American Juniors

American Juniors was a reality television show broadcast on the Fox Network as a spin-off of the wildly popular American Idol. The first and only season of American Juniors aired in the summer of 2003.

American Juniors was a reality television show broadcast on the Fox Network as a spin-off of the wildly popular American Idol. The first and only season of American Juniors aired in the summer of 2003.

Around 2,000 children and teenagers auditioned for the show; from these twenty were chosen as contestants. Throughout the season, this number was narrowed down to five through several rounds of voting. Like American Idol, voting was done by the show's viewers via telephone. Unlike Idol, to prevent hurt feelings the contestants were voted into the group, as opposed to being voted off the show. Idol host Ryan Seacrest repeated this duty for most of the shows. Idol judges did not appear; the principal Juniors judges were Gladys Knight (who also hosted when Seacrest was absent) and Deborah Gibson. A number of Idol alumni, such as Ruben Studdard and Christina Christian, made guest performances.