American Idol, American Idol Season 12 | featured news

In the heyday of "American Idol," the notion that it could fall ratings victim to a zombie slugfest or standard crime drama would have been laughable... When it comes to advertising dollars, the series "will have the top price for the 2012-13 season," said analyst Jon Swallen of Kantar Media. Last season, "American Idol" grossed a leading $836 million in ad revenue.

Ending its three-night live round, American Idol (3.5/10) pared it down to the final 10 contestants of Season 12 on Thursday. Spilling two minutes over, the scheduled 90-minute live show had a lot of Ryan Seacrest shuttling back and forth to the holding room to bring the lucky ones back on stage. It also had a mixed bag of ratings results.

On the second night of its three-night live round American Idol (3.7/10) saw a surprising flameout by contestant Charlie Askew over criticism from the judges. Besides the profound dismay from judge Nicki Minaj over Askew’s performance, the two-hour show also saw Idol continue its weekly Wednesday ratings slide.

Headlines over the past week have been dominated by a fiery, often bitter fight, and we’re not just talking about Obama vs. Romney. We're talking about the nasty feud between “American Idol” judges Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey. Behind-the-scenes audition video showed the young rapper ripping Carey with scathing remarks like "off with your head" and "I will knock you out.” The jaw-dropping outburst prompted Carey to tell Barbara Walters that Minaj went as far as to threaten to shoot her, which reportedly resulted in Carey hiring extra security.

Relax, "American Idol" fans! Everything is fine despite all the reports about judges Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey feuding! Well, that's what the show's producers are saying on Friday after yet another day of reports of trouble between the two superstars.

Last month, Mariah Carey denied she was fighting with fellow "American Idol" judge Nicki Minaj, joking that they'd only been together two days and "a feud takes a little longer to happen." Well, it looks like it's been long enough - video has surfaced of Minaj cursing out the pop star on the "Idol" judges' panel.

After months of rumors and speculation, "American Idol" is reportedly close to choosing two new judges for Season 12: Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban.

Five-time Grammy winner Mariah Carey has officially joined the judging panel on Fox's "American Idol." Fox entertainment chief Kevin Reilly announced her signing to a meeting of the Television Critics Association on Monday, and then put Carey on speaker phone to confirm the deal.

Could Charlie Sheen be a judge on "American Idol"? The actor says he's game. In an interview Tuesday on Ryan Seacrest's radio show, Sheen said "Idol" producer Nigel Lythgoe publicly threw his name out there as a possible judge and the idea piqued people's interest -- including his own.