American Idol

Episodes

• Episode 42 | Aired May 20 Boxing Day Despite a tiresome prizefighting theme, the last performance episode is an exciting three-round match that Simon calls for David Archuleta over David Cook Comments +
• Episode 42 | Aired May 21 One Fine David In the season finale, after some truly memorable performances by contestants past and present, David Cook is announced as the winner Comments +
• Episode 40 | Aired May 14 When You Wish Upon Two Stars With the elimination of Syesha Mercado, it seems the show's producers have what they've wanted all along: a season-finale match between the two Davids Comments +
• Episode 39 | Aired May 13 Throw Syesha From the Train The judges, the producers, and the contestants themselves pick songs, and Syesha is short-changed, making the all-David finale almost inevitable Comments +
• Episode 38 | Aired May 7 Assisted Suicide After two lackluster performances on Tuesday, Jason Castro seems suspiciously happy to be voted off, leaving a reportedly neck-and-neck final three Comments +
• Episode 37 | Aired May 6 The Kids and the Hall Choosing from a list of 500 classics selected by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, some of the final four contestants rise to the occasion, while one takes what looks like a deliberate nosedive Comments +
• Episode 36 | Aired Apr 30 Never Mind the Bollix... Glossing over the Paula Abdul controversy, the show sends a sentimental favorite, Brooke White, home Comments +
• Episode 35 | Aired Apr 29 Rough Diamond Despite Paula Abdul's bizarre, time-shifting critique, the show must go on, and some performances actually shine through on Neil Diamond night Comments +
• Episode 34 | Aired Apr 23 Getting Our Irish Up In an outrageous elimination night, rebootin' Brooke sails through while Syesha and Carly go to the bottom two, and our favorite tattooed lady goes home Comments +
• Episode 33 | Aired Apr 22 Better Than 'Cats' On a very theatrical night of Andrew Lloyd Webber songs, Syesha goes cabaret, Carly rocks, and Brooke melts down Comments +
• Episode 32 | Aired Apr 16 Too Many Cooks Seacrest said it: Despite a week of solid singing, someone had to get out of the crowded ''Idol'' kitchen Comments +
• Episode 31 | Aired Apr 15 Cash In, Carey Mariah Carey turned ''American Idol'' into a release party for her new CD, and most performers did her songbook proud Comments +
• Episode 30 | Aired Apr 10 Shock and Awe Someone was sent packing on this year's post-''Idol Gives Back'' show -- and you'd never guess who Comments +
• Episode 29 | Aired Apr 9 'Idol Gives Back' While the contestants worked the phones, Carrie Underwood, Annie Lennox, and Fergie stole the show, Miley Cyrus sang two songs, and Billy Crystal and Robin Williams flirted with elimination from the charity program Comments +
• Episode 28 | Aired Apr 8 Too Much Inspiration A night of supposedly uplifting ballads meant to set up ''Idol Gives Back'' somehow falls flat, although Kristy Lee Cook suddenly seems amazing again Comments +
• Episode 27 | Aired Apr 2 Post-Parton Depression Dolly week ends with a performance by the lady herself, followed by Ramiele's tearful departure Comments +
• Episode 26 | Aired Apr 1 Welcome to the Dolly House With two glaring exceptions (sorry, girls!), the contestants' takes on the Parton songbook made us believe this might indeed be the most talented group ever Comments +
• Episode 25 | Aired Mar 26 Rocky Bottom The voters' three least favorite contestants are a mixed bag, and the talented Chikezie is eliminated; at least Kimberley Locke returns to prove that winning ''Idol'' isn't everything Comments +
• Episode 24 | Aired Mar 25 Rock of Ages Choosing songs from their birth year, most of the contestants do way better (Michael Johns) or way worse (David Archuleta) than we expected Comments +
• Episode 23 | Aired Mar 19 Two Out of Three Are Bad Except for Kristy Lee Cook, the viewers get the bottom three wrong, dissing Carly Smithson and eliminating Amanda Overmyer Comments +
• Episode 22 | Aired Mar 18 Mersey Killing A second week of Beatles songs proves to be too much, with most of the contestants revealing -- or confirming -- some potentially fatal flaws Comments +
