American Idol 11

Jennifer Lopez finally formally quit American Idol on Friday, 24 hours after giving another obnoxiously coy statement about her alleged indecision. She told Ryan Seacrest on his radio show that she was leaving and blamed her children: “As the kids get a little bit bigger it started feeling like it was a lot and something… continue reading

Steven Tyler has quit American Idol, Fox confirmed today. Jennifer Lopez has all but quit, too, leaving just Randy Jackson, if they decide to keep him. In a statement released by the network, Steven said, “After some long…hard…thoughts…I’ve decided it’s time for me to let go of my mistress American Idol before she boils my… continue reading

American Idol‘s WGWG winner can move music: Phillip Phillips’ “Home” sold 278,000 downloads last week, landing at number two and leapfrogging over most of his fellow alumni. That’s “the biggest sales week for any Idol winner’s coronation single since SoundScan began tracking downloads in 2003” and “the fourth-largest debut of the year,” Billboard reports. Billboard… continue reading

Nigel Lythgoe may executive produce the most-popular TV series–not just reality TV series–in the country, but American Idol‘s ratings dip combined with lack of enthusiasm from the season led to criticism, including from his boss at Fox, and now he’s fighting back. Specifically, he responds to comments earlier this month from Fox entertainment president Kevin… continue reading

As the runner-up on American Idol, Jessica Sanchez isn’t guaranteed a record deal, like past runners-up, but both she and winner Phillip Phillips have other sources of income from the show. The AP reviewed the finalists’ contracts and discovered details of their pay: Phillip Phillips receives $300,000 as an advance when he finishes his first… continue reading

American Idol 11 winner Phillip Phillips’ win is a bit more remarkable when you consider that he had eight separate operations for kidney stones during the show. Eight! No wonder he was excused from participating in those awful Ford music video shoots. Phillip, who’s 21, will have yet another operation to have his kidneys reconstructed,… continue reading

Phillip Phillips won American Idol 11 last night, and though he beat Jessica Sanchez by earning the majority of “a world record 132 million votes,” according to vote-counters, it was the series’ lowest-rated finale episode ever, following the lowest-rated performance episode ever. That may be because his win was rather predictable, or because this season… continue reading

Jennifer Lopez appears to be quitting American Idol after two seasons judging and less than two years since the drama of her hiring unfolded over the summer. Yesterday, she laid the groundwork for exiting by telling Ellen DeGeneres on her talk show, “I don’t know. I enjoy it, I really do enjoy it. I’ve done… continue reading

Ryan Seacrest proved he works for his $15 million a year last night by hosting American Idol‘s drawn-out two-hour episode while sick–and he definitely looked like it. That kept So You Think You Can Dance‘s Cat Deely from showing him up by guest hosting; she was considered along with executive producer and SYTYCD judge Nigel… continue reading

American Idol host Ryan Seacrest’s contract expires at the end of this season, but he’s renewed it for two more seasons at $15 million per season,

There had been suggestions that Colton Dixon’s religiosity could turn off viewers and voters on American Idol 11, but it’s possible that his surprise elimination from the show last night was because he turned religious viewers away by choosing a song that had the wrong message–a thinly veiled way of acknowledging that he didn’t choose… continue reading

Colton Dixon, one of American Idol‘s presumed front-runners, was eliminated last night, giving this season its first surprising elimination, and making judges Jennifer Lopez, Randy Jackson, and Steven Tyler look stupid for using their save last week. Also, it would have been more of a surprise if Ryan Seacrest didn’t say it was going to… continue reading

The American Idol judges used their one save to prevent Jessica Sanchez from leaving the competition. The show, which has been on a Twitter hashtag bender this season, threw #thesave on the screen and solidified that as the season’s biggest staged moment to date. That’s not to say the results were fixed or Jessica knew;… continue reading