DJariya

**TWO-HOUR SEASON PREMIERE, PART ONE** - "AMERICAN IDOL XIII" - (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) CC-HDTV 720p- Dolby Digital 5.1

LET THE FUN BEGIN! "AMERICAN IDOL XIII" RETURNS FOR AN ALL-NEW SEASON WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, ON FOX

Part Two of the Two-Night Season Premiere Event Airs Tomorrow

Everyone's favorite singing competition returns for its highly anticipated 13th season with a new dream team judging panel, new contestants and the best and worst of auditions. Host Ryan Seacrest and judges Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban and Harry Connick, Jr., travel across the country to Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Detroit, Omaha, Salt Lake City and San Francisco where the good, the bad and the outrageous audition for their shot at stardom. This season promises to deliver the most talented group of singers yet and as always, it's up to the viewers to root and vote for their favorite contestants, ultimately crowning the next AMERICAN IDOL. Don't miss the auditions from Boston and Austin that everyone will be talking about the next day in the all-new "Auditions #1" Season Premiere, Part One episode of AMERICAN IDOL XIII airing Wednesday, Jan. 15 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. (ID-1301/02) (TV-PG D, L)

Host: Ryan Seacrest

Judges: Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban, Harry Connick, Jr.




Season 13 premieres tonight for anyone who still cares and doesn't mind adding 4 hours per week on their DVRs (even though most of you are probably majorly backed up)

Keith Urban is the only returning judge. FOX fired the former EP's Ken Warrick and Nigel Lythgoe and hired the Producer of Swedish Idol to fix things.

TomOpus

I guess we'll see how the new lineup works out with viewers. I still miss the original judges. Even Paula.

DJariya

I didn't watch last season after major burnout with this, The Voice, and X-Factor. Plus after seeing a few episodes, Nicki and Mariah were a total train wreck.

I quit watching X-Factor just because of the singing competition overkill this year. Still watch The Voice. May give this another whirl with the "changes" that were supposedly made.

I heard they are speeding things up and killing the oldies theme nights for the live performances and trying to make things more current.

mphtrilogy

i was out minaj, but back in.

Hopefully they keep it light and fun.

Boondock Saint

Started losing interest by the end of Season 10 and skipped the last couple seasons. I may hop on board with this when the Hollywood/Vegas rounds start. The auditions are just too long and boring now.

DRG

I'm just hoping Connick will be critical when it calls for it, because J Lo and Urban were both the 'nice ones' in their previous seasons.

TomOpus

Show feels more subdued so far. One big change is Ryan isn't waiting outside the door after each audition. They also changed the "gold ticket" this year.

eta: Ryan has shown up at the exit door a couple times towards the end of the show.

astrochimp

I guess a lot of dudes are hoping to be Ed Sheeran.

Kal-El

Watching solely for Harry. I love how he tore the final 4 a new one last season and dukes it out with Randy on performance night.

astrochimp

HC Jr is great

Goldberg74

Cradling that kid at the end had me rolling.

Charlie Goose

I'm another one who skipped last season. I couldn't stomach Nicky Minaj, plus I was just tired of the show after watching for 11 seasons.

It was the new judge lineup that has brought me back for now. When Lopez was hosting with stale Randy Jackson and the worthless Steven Tyler, I thought she was way too nice. Hopefully she'll be a real judge this time.

Patman

HCJr. was cracking me up, good addition to the Judges line-up.

DWilson

Of course, this is under a new production team and they feel that the "middle period" between the auditions and the live performances was too long and not popular with a broad section of the audience, so they've replaced it with something called "Rush Week", which will streamline the final selection period in some "new" type of way.

Of course, "The Chamber" was one of their big ideas, and they've touted it heavily in the some of the pre-show articles, but so far its been kind of a bust, and barely used on-air.

Roybq

Count me as another one who dropped out last season because of the judges. Took a chance tonight and I'm liking the show again. Harry's going to keep me watching this season.

JeffTheAlpaca

Idol will never get close to the Voice again and they should just cancel the show after this season.

MikahC

That's a very limited view of why a show should exist or not. From a business standpoint, AI should continue to exist as long as it continues to be financially viable. From an artistic standpoint, it should continue to exist as long as it has an audience.

Even last year, while I had a strong dislike for the whole Nicki/Mariah pairing, I still heard some performances I liked. In fact, more performances than I heard last season on The Voice. Looking at my archives, I don't think I saved a single Voice performance from last season, and there's no one I'm looking forward to following. Certainly not the winner.

If you happen to hear what you like more on The Voice (the cool new kid), there's nothing wrong with that, but it doesn't invalidate everything else.

Anyway... Harry's been a breath of fresh air. It was worth watching the episode just to see Harry talk about music and J.Lo half in frustration saying, "You know too much." Unfortunately, while I gravitate towards the Harry's of the world, I've learned not to underestimate the J.Lo's of the world. Pop stars go a long way by being the McDonald's of the music world. Part of that was continually underlined by how many people knew J.Lo compared to how many knew Harry Connick, Jr. Yet musically, J.Lo couldn't hold a candle to him (I'm sure even she'd admit that).

As J.Lo wanted to put through some people who had potential, Harry was a bit more realistic. "When you [J.Lo] were getting into the dance world, you had to have techniques, you couldn't just get up there and shake it." She couldn't help but agree with that. Some people are looking for too many shortcuts.

And just for the humor quotient....

Harry Connick: "I just said no to 4 cheerleaders. If I'd have had that chance in high school..."

I wasn't the biggest fan of bringing in someone foreign to revamp American Idol, but so far, it's OK. I used to like the "small stage" period after Hollywood where the artists could just pick their favorite songs and sing in front of family and friends. The audio was always better and I could enjoy it more. The big stage creates a better performance environment, but there's a bunch of screaming, clapping, etc.

I've never been a fan of spending much time on the bad singers, so the more that's eliminated, fine by me. I could also do with less on the back story portion of things in the early auditions. I'd rather learn about people after they make it to a certain point. Give me more singing, which is why I watch.

Goldberg74

During the San Francisco auditions, when the giggly bald guy "flipped" his hair when talking to J-Lo, my wife looked me and commented, "Drag queen?"



Harry and Keith just looked at each other.

astrochimp

Remind me again, who are the winners from The Voice?

Eddie W

NBC & the judges.

That's the thing that sets Idol apart. It has the pedigree. It can & has produced huge stars. So the stakes feel higher. As entertaining as The Voice it, it feels like a season of a TV show that's forgotten as soon as the finale ends.

Charlie Goose

Do young people today really not know who Harry Connick Jr. is?

bluesix

Hmmm..

less Ryan Seacrest equals better more watchable American Idol...

who knew

Jadzia

Nikki McKibben's son is on American Idol?

I am officially old.

Goldberg74

What?! We tuned in late. That's cray-cray?!?!!!

Charlie Goose

She looked like the last dozen years have been rough for her.