• Episode 21 | Aired Mar 12 Bottomed Out Although Kristy Lee Cook's country disaster had everyone expecting her departure, she somehow got more votes than poor David Hernandez Comments +
• Episode 20 | Aired Mar 11 A Hard Night's Daze A selection of Beatles classics made it harder to pick out the front-runners and also-rans among the 12 finalists Comments +
• Episode 19 | Aired Mar 6 Rough Cut With two predictable eliminations and two debatable ones, the dozen finalists are about to hit the big stage Comments +
• Episode 18 | Aired Mar 5 Houston, We Have a Problem Sorry, Whitney, but the show has to stop contestants from covering your hits (as Asia'h and Syesha may learn); by the way, maybe ''Idol'' should ban another pop diva, too Comments +
• Episode 17 | Aired Mar 4 Sixes and Sevens After a surprisingly strong showing by the semifinal eight guys, we can only pick one who clearly doesn't deserve a spot in the final half dozen Comments +
• Episode 16 | Aired Feb 28 Four-Gone Conclusions While seeing Alaina and Alexandréa go left us a little confused and a little choked up, we were just fine with Robbie and Jason's departures Comments +
• Episode 15 | Aired Feb 27 Girls' Night Outrage With two exceptions, the 10 remaining women give deeply disappointing performances in their second semifinal night Comments +
• Episode 14 | Aired Feb 26 Nine Guys Finish Last Little David Archuleta's winning performance of ''Imagine'' made all the other men singing tonight look like also-rans, but we saw reason for some of them to hope Comments +
• Episode 13 | Aired Feb 22 Four-Flusher The viewers' votes send two men and two women down the drain, but we suspect more tears were shed on stage than in living rooms Comments +
• Episode 12 | Aired Feb 20 Separate but Unequal Despite what Simon and Randy said, the women easily outsung the men in the first week of semifinals Comments +
• Episode 11 | Aired Feb 19 Disappointment Television In the first night of semifinals, only four men seem like real contenders Comments +
• Episode 10 | Aired Feb 13 The Semi-Final Countdown Hollywood Week narrows the pack down to 24, and our ''Idol'' expert lists who's a shoo-in for the final 12, who could be a spoiler, and who's a likely train wreck Comments +
• Episode 09 | Aired Feb 12 To Live and Die in Hollywood The new format of Hollywood Week eliminates the group bickering and refocuses the attention on singing and the drama of auditions Comments +
• Episode 08 | Aired Feb 6 Old Dog, New Tricks After seven seasons, Simon reveals his lovable side in the final audition episode, livening up a mixed bag of tryouts with wit, charm, and real star power Comments +
• Episode 07 | Aired Feb 5 Tales, You Win Too many auditioners seem to be spending more time working on their backstory than on their singing, and the judges are letting them get away with it Comments +
• Episode 06 | Aired Jan 30 Love Is Deaf The judges get swept up by romance in the Miami auditions, but they'll have to deal with some dubious choices later in Hollywood Comments +
• Episode 05 | Aired Jan 29 Husker Do's and Don'ts The Nebraska auditions inspire our expert to offer some helpful hints on how to make these improved episodes even better Comments +
• Episode 04 | Aired Jan 23 The Upside-Down Show In the Charleston auditions, freaks and geeks win, while apparent shoo-ins go home Comments +
• Episode 03 | Aired Jan 22 Go, Diego, Go! In San Diego, a reportedly professional singer and a lovable single father with a cute kid catch us off guard and prove that the auditions can still move us Comments +
• Episode 02 | Aired Jan 16 Happy Texas The kinder, gentler season continues in Dallas, where the judges may have let some potential Sanjayas slip through because of their sad stories or winning personalities Comments +
• Episode 01 | Aired Jan 15 Touchy-Philly Even Simon seems a little moved during the Philadelphia auditions, which hit the right balance of triumph (welcome, Kristy Lee Cook and Angela Martin!) and train wreck (bye-bye, stalker guy!) Comments +