| American Idol Extra | |
|---|---|
| Directed by |
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| Presented by |
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| Opening theme | American Idol Theme |
| Ending theme | A song sung by that week's eliminated contestant. |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 42 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Production companies | |
| Original release | |
| Network | Fox Reality Channel |
| Release | March 15, 2006 – May 21, 2009 |
American Idol Extra is a television show that was shown on the Fox Reality Channel and Star! and billed as "the show that picks up right where American Idol leaves off". The program featured the first full-length interview with the most recent eliminated contestant and various behind-the-scenes material.
It was hosted by Jillian Reynolds and co-hosted by Ace Young, a former contestant of the show. Jillian interviewed each week's eliminated contestant as well as Idol contestants from years past. The show included exclusive behind the scenes packages from the Idol show as well as live, in studio, performances by former Idols. Judges Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Kara DioGuardi were periodically interviewed after the results show tapings.
The show premiered in 2006 and was shown on both Fox Reality Channel and The 101 Network (the DirecTV owned and exclusive programming service). Ty Treadway was the host that season and Mikalah Gordon and Matthew Rogers served as cohosts.
The second season (2007) brought some changes. JD Roberto became the host and the show became exclusive to Fox Reality Channel. In addition, the show is now taped on a stage of CBS Television City adjacent to the Idol studio in front of a live studio audience (the stage was also used for The Price is Right).
In season 3 (2008), Gina Glocksen and Constantine Maroulis replaced Gordon and Rogers as the co-hosts of the show.
In season 4 (2009), Jillian Reynolds replaced Roberto as host and Ace Young replaced Glocksen and Maroulis as co-host.
The program did not return in 2010 because Fox Reality was in transition to National Geographic Wild. The exit interview moved to The Ellen DeGeneres Show, hosted by DeGeneres, who was a judge that season. DeGeneres has since left the show and the first exit interview is now conducted on Live with Regis and Kelly. No other elements of this program have survived.
Weekly segments include interviews with audience members who watched the performance show, interviews with past Idol contestants, a trivia contest, and a viewer question submitted by text messages from AT&T (formerly Cingular) subscribers.
