"American Idol" season debut down from last year
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U.S. television's top show,  "American Idol," returned to prime time with 33.4 million  viewers, down sharply from last year's record season debut but  still more watched than the four other major networks combined,  according to ratings on Wednesday.
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"American Idol" host Ryan Seacrest says he believes judge Simon Cowell was the reason the show had low ratings last season.
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LOS ANGELES  - Monster viewer turnouts  for the AFC Championship Game on CBS and for the return of  "American Idol" on Fox determined the network rankings for the  week ended Jan. 23, with CBS and Fox finishing No. 1 and No. 2  among total viewers and adults 18-49.
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NEW YORK  - Viewers swarmed to NBC's "Singing Bee" on Tuesday night as Fox's telecast of baseball's All-Star Game dropped to near-historic lows.
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Coca-Cola, Ford and AT&T  are back again as the three main sponsors of "American Idol,"  which returned to the airwaves on Tuesday.
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"American Idol," for all its success, is not above tinkering Â especially after last year's revolving door of celebrity mentors and Sanjaya Malakar's improbable run.
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No more audition silliness. It's time to get serious on "American Idol." The Fox talent show trimmed down the competition Wednesday night, leaving 24 semifinalists &#151; 12 men and 12 women &#151; to vie for the "Idol" title and a record contract. The decision-making finale will be held in May.
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Fox's "American Idol" returned as the nation's most popular TV series, but with 4 million fewer viewers than the 2007 season premiere.
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By Ronnie Gill, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.  Feb. 7--Entering the sixth season of "American Idol," it feels as if we've seen it all -- both off- and online.
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The controversial new format of the  CBS reality show "Survivor" -- dividing teams of contestants by  race -- proved the series' least-watched debut episode since  its first season, Nielsen Media Research reported on Friday.
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After more than two decades working his way up &#151; behind the scenes &#151; in the music industry, Simon Cowell sits center stage. Cowell's withering putdowns of the overconfident and undertalented &#151; first on Britain's "Pop Idol," then on "American Idol," which began its fourth season Jan. 18 &#151; have made him a celebrity on both sides of the Atlantic.
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The last two years have provided a  quick ride to the top for 2005 "American Idol" champ Carrie  Underwood. And if there were any doubts about how the winner of  America's most famous music reality show would fare in the  country world, those doubts have long been erased.
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NEW YORK  - Coca-Cola, Ford and AT&T are back again as the three main sponsors of "American Idol," which returned to the airwaves on Tuesday.
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Taylor Hicks, below, the 2006 winner of âAmerican Idol,â has followed Ruben Studdard, the 2003 winner, out the door of J Records, The Associated Press reported. âTaylor is going to record on his own for the next album,â said Liz Morentin, a public relations representative for J, a label within Sony-BMG. Mr. Studdard left his contract with the label late last year but remains under contract with 19 Entertainment, a company managed by Simon Fuller, creator of âIdol.â Mr. Studdardâs last album, âThe Return,â sold only 236,000 copies. Mr. Hicksâs self-titled album, released in December 2006, reached No. 2 on the Billboard chart and sold 699,000 copies, failing to reach the million mark achieved by the debuts of previous âIdolâ winners, Nielsen SounScan reported.
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The return of âLost,â albeit a two-hour repeat of last seasonâs finale, buoyed ABCâs ratings on Wednesday during a night otherwise dominated by Foxâs âAmerican Idolâ and âThe Moment of Truth.â
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2006 "American Idol" winner Taylor Hicks, best know his his on stage antics and constant "soul patrol" chants, is experiencing difficulty connecting to an audience. His debut album released last December, landed in the #2 spot respectably, but h...
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Deconstructing Season Six, and debating Idol's impact on Election 2008.