'American Idol' 2016 premiere recap: A strong start in Atlanta, Denver

The final American Idol auditions for 2016 premiere tonight and we've got a ton of sneak peeks at the contestants and their performances. Let's start with the above introduction to contestant Derek Huffman, aka The Real Deal. This is the last season of

"American Idol," Fox's once-hurtling ratings freight train — which after years of steadily thinning viewership has shrunken into a puttering tramcar — is set for one, last ride. The transcendent singing competition's 15th and final season begins

I was there at the beginning, watching my Clarksons and Aikens and Hungs with one finger on the fast-forward button (Idol and TiVo came into my life at the same time and made such a winning pair). I joined Taylor Hicks's Soul Patrol but let my

OK, this girl literally lives off the grid and only has power, by a generator mind you, twice a week to watch American Idol. And I thought her coming in with a cello was weird. But the weirdest part of all was that she was actually pretty good. Weird

The final American Idol auditions for 2016 premiere tonight and we've got a ton of sneak peeks at the contestants and their performances. Let's start with the above introduction to contestant Derek Huffman, aka The Real Deal. This is the last season of