Is American Idol new tonight? (February 19, 2024)

Sunday night on ABC,  Luke Bryan, Katy Perry, and Lionel Richie returned to kick off a new season of American Idol in a premiere episode that was stacked with incredible performances from hopefuls looking to become the next American Idol!

In the 2-hour premiere, Bryan, Perry, and Richie hit the road as season 22 kicked off with the first auditions of the new season. Over the span of the episode, we traveled across the US to Los Angeles, Nashville and the judges' hometowns in search of the next American Idol. The episode introduced us to many talented singers who are sure to be ones to watch this season with a wave of golden tickets handed out to the first hopefuls of the season.

After the exciting start to the new season, fans might be eager for more American Idol and the good news is new episodes are on the way... just not tonight. That's right, there will not be a new episode of American Idol airing this Monday night on ABC.

American Idol is airing on Sundays only to start the season

At the moment, American Idol will only be airing new episodes on Sunday nights with new episodes coming fans' way every Sunday at 8 p.m. ET. In the weeks ahead, we'll get to see Luke Bryan, Katy Perry, and Lionel Richie putting together the cast for season 22 as the auditions play out over the course of a number of episodes.

To start the season, ABC has chosen to just air American Idol once a week; however, we expect that to change as we get deeper into the season. In recent seasons, ABC has begun airing two episodes a week once we reach Hollywood Week which typically comes about seven episodes into the season.

With season 22 having just begun. we anticipate that Hollywood Week should begin around March 31, 2024, which is when we expect episode 7 should be airing on ABC. The only thing that could delay the arrival of Hollywood Week is whether ABC takes a week off for the Easter holiday or changes the number of audition episodes coming our way this season.