American Idol (season 12) American Idol (season 12) The twelfth season of "American Idol" premiered on January 16, 2013, as part of the mid-season of the 2012–13 network television season. Ryan Seacrest returned to host. Randy Jackson returned for his twelfth season as judge and was joined by new judges Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban, who replaced Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler. The season was the third to have four judges, after the eighth and ninth seasons. It was also the first season in the show's history where all the finalists of one gender (male) were eliminated before any finalists of the
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