American Idol's fourteenth season will officially premiere on January 7.

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Fox has announced Season 14 of American Idol, which Fox is billing as American Idol XIV, will debut with a two-night, three-hour event on Wednesday, January 7 from 8-9PM ET/PT and Thursday, January 8 from 8-10PM ET/PT.

The schedule will remain the same for the following week, but then beginning on January 22, the Thursday night episodes will be slimmed down from two hours to only one hour at 8PM ET/PT, allowing the new drama series Backstrom to premiere and air at 9PM ET/PT.

Idol will continue to air on Wednesday and Thursday nights until Thursday, March 26, at which time the one-hour broadcast on Thursday night will be replaced by the new season of Bones at 8PM ET/PT.

After March 26, American Idol will therefore only air on Wednesday nights, presumably staying in its 8-9PM ET/PT timeslot.

Auditions will take place in Kansas City, Minneapolis, Nashville, New Orleans, New York and San Francisco.

Ryan Seacrest will reprise his role as host next season. Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban and Harry Connick Jr. will also be returning to judge American Idol's fourteenth season. Randy Jackson confirmed earlier this month he will not be participating in the show's new edition at all.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.