10 Things You Need to Know about American Idol

So here's a (rather large) teaser from TV guide to get you to buy this week's edition. Here are the first FIVE things you "need to know," but to find out the other FIVE, you've got to buy the magazine. I just want to say a few things first.

1. I thought something was odd about how Paula and Jewel weren't that buddy buddy on the show yesterday.

2. It's interesting to get a sneak peek at other judges from other cities as well as judges' favorites.

3. Ken Warwick can feel free to ask my input on what to cut out. I disagree with his assessment. Seattle very well could've (and should've) been a one-hour show. It was, as Simon says, abysmal.

Are the words "This is American Idol" music to your ears? Then brace yourself: Fox's unstoppable ratings juggernaut has returned for a sixth season of off-key wannabes and future chart-toppers. We tracked down the show's three judges, two producers and one excitable host and got them to reveal exclusive scoop on what just might be Idol's most unpredictable year yet.

1) Missing the early episodes would be a huge mistake. There are generally two reasons to sit through Idol's initial auditions: to catch the drama created by those who are a) tone-deaf, or b) have Lifetime-movie sob stories (such as Kellie Pickler, who showed up at her audition last year and revealed that Mom had abandoned her and Dad was in jail). The first city to get the audition treatment, Minneapolis, was chock-full of the latter, according to executive producer Cecile Frot-Coutaz. "We have some great stories — some really sad, and some inspirational," she promises. "You'll see a lot of heart."

Seattle, on the other hand, was all about damaged eardrums. Host Ryan Seacrest recalls the first of two days spent in the Pacific Northwest, when he sat down for a lunch break with the three judges. "We just looked at each other, jaws dropped, like, ‘Where have these people come from?'" he says.

As chronically cranky judge Simon Cowell puts it, "I hated everyone who auditioned." Surprisingly, he did not storm out of the room as he has in the past when frustrated by a lack of talent. But, he notes, "there were a lot of [contestants] who went nuts at me and walked out."

The turnout in Seattle was so ear-splittingly bad that what was supposed to be a one-hour episode got extended to two. "We came to the point where we were saying, ‘What do we take out?'" says executive producer Ken Warwick. "So to hell with it, we made it a two-hour show."

2) A whopping 103,000 hopefuls auditioned, and, Seattle aside, they weren't all William Hungs. In fact, Season 6 may boast the biggest talent pool yet. "America always has had the greatest singers in the world," Cowell proclaims. "We've definitely found that." Everybody has his or her early favorites. Paula Abdul is gaga over a handful of guys, whom she describes as "edgier than the girls." Randy Jackson favors "someone with curly hair," and Warwick raves about a girl who "is gonna give Aretha Franklin a run for her money." Still, they all agree that of those who made it through to Hollywood this year, there is no clear Fantasia-esque front-runner. This seems to suit everyone just fine. "It's a competition," Warwick says. "The ‘American Idol' is the last 35 seconds of the last show. The show is really about the journey, not the destination."

3) Contestants are sent packing faster than ever. It's hardly a big shock when Simon bluntly crushes a hopeful's dreams. But after five seasons, it seems even the sympathetic Abdul is running low in the patience department. "I actually said to myself, ‘I can't believe I just said [to a contestant], "You've gotta be kidding me."' But it's the sixth season! The bar's gotta be raised." And the bloodletting isn't contained to the seven audition cities. Some 173 hopefuls advance to the four-day-long Hollywood round — where the group is whittled to 24 — but, warns Frot-Coutaz, "the judges get rid of a lot more people than normal on the first day."

4) It's Paula versus Jewel in a verbal smackdown. Olivia Newton-John was a "sweetheart" when she helped the judges comb through prospects in L.A, while legendary songwriter Carole Bayer Sager was "subdued" in New York. Then there's Jewel, who sat in on Minneapolis. "She and Paula got a bit competitive at one point," Frot-Coutaz says carefully. Warwick is more blunt about the incident, which you'll see in the premiere episode: "They had a bit of a spat. It was near the end of the day. You gotta remember that Paula looks at [Idol] like, ‘This is my turf, girl.'"

5) Simon, Randy, Paula and Ryan secretly kind of like each other! On camera, Seacrest and the triumvirate of judges bicker like a dysfunctional family reunited for the holidays. Off camera, they're prone to teasing each other as only a close-knit clan can. When Abdul laments that Cowell has never given her a Christmas or birthday gift, he cracks, "I gave Paula a personality! That's the best present."

And when it comes to discussing their adventures on the road to each of this season's audition cities, they're prone to tattling on each other like children. Says Seacrest: "When Simon got into his hotel room, he'd call and ask how big mine was. If my room was bigger, he'd request a change."

And Cowell reveals that, during a shopping excursion to Seattle's Louis Vuitton store, Seacrest made an odd purchase. "He bought a hatbox," Cowell says. "You know, a box you carry ladies' hats in? He bought one. For himself. In red." Now, now, boys.

For the other five things every fans need to know about American Idol, pick up the new issue of TV Guide, on sale Thursday.

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