American Idol (season 7) American Idol (season 7) The seventh season of "American Idol", the annual reality show and singing competition, began on January 15, 2008 and concluded on May 21, 2008. Ryan Seacrest continued to host the show with Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson returning as judges. David Cook was announced the winner of the competition on May 21, 2008, defeating runner-up David Archuleta by a margin of roughly 12 million votes out of over 97 million, which was at that time the highest recorded vote total ever recorded in the show's history. The split was 56% to 44%. The seventh
Little Talent Show "TV Eye - What's on Television" that MTV was tardy in coming forward with a musical competition show, and expressed disdain that none of the competitors seemed to have talent. The pilot episode "I'm Dyin, Bryan" was shot under the (false) title "Triple Threat." Most of the contestants were professional singers, actors, comedians or dancers of some kind, and were told that this was a serious (if small scale) talent competition rather than a spoof. Misleading editing was used to try to show the performers in the worst possible light. For example, professional singer Aria Johnson appears in the pilot