American Idols
It's all change on american idol for 2010, with the ninth season of the show featuring new judges and missing some regular faces. Paula Abdul is now not part of the show, having signed on to head off to the american version of the United Kingdom talent show X-Factor. Her place has been taken by a number of guest judges, with one particularly that will turn into a permanent fixture on the show.

Ellen DeGeneres pronounced on her very own 'Ellen' show that she would be starring as Paula's replacement, and will definitely be joining the current panel with Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi. We are also going to be seeing a number of guest judges, with the likes of Kristin Chenoweth, Shania Twain, Mary J. Blige, Joe Jonas, Victoria Beckham, Neil Patrick Harris and Katy Perry!

This year's auditions have been held all over the states as common, in cities such as Denver, Orlando, L. A. , Atlanta, Chicago, Arlington and Foxsborough. A number of potential idols are starting to stand out, with performances from Vanessa Wolfe, Mallorie Haley and Keia Johnson having hit a selected high note with the judges at the Atlanta and Boston auditions. In the Chicago auditions, one or two performers in particular stood out such as Paige DeChausse, Marcus Jones, Justin Ray, Keith Semple, John Park, Angela Martin, Charity Vance and naturally, the amazing Katelyn Epperlys audition.

The Idol fame machine is working too, with one actual audition having found big audiences on the internet. The performance in question was from one General Larry Platt, a 62-year-old vet from Georgia, singing his song'Pants on the Ground'.

sadly for a large amount of Idol fans, this may be the last season with Simon Cowell. Having come to the end of his contract, Cowell seems to have decided to move on from American Idol, and supposition is rife as to who will replace him. Names such as Elton John, Quincy Jones, Gladys Knight and George Cloony are being thrown around, but the replacement is sure to be kept a heavily guarded secret for a bit yet.

once again this year, American Idol is permitting competitors to use their own instruments during performances. This has been featuring heavily on the show for the past couple of seasons, and while it's not to everybody's tastes, it does add a side to the american Idol auditions which has been lacking over the years.

Also this year we'll be seeing the return of 'Idol Gives Back' on American Idol. It's planned to be held during the last 7 result show, and will most likely be showing videos of all the great things American Idol is doing to help people globally. The date for the show is at present set as Apr the 21st.

The format of the show stays the same this year - the first few weeks concentrate on the various city auditions, giving back-stories to the competitors and letting us all begin to know them. The aim for the competitors during this stage is to receive their'Golden Ticket' and move on to the subsequent phase, Hollywood. During the Hollywood auditions, the pace is stepped up and those who have made it are expected to perform to their best. Twenty-four are selected, and these american idol finalists move on to the show properly. They then compete for the judges and audiences favor, facing weekly'votes' over who stays and who goes home!

finally, we'll again be seeing everybody's favourite Ryan Seacrest, presenting American Idol with his usual flair and unique style. Seacrest is also rumored to be in line for Cowells role on the series ; however it has been mentioned that he likes his current presenter's position and wouldn't like to take on the judges chair.