American Idol is in its seventh season and still has fans around the world. While the ratings aren’t what they once were, it’s still one of the most popular shows on television. Thousands if not millions of people around the world dream of making it on the show.

American Idol, a mix between a reality show and a competition show, debuted on television on Fox in 2002. The roots of the show come from a British show called Pop Idol, which first aired in 2001. After national competitions held around the country, a select few contestants are picked to come onto American Idol. Throughout a series of cut downs, the field gets narrower and narrower. Eventually, one contestant remains and is crowned the winner of American Idol.

American Idol was created by Simon Fuller, who was recently named as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Fuller is a talent manager and a television producer who was the brains behind the Idol series. Ryan Seacrest is the host of American Idol. Seacrest, in addition to his hosting duties, is also a radio host. The judges on American Idol are Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul.

The seventh season of American Idol began on January 14th, 2008. This season has had over 40 episodes, all of which have been shown on Fox. The show will run until the winner is named on May 21st, 2008.

While this American Idol was pretty much the same as the other six seasons, there were a couple small changes this season. One change was the fact that contestants were able to use musical instruments. A new American Idol set was another change. A third change was the new opening sequence that is shown when the show airs.

Before the season started, American Idol held the national competitions to find the contestants. As usual, the rules to be eligible as a contestant were you had to be between the ages of 16 and 28, you had to be able to legally work in the United States, you had to have not been on previous American Idol shows and you had to not already have a record contract.

The auditions to make it on the seventh season of American Idol were held in seven cities. The first audition was held in San Diego, California at Qualcomm Stadium. The second audition was held in Dallas, Texas at Texas Stadium. The third audition was held in Omaha, Nebraska at Qwest Center Omaha. The fourth audition was held in Atlanta, Georgia at the Georgia Dome. The fifth audition was held in Charleston, South Carolina in the North Charleston Coliseum. The sixth audition was held in Miami, Florida in the American Airlines Arena. The seventh and final audition was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the Wachovia Center.

In total, 164 contestants were picked from the seven national auditions. Those 164 contestants were sent to Pasadena, California. At the Pasadena Civic Center, the contestants there tried to survive the four day event. By the end of their stay at the Pasadena Civic Center, only 24 of the 164 contestants would still be alive and capable of winning the American Idol contest.

On the first day, the contestants played in front of the judges. If the judges like the performance, the contestant was given a free pass to the third day. If the judges didn’t like the performance, they would get another chance on the second day. On the second day, the judges would decide whether to send a contestant home or allow them to advance to the third day. After the third day, the field sliced down to 50 contestants. On the fourth and final day, the 24 top contestants were named. Those 24 contestants moved on to the next round of American Idol.

For approximately nine American Idol shows, the top 24 contestants competed until it was decided who would comprise the top 12 contestant list. Those eliminated in this round included six males and six females.

The eliminated males were Danny Noriega (18-year-old contestant from California), Luke Menard (29-year-old contestant from Indiana), Robbie Carrico (26-year-old contestant from West Virginia), Jason Yeager (28-year-old contestant from Texas), Colton Berry (18-year-old contestant from Virginia) and Garrett Haley (17-year-old contestant from Ohio).

The eliminated females in this round were Asia’h Epperson (19-year-old from Missouri), Kady Malloy (19-year-old from Texas), Alaina Whitaker (17-year-old from Oklahoma), Alexandréa Lushington (17-year-old from Georgia), Joanne Borgella (25-year-old from New Jersey) and Amy Davis (25-year-old from Indiana).

Once the 12 finalists were named, one finalist was eliminated approximately every other American Idol show. The first finalist eliminated was David Hernandez. Hernandez was a 24-year-old contestant from Arizona. Hernandez caused a controversy when it was revealed that he used to work as a male stripper in Arizona.

The second finalist eliminated was Amanda Overmyer. Overmyer was a 23-year-old contestant from Indiana. She was well-known for being a nurse who liked to ride motorcycles. The third finalist eliminated was Chikezie. Chikezie was a 22-year-old from California who was of Nigerian ancestry. Ramiele Malubay was the fourth finalist eliminated. Malubay was a 20-year-old who was of Filipino ancestry. The fifth finalist eliminated was Michael Johns. Johns was a 29-year-old contestant who was originally from Australia.

Kristy Lee Cook was the sixth finalist eliminated. She was a 24-year-old contestant from Oregon who was known for being a horse trainer. Carly Smithson was the seventh finalist eliminated. Smithson was a 24 and was born in Ireland. Brooke White was the eighth finalist eliminated. White was a 24-year-old who got notoriety for saying she had never seen an R-rated movie. Jason Castro was the ninth finalist ousted. Castro was from Texas and was 21. The tenth finalist eliminated was Syesha Mercado. Mercado was a 21-year-old contestant who gained popularity after fighting the adversity of losing her voice during the taping of American Idol.

The final two contestants were David Archuleta and David Cook. Archuleta was born in 1990 and is from Murray, Utah. He was first on television when he sang on Star Search as a 12-year-old. In fact, he won a $100,000 prize as the winner of Star Search. Cook is a native of Missouri who was born in 1982 in Texas. He came to American Idol from the Omaha, Nebraska audition. Prior to being on American Idol, he worked as a bartender.

On May 21st, the season finale aired and David Cook was named the winner of American Idol 7, with David Archuleta being named the second place winner. With approximately 100 million votes tallied, Cook won by a margin of about 12 million votes. It was somewhat of a surprise since the judges seemed to favor Archuleta, but the audience had the power of the vote and decided that Cook should be the winner.

The season finale ended up lasting about 130 action packed minutes and featured many notable stars, a couple past American Idol winners and a number of comedic skits. While the ratings for American Idol aren’t what they used to be a couple years ago, it’s still an immensely popular television show that will no doubt be back for an eighth season in the near future.