American Idol 2016. In May 2017, ABC acquired the rights to the series and the program would return for the 2017–18 television season. The show had originally planned on having four judges following the "Pop Idol" format; however, only three judges had been found by the time of the audition round in the first season, namely Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell. A fourth judge, radio DJ Stryker, was originally chosen but he dropped out citing "image concerns". In the second season, New York radio personality Angie Martinez had been hired as a fourth judge but withdrew only after a few
An American Idol Christmas An American Idol Christmas An American Idol Christmas (also titled A Very Idol Christmas in Canada) is a Christmas television special for the television shows "American Idol", "American Juniors" and "Canadian Idol", but focused mostly on "American Idol"– the Canadian winner Ryan Malcolm was edited out in the American release, due to legal reasons. The special was broadcast on the Fox television network in the United States and CTV in Canada. It was first broadcast on November 25, 2003 in the United States. It featured some of the top finalists of American Idol's first season (Kelly Clarkson, Tamyra Gray, Christina