About Idol
American Idol, with the full title American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season only, is an American reality-competition show airing on Fox. It debuted on June 11, 2002, and it 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 created by British entertainment executive Simon Fuller, which was first aired in 2001 in the United Kingdom.The program seeks to discover the best singer in the country through a series of nationwide auditions. The outcomes of the later stages of this competition are determined by public voting by phone. The format features four judges who give critiques of the contestants' performances: record producer and music manager Randy Jackson; pop singer and choreographer Paula Abdul; music executive and music manager Simon Cowell and singer/songwriter and record producer Kara DioGuardi. The show is hosted by former children's game show emcee and television personality Ryan Seacrest; comedian Brian Dunkleman co-hosted with Seacrest during the first season. The American Idol band is led by Rickey Minor.
{ Source: wikipedia.org }