American Idol (previously titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar in first season) is a reality competition to find new solo musical talent, created by Simon Fuller. It debuted on June 11, 2002, and has since become one of the most popular shows on American television. Part of the Idol franchise, it is a spinoff from the reality program Pop Idol, which was created by British entertainment executive Simon Fuller and first aired in 2001 in the United Kingdom.

The program seeks to discover the best singer in the country through a series of nation-wide auditions. The American public decides the outcomes of the later stages through phone voting. The judges give critiques of the contestants' performances: Grammy award -winning record producer and music manager Randy Jackson; Grammy award-winning pop singer and Emmy award-winning choreographer Paula Abdul; award-winning music executive and music manager Simon Cowell; and Grammy award-nominated singer-songwriter and record producer Kara DioGuardi. The format originally featured three judges with DioGuardi added in the eighth season.

The show is hosted by television personality Ryan Seacrest. Comedian Brian Dunkleman co-hosted with Seacrest during the first season. The American Idol band is led by Rickey Minor.

The show usually airs on Tuesday and Wednesday nights in the United States and Canada, Wednesday and Thursday nights in Australia and Asia, Thursday and Friday nights on digital television in the United Kingdom and Friday and Saturday nights in Israel.

Initial auditions

Before contestants get the chance to see the show's judges, they go through two rigorous sets of cuts. The first is a brief audition with three other contestants in front of one or two of the show's producers. Contestants are then either sent through to the next round of producers or asked to leave. Out of the thousands of people who show up to audition, only about 100–200 contestants in each city make it past this round. The remaining contestants audition in front of the four American Idol judges, and those who advance are sent to Hollywood.

Hollywood

Once in Hollywood, the contestants perform on different days, with eliminations by the judges on each day. During the first six seasons, contestants selected a song from a list to sing for the first round. For the next round, the contestants split themselves into small groups and performed a song together. In the final round, the contestants performed a song of their choice a cappella.

In the seventh season, the structure of the Hollywood auditions was revamped and the musical group round was eliminated. Instead, contestants sang alone on the first day. If the judges felt the performance was adequate, the contestant moved on to the final Hollywood round; otherwise, the contestant had one more chance to impress the judges before the final round. For the first time, contestants were able to perform with a musical instrument if they had the ability.