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American Idol is an American reality-competition show airing on Fox. It debuted on June 11, 2002, and it has since become the most popular show on American television[citation needed]. Part of the Idol franchise, it originated 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 three judges who give critiques of the contestants' performances in order to facilitate the voting: record producer Randy Jackson; pop singer and choreographer Paula Abdul; and music executive Simon Cowell. The show is hosted by former children's game show emcee and television personality Ryan Seacrest; comedian Brian Dunkleman cohosted with Seacrest in season one. The American Idol band is led by Rickey Minor. The show usually airs on Tuesday and Wednesday nights in the US and Thursday and Friday nights in the UK (two days after the US airing). In its seven seasons, its winners have been Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Hicks, Jordin Sparks and David Cook. Hicks was the oldest winner at 29, Sparks the youngest at just 17.

Currently American Idol is televised on TVNZ in New Zealand, Fox in the United States, CTV in Canada, MNET Series in South Africa, FOX8 in Australia, ITV2 in the UK, Global TV in Indonesia, TV3 Ireland in Ireland, Star World in several parts of Asia, aTV World in Hong Kong, QTV11 in the Philippines and on TV4 in Sweden