American Juniors
American Juniors is an American reality television singing competition series that was broadcast for one season from June 3 to August 19, 2003, on Fox. The series was a spin-off of American Idol, but with younger contestants. The show had the same production team as American Idol: it was created by Simon Fuller and 19 Entertainment along with FremantleMedia, directed by Bruce Gowers, and produced by Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick.
Unlike American Idol, the goal of the competition was not to find a single winner, but rather to create a singing group of five of the contestants. In this way, American Juniors more closely resembled the British series S Club Search, which had produced the group S Club Juniors.
The show spawned the singing group American Juniors, consisting of Taylor Thompson, Tori Thompson, Chauncey Matthews, Lucy Hale, and Danielle White. The group disbanded in 2005, after their self-titled studio album generated lackluster sales.
The show was filmed in Los Angeles.
Episodes
Auditions and Hollywood Week (June 3 and 10)
Two thousand young people auditioned for the show. A selected group of kids and their parents were flown to Hollywood to participate in "Hollywood Week", during which the field was narrowed to 20 performers who would move on to the live episodes.Top 20 Semi-Final 1: Contestant Choice (June 17 and 18)
In each of two live "Top 20" semifinals, half of the remaining contestants competed for 5 positions in the Top 10, as determined by the votes of viewers. The results were aired the following evening.| Contestant | Song | Result |
| Morgan Burke | "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" | Top 5 |
| Kara Lieberman | "Hopelessly Devoted to You" | Eliminated |
| Kristinia DeBarge | "Reflection" | Eliminated |
| AJ Melendez | "Isn't She Lovely?" | Top 5 |
| Grace Leer | "To Sir with Love" | Eliminated |
| Danielle White | "Colors of the Wind" | Top 5 |
| Chauncey Matthews | "A Whole New World" | Top 5 |
| Julie Dubela | "Rainy Days and Mondays" | Eliminated |
| Tyler Foehr | "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" | Eliminated |
| Katelyn Tarver | "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" | Top 5 |
ResultsAdvanced to Top 10 Finals: Chauncey Matthews, Danielle White, AJ Melendez, Morgan Burke, Katelyn Tarver
- Celebrity performers: Justin Guarini
- Group performance: "Kids in America"
Top 20 Semi-Final 2: Contestant Choice (June 24 and 25)
| Contestant | Song | Result |
| Jordan McCoy | "Stupid Cupid" | Top 5 |
| Lucy Hale | "Get Here" | Top 5 |
| Quinton Caruthers | "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" | Eliminated |
| Lauren Klena | "L-O-V-E" | Eliminated |
| Chantel Kohl | "Open Arms" | Top 5 |
| Brennan Hillard | "That Thing You Do" | Eliminated |
| Mercedes Ruiz | "Can't Fight the Moonlight" | Eliminated |
| Taylor Thompson | "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)" | Top 5 |
| Canyon Grove | "You've Got a Friend" | Eliminated |
| Tori Thompson | "Let 'Er Rip" | Top 5 |
ResultsAdvanced to Top 10 Finals: Tori Thompson, Taylor Thompson, Jordan McCoy, Lucy Hale, Chantel Kohl
- Celebrity performers: Ruben Studdard
- Group performance: "Put a Little Love in Your Heart"
Top 10 (July 1 and 2)
Theme: Songs of 1969| Contestant | Song | Result |
| AJ Melendez | "My Cherie Amour" | Returned |
| Katelyn Tarver | "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" | Returned |
| Jordan McCoy | "More Today Than Yesterday" | Returned |
| Chantel Kohl | "You've Made Me So Very Happy" | Top 2 |
| Chauncey Matthews | "This Guy's in Love With You" | Returned |
| Morgan Burke | "Build Me Up Buttercup" | Returned |
| Lucy Hale | "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" | Returned |
| Tori Thompson | "Bad Moon Rising" | Top 3 |
| Danielle White | "Good Morning Starshine" | Returned |
| Taylor Thompson | "Proud Mary" | 1st |
ResultsTop 3: Chantel Kohl, Tori Thompson, and Taylor ThompsonTop 2: Chantel Kohl and Taylor ThompsonAdvanced to American Juniors Group: Taylor Thompson
- Group performance: "Make Your Own Kind Of Music"
- Celebrity performers: Tamyra Gray
- Taylor's encore performance : "Proud Mary"
Top 9 (July 8 and 16)
- Theme: Songs of 1970
- Tori Thompson - "Love The One You're With"
- Danielle White - " Close To You"
- Morgan Burke - "Love Grows
- Chauncey Matthews - "Hey There Lonely Girl"
- Chantel Kohl - "Stony End"
- Jordan McCoy - "ABC"
- Katelyn Tarver - "We've Only Just Begun"
