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Irrefutably glorious and cringe-worthy moments would pile up over the years. Eventually Seacrest was the only ringmaster left from the original show, with Randy Jackson opting to leave after 12 seasons. The formula persisted. On every season premiere, right up until the end, Ryan's introduction and then the strains of the theme song never failed to delight. It's no one's fault that there are just so many darn shows now, many only in existence because Idol came first, that it became hard to get that excited about an entire Idol season.

Or maybe it's Idol's fault. Its last year at the top of the prime-time ratings, 2011, was also the year The Voice premiered.

Fault is such a strong word.

Yet in American Idol's earliest days, there was nothing like it. More polish would be added, the production would become slicker in due time and the show would start firing on all cylinders a few seasons later, when in 2005 it became the most-watched series of the year (the two nights a week it was on were No. 1 and 2), despite only being on from January to May (half of the barely still in existence "traditional" TV season).