'Idol' Wins, Even on Thursday

A Thursday edition of American Idol carried FOX to a ratings win for the night, while giving a decent launch to the new season of Hell's Kitchen. The final audition episode of Idol drew a 13.7/21 for FOX at 8 p.m. A Criminal Minds rerun on CBS snagged second with a 5.9/9. The CW's Smallville, 2.6/4, finished third in total viewers and adults 18-49, even though NBC's My Name Is Earl and Kath & Kim and ABC's Ugly Betty had slightly higher household ratings. Read the full story here. More »

Delightful break where Seacrest dances with a Kiss-meets-David-Bowie guy in spandex purple pants. We need more Dancing Seacrest and less sob stories and mentally-ill auditionees. Read the full recap here. More »

"American Idol" snagged a 15.0/23 for FOX at 8 p.m., up from Tuesday's show. "Knight Rider," 3.8/6, finished a distant second for NBC. A rerun of "Lost" drew a 3.7/6 for FOX. CBS came in fourth with the prime-time "CBS Evening News," 4.2/6, and an "Old Christine" rerun, 3.3/5. The CW aired a "Privileged" repeat. Read the full story here. More »

According to KVOA out of Phoenix, AZ (via the Associated Press), American Idol has issued an apology for the judges misinterpreting Mark Mudd's comment of "take care and be careful" as he left his Louisville, Kentucky audition.

According to the article, "The show's producers say they had not heard that [expression] from any other contestants, so it took everyone by surprise. A statement from 'Idol' producers says, 'We now know better and look forward to visiting Louisville again someday.' More »

Our final contestant is a sob-story-alternative-grungy-barefoot-crunchy-granola girl named Rose Flack. She sings "I Feel the Earth Move" and she has a very, very good Carole King/Stevie Nicks voice. Love it. She didn't need the sob-story. She's fantastic on her own. The judges just eat her up, even though they didn't think the vocals were outstanding, and put her through to Hollywood.

Well... between David Osmond, Frankie Jordan, Taylor Vaifanua and Rose Flack I've got some faces to watch for in Hollywood Week. Seriously, I am the Smitten Kitten with all 4 of them. Well done, guys. Read the full recap here. More »

Follow along after the jump to read or participate in the Los Angeles Times Idol Tracker live chat with American Idol season 4 contestant Anthony Fedorov. I always liked him, particularly his "I Want to Know What Love Is" by Foreigner. Very nice.

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We're launching a weekly American Idol chat feature today via our friends at the Los Angeles Times. The first chat session is with season 4 contestant Anthony Fedorov. Check this space around 3 pm eastern/2 pm central for the chat session! More »

We're joining our American Idol team in Jacksonville tonight. Seacrest gets to ride to the auditions in Simon's limo and they bicker like a married couple. Love it. Plus we actually get to see some GOOD singers tonight. What a novel idea!

We are treated to some FANTASTIC footage of Randy Jackson playing with Journey. There needs to be MORE of that on this show. That might be the most fabulous thing I've ever seen on Idol. Read the full recap here. More »

First season American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson will debut a clip of her first video from her new album on Wednesday night's Idol broadcast. The song is called "My Life Would Suck Without You" and it's the first single off her new album All I Ever Wanted. More »

American Idol season 1 runner-up Justin Guarini has agreed to be on the third season of John Rich's (from Big & Rich, as in "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy") CMT show Gone Country, where he takes already-established music and entertainment stars and "immerses them in all things country for a chance to break out as the next big country superstar. The one who is most successful at crossing over by the end of the series will have a country single produced by Rich." More »