occasionally be introduced. In the second season, guest judges such as Lionel Richie and Robin Gibb were used, and in the third season Donna Summer, Quentin Tarantino and some of the mentors also joined as judges to critique the performances in the final rounds. Guest judges were used in the audition rounds, Gene Simmons, LL Cool J, Brandy, Mark McGrath and Kenny Loggins in the fourth season, Carole Bayer Sager, Jewel, and Olivia Newton-John in the sixth season, Shania Twain, Neil Patrick Harris, Avril Lavigne, Mary J. Blige, Joe Jonas, Kristen Chenoweth, Victoria Beckham and Katy Perry in the ninth season and Adam Lambert in the fourteenth season. In the ABC version, two instances occurred during the live shows. Abdul filled in for Bryan in one episode of the nineteenth season, and Alanis Morissette and Ed Sheeran filled in for Perry and Richie in an episode of the twenty-first season
Hosts
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The first season was co-hosted by Ryan Seacrest and Brian Dunkleman following the format of Pop Idol of using two presenters. Dunkleman quit thereafter,[40] resulting in Seacrest becoming the sole host starting with the second season in 2003.
Seacrest has remained as sole host of American Idol ever since, with the exception of the two-year hiatus between 2016 and 2018 as well as April 8, 2019, when Bobby Bones subbed for Seacrest after the latter fell ill.[41] Dunkleman did, however, return for the initial series finale on Fox in 2016 as a guest.[42
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