--- title: American Idol Canceled: Last Season on FOX description: The show, which helped teach Americans to vote for their favorites, ended up getting voted out of viewers' lives canonical: https://time.com/3853612/american-idol-canceled-last-season-fox/ author: Daniel D'Addario article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-11T14:50:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:04:03.582Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: 'American Idol' Was a Victim of Its Own Success og:description: The show, which helped teach Americans to vote for their favorites, ended up getting voted out of viewers' lives og:url: https://time.com/3853612/american-idol-canceled-last-season-fox/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d6fee3c4e5c4017/6987ef28e20a879d41a894ee/american-idol-jennifer-lopez.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Keith Urban, Jennifer Lopez and Harry Connick, Jr, on American Idol XIV airing Wednesday, April 8, 2015. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'American Idol' Was a Victim of Its Own Success twitter:description: The show, which helped teach Americans to vote for their favorites, ended up getting voted out of viewers' lives twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d6fee3c4e5c4017/6987ef28e20a879d41a894ee/american-idol-jennifer-lopez.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # _American Idol_ Was a Victim of Its Own Success > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account.  by [Daniel D'Addario](https://time.com/author/daniel-daddario/)  ## Daniel D'Addario May 11, 2015 2:50 PM UTC  Keith Urban, Jennifer Lopez and Harry Connick, Jr, on American Idol XIV airing Wednesday, April 8, 2015. Keith Urban, Jennifer Lopez and Harry Connick, Jr, on American Idol XIV airing Wednesday, April 8, 2015.Michael Becker—FOX  by [Daniel D'Addario](https://time.com/author/daniel-daddario/)  ## Daniel D'Addario May 11, 2015 2:50 PM UTC Today, Fox announced that the next season of reality-TV stalwart _American Idol_, the show’s fifteenth, will also be its last. The news hardly comes as a surprise—_Idol_‘s best days are behind it, and Fox, currently in fourth place among the four major networks, needs to develop new hits. Yet there’s still something surreal about the end of _Idol_, not least because at the show’s peak, it seemed like it’d never come. _American Idol_ has such a easy, pleasing formula—viewers vote on their favorite singer—that its first several seasons dominated the ratings; other networks began to avoid scheduling anything promising against the juggernaut. And yet _Idol_ seemed to learn all the wrong lessons from its success, doubling down on the show’s worst and most annoying aspects. The fighting between judges Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul, always ancillary to the main action of the show, amped up year after year. After both Cowell and Abdul were gone, a disastrous 2013 season framed around the rivalry between new judges Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj communicated that the show was now more interested in burnishing the reputations of established stars than in finding new ones. The show has by all accounts redoubled its focus on musicianship with judges Keith Urban, Jennifer Lopez, and Harry Connick Jr. But _Idol_‘s wilderness period, during which competitors like _The Voice_ and Fox’s own _X-Factor_ cut into _Idol_‘s monopoly on musical competition, made the show seem way less relevant. The colossal popularity of _American Idol_ was a historical accident, or a case of supreme good timing. Coming on the air as it did in 2002, towards the very end of the boom years for the recording industry, the show bridged the gap between the dominance of corporate record labels and the current era of stars, minted on social media. The handful of boldface names that _Idol_ minted—Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson, Jordin Sparks—were the epitome of square, but their fame coincided with and fueled a growing sense that stardom could be more democratic. It’s tough to imagine social platforms like Vine launching stars so easily without a generation taught from an early age that, when it comes to choosing who’s on Top 40 radio, their votes matter. Yet the show’s impact on the recording industry was also more meager than its footprint would suggest. The stars _Idol_ launched wouldn’t have become famous without the show, but they _did_ fit neatly into proscribed roles. (Carrie Underwood was a big-voiced country sweetheart, Jennifer Hudson a big-voiced R&B belter—types of musicians who are hardly new.) The only truly spiky and strange star the show ever launched was runner-up Adam