Season 1
American Idol is an American reality singing competition television series created by British entertainment executive Simon Fuller which seeks to discover the best young singer in America through a series of nationwide auditions.
Part of the Idol franchise, it originated from the reality program Pop Idol, which was first aired in 2001 in the United Kingdom.
American Idol is part of the Idol series, originated as the UK show Pop Idol, a singing talent contest to determine the best "undiscovered" young singer in the country.
The show, hosted by Ryan Seacrest, sees thousands of hopefuls screened by a preliminary judging panel. They then audition before the American Idol judges.
Contestants are required to sing a cappella. From round 2 of the competition, the list of hopeful contestants is slowly cropped until 12 contestants remain.
These 12 battle it out for the title of American Idol.
American Idol is created and executive-produced by Simon Fuller, founder of 19 Entertainment. The series is executive-produced by Cecile Frot-Coutaz, CEO, FremantleMedia North America, Inc.; and Ken Warwick, Executive Producer, FremantleMedia North America, Inc.