The seventh season of American Idol is set to premiere with a pair of two-hours segments that will run tonight, Jan. 15 and tomorrow, Wednesday, Jan. 16.

The premiere episode will present highlights from the Idol auditions that were held in San Diego, Dallas, Omaha, Atlanta, Charleston, Miami, and Philadelphia.

Episodes of American Idol will then air twice weekly (Tuesday/Wednesday) through Feb. 6. The Hollywood round will be broadcast Feb. 12 and Feb. 13 with the top 24 Idol contestants being announced on Feb. 13.

The show will then continue with the male and female finalist until the top 12 finalists peform for the first time on Mar. 11.

Is the show beginning to lose its luster? One of the shows most popular losers thinks so. Chris Daughtry, who came in fourth place in the 2006 season, thinks the show is in a state of decline.

“I feel like it’s definitely lacking some credibility at this point,” Daughtry, who went on to sell 3.6 million copies of his debut record, told Rolling Stone. “It’s in a state of decline and if they don’t do something about it, it’s probably not gonna last too much longer. I’m sure that’ll be used against me, but that’s the truth, you know?”

Maybe Daughtry is on to something, three top Idols — Ruben Studdard, Taylor Hicks and Katharine McPhee — have all recently lost their record contracts due to low sales.

Whatever the case is, I’m sure millions of people will still be tuning in tonight for the American Idol 7 premiere episode.