Lambert, whose chart performance has been reliable but hardly earth-shattering. _American Idol_‘s greatest impact was how, in conjunction with the rise of the social web and the collapse of the record industry, it let viewers think they could choose their stars. Those same viewers ended up choosing other things to watch as _Idol_ drifted from its core mission—but that, after all, is the power of democratized entertainment. ### See American Idol's Most Successful Alumni  Carrie Underwood, winner of American Idol season 4, performs at the 2014 American Country Countdown Awards at Music City Center in Nashville on Dec. 15, 2014. Jason Merritt—Getty Images  Kelly Clarkson, season 1 winner, performs "Heartbeat Song" onstage during the 2015 iHeartRadio Music Awards at The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on March 29, 2015. Kevin Mazur—Getty Images  Chris Daughtry, who came in 4th on season 5, performs at Pompano Beach Amphitheatre in Pompano Beach, Fla. on Nov. 12, 2014. Larry Marano—Getty Images  Clay Aiken, Democratic candidate for U.S. Congress in North Carolina's Second District, poses for a selfie with supporters after casting his vote in the midterm elections oat Mills Park Elementary School in Cary, N.C. on Nov. 4, 2014\. Aiken was runner up on the second season of American Idol. Grant Halverson—Getty Images  Fantasia, winner of season 3, performs at the 7th Annual Music Festival at Boardwalk Hall Arena in Atlantic City, N.J. on May 9, 2015. Donald Kravitz—Getty Images  Ruben Studdard, season 2 winner, performs at When Georgia Smiled: The Robin McGraw Revelation Foundation And Verizon Unite For Second Annual Domestic Violence Summit at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, Calif. on Oct. 3, 2014. Mathew Imaging—WireImage/Getty Images  Scotty McCreery performs during "FOX & Friends" holiday special at FOX Studios in New York City on Dec. 4, 2014\. McCreery won season 10 of American Idol. Slaven Vlasic—Getty Images  Kellie Pickler, who came in 6th on season 5, performs at 2014 USO Gala: Honoring Those Who Serve at the Washington Hilton in Washington on Oct. 17, 2014. Paul Morigi—Getty Images  David Cook, season 7 winner, performs at the Soles4Souls charity concert, sponsored by Barefoot Wine & Bubbly at the Bridge Building in Nashville on April 1, 2014. Jason Davis—Getty Images  Jennifer Hudson, who came in 7th place on season 3, performs at We Day at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill. on April 30, 2015. Timothy Hiatt—Getty Images  Jordin Sparks, winner of season 6 of American Idol, performs at Jeffrey Sanker's White Party in Palm Springs, Calif. on April 25, 2015. Chelsea Lauren—WireImage/Getty Images  Phillip Phillips, season 11 winner, performs at Hard Rock Live! in the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla. on Nov. 15, 2014. Larry Marano—Getty Images  David Archuleta, season 7 runner-up, performs at the KIIS FM's 10th Annual "American Idol" Finale Viewing Party at Regal 14 at LA Live Downtown in Los Angeles on May 25, 2011. Jonathan Leibson—FilmMagic/Getty Images  Adam Lambert, season 8 runner-up, is seen onstage at 102.7 KIIS FM's Wango Tango at StubHub Center in Los Angeles on May 9, 2015. Chelsea Lauren—WireImage/Getty Images  Josh Gracin, who came in 4th place in season 2, performs during the 2012 Downtown Hoedown at Comerica Park in Detroit on June 8, 2012. Paul Warner—Getty Images  Taylor Hicks, winner of season 5, performs at Tony La Russa's 3rd annual Leaders & Legends Gala at the MGM Grand Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas on Nov. 22, 2014. David Becker—Getty Images  Bo Bice, season 4 runner-up, performs in concert following the 2012 Colt Ford & Friends Celebrity Golf Classic at Legends Golf Course Club in Braselton, Ga. on Sept. 24, 2012. Chris McKay—Getty Images  Elliott Yamin, who came in 3rd in season 5, performs at the Malaria No More Reception With American Idols To Celebrate Recent Progress In The Fight Against Malaria in Washington on March 7, 2012. Paul Morigi—Getty Images  Katharine McPhee, season 5 runner-up, walks out on the field to sing the national anthem before the 2015 NFC Championship game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Green Bay Packers at CenturyLink Field in Seattle on Jan. 18, 2015. Ronald Martinez—Getty Images  Diana DeGarmo, season 3 runner-up, arrives at the "American Idol" XIII season premiere event held at Royce Hall, UCLA in Westwood, Calif. on Jan. 14, 2014. Michael Tran—FilmMagic  Kris Allen, winner of season 8, performs at the Soles4Souls charity concert, sponsored by Barefoot Wine & Bubbly at the Bridge Building in Nashville on April 1, 2014. 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