Hard to believe it was 20 years ago that Kelly Clarkson and Justin Guarini first duked it out in front of Paula Abdul, an unknown music producer named Randy Jackson, and some British bloke named Simon Cowell. American Idol premiered on June 11th, 2002 on FOX. The show was fairly low budget (the judges table was...a TABLE with an cloth draped over it and not that spaceship looking thing they have now) and featured two unknown hosts name Brian Dunkelman and some guy named Ryan Seacrest.
After a hitatus, a network change, and a whole different lineup of judges from those early seasons, the show is ready to go with the new season. Ryan Seacrest, by the way, is the only person to be stay with the show through all of the seasons.
The new season, featuring the same judge lineup since moving to ABC (Lionel Richie, Luke Bryan, and Katy Perry), is set to premiere on Sunday, February 27th. The new season's promo is out and is hilarious. The judges and Seacrest ponder what there lives would be like had they never been discovered.
Check it out!
Photo: Getty