American Idol To Air Wednesday and Thursdays This Season; Premieres 1/19 & 1/20

Television's No. 1 series, AMERICAN IDOL, will move to Wednesdays and Thursdays this season beginning with a two-night premiere event Wednesday, Jan. 19 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) and Thursday, Jan. 20 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT).

AMERICAN IDOL welcomes new judges Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler, who join judge Randy Jackson and host Ryan Seacrest, and an all-new crop of hopefuls from auditions held in Austin, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Nashville, New Orleans, San Francisco and East Rutherford, NJ.

As previously reported, the program will chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M Records Jimmy Iovine as an in-house mentor.

The finalists in the competition will also face several new challenges. Contestants will be asked to create a music video and work with a full band and dancers to deliver an awards show-style performance, according to TVGuide.com.

"American Idol" executive producer Nigel Lythgoe also told TVGuide.com that the program will no longer have a phase where the contestants pool shrinks from 24 to 12. Instead, the competition will begin with the top 12.

Among the many American Idol finalists and winners to appeared on the Broadway stage are Fantasia, Justin Guarini, Jordin Sparks, Diana DeGarmo, Ace Young, Tamyra Gray, Constantine Maroulis, Frenchie Davis, Clay Aiken and Taylor Hicks.

For more information on "American Idol," visit www.americanidol.com.

 

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