The catfights, the controversy, the stolen glances between Simon and Paula...
When American Idol premiered on Fox in 2002, audiences expecting the same old Star Search got a jolt. Instead of eager-to-please contestants, dutiful judges and instant-gratification results, Idol promoted mouthy divas, mouthier judges and more cliffhangers than a sudsy Aaron Spelling soap.
The show was a hit, and over the course of three seasons, it has become a phenomenon. In American Idol: The E! True Hollywood Story, we recall the show's rapid, roiling, Ruben-and-Clay rise to the top.
What began as a glimmer in Simon Cowell's nasty eye--in the form of Britain's Pop Idol--grew into a star machine in Hollywood, with more than 20 million tuning in each week to watch unknowns like Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken perfect the chops that would make them chart-topping, platinum-selling singers.
Like all good melodramas, Idol hasn't skimped on the dysfunction: Cowell wasn't pretending to dislike fellow judge Paula Abdul; Elton John wasn't feigning outrage at Jennifer Hudson's ouster; you weren't imagining that Ryan Seacrest had a cohost in season one who went by the name Dunkleman.
Through it all, and likely because of it all, Idol remains TV's most watched show and an unmatched platform for launching new pop stars and the likes of, um, William Hung.
Let this True Hollywood Story help you--as Randy "Dawg" Jackson would put it--"feel" the high--and low--notes of the American Idol experience. In the meantime, test your Idol I.Q. with our quiz devoted to the show that made being "pitchy" a very bad thing indeed.
