American Idol 11

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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; …