- AJ Melendez - "I'll Be There"
- Lucy Hale - "Make It Easy On Yourself"
- Group performance: "United We Stand"
- Taylor Thompson's music video: "Cheeseburgers For Me"
- Celebrity performer: Brian McKnight
- Tori's encore performance: "Love The One You're With"
Top 8 (July 23 and 24)
- Theme: Songs of 1962
- AJ Melendez - "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes"
- Danielle White - "The Loco-Motion"
- Chantel Kohl - "Don't Make Me Over"
- Chauncey Matthews - "Moon River"
- Lucy Hale - "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do"
- Morgan Burke - "Can't Help Falling in Love"
- Jordan McCoy - "Sealed with a Kiss"
- Katelyn Tarver - "Tell Him"
- Group performance: "Do You Love Me"
- Taylor Thompson and Tori Thompson's music video: Bring the house down
- Celebrity performer: Kelly Clarkson
- Chauncey's encore performance: "Moon River"
Top 7 (July 29 and 30)
- Theme: Songs of 1980
- Katelyn Tarver - "On the Radio"
- Morgan Burke - "Rock With You"
- Jordan McCoy - "Magic"
- Danielle White - "Daydream Believer"
- AJ Melendez - "Still"
- Chantel Kohl - "Brass In Pocket "
- Lucy Hale - "Call Me"
- Group performance: "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me"
- Taylor Thompson, Tori Thompson, and Chauncey Matthews's music video: Sundown
- Celebrity performer: Monica
- Lucy's encore performance: "Call Me"
Final Round (August 5 and 12)
- Theme: S Club Songs
- Morgan Burke - "Bring the House Down"
- Danielle White - "[Never Had a Dream (American group)|Dream Come True (S Club 7 song)|Never Had a Dream Come True]"
- AJ Melendez - "Alive"
- Jordan McCoy - "You Are the One"
- Chantel Kohl - "Sundown"
- Katelyn Tarver - "Have You Ever"
- Morgan Burke performs: "Build Me Up Buttercup"
- Katelyn Tarver performs: "I'll Never Fall In Love Again"
- Chantel Kohl performs: "Open Arms"
- Jordan McCoy performs: "More Today Than Yesterday"
- Danielle White performs: "Colors of the Wind"
- AJ Melendez performs: "I'll Be There"
- Group performance: "Kids In America"
- Danielle White's Encore performance: "Never Had a Dream Come True"
- Chantel Kohl's Encore performance: "Sundown"
- AJ Melendez's Encore performance: "Alive"
- Official American Juniors group perform: "One Step Closer"
Concert Special (August 19)
- American Juniors performs: "Reach"
- Danielle White and the American Juniors performs: "Never Had a Dream Come True"
- American Juniors performs: "Bring It All Back"
- Debbie Gibson performs "Lost in Your Eyes"
- Lucy Hale and the American Juniors performs: "Have You Ever"
- Gladys Knight performs: "If I Could"
- Gladys Knight and the American Juniors perform
- American Juniors performs: "One Step Closer"
- American Juniors performs: "(You Got to Have) Friends"
Ratings and aborted second season
American Juniors became one of the highest-rated television shows of the summer season, with approximately 11.9 million viewers on June 3, though the numbers dropped 40% toward the end of July. Nonetheless, the producers were satisfied of the strong teen demographic. A second season was planned for fall 2003, later postponed to the summer after the third season of American Idol, then called off.Following the show
Upon completion of the competition, the American Juniors group consisted of Taylor and Tori Thompson, Chauncey Matthews, Lucy Hale and Danielle White. The group made a brief appearance on the December 2003 TV special An American Idol Christmas. Their debut album American Juniors was released on October 6, 2004. The group disbanded in 2005, after having received relatively little publicity.Almost 20 years after the TV series, Lucy Hale is now the most widely known contestant from American Juniors, having acted in a number of films and television shows, most notably the series Pretty Little Liars from 2010 to 2017. She returned to her musical roots in 2014, with the release of the country album Road Between on Disney Music Group's "Nashville" label.
Katelyn Tarver released her debut solo album, Wonderful Crazy, in 2005. From 2010 to 2013, she played Jo Taylor in the Nickelodeon TV series Big Time Rush. She has continued to act and release music. In 2019, she appeared on NBC's Songland.
Kristinia DeBarge, although not finalist, managed to have a relatively successful career, releasing her first album entitled Exposed in July 2009, and a couple of albums and singles more, as well as participating as an actress in some television series and movies.
Jordan McCoy was signed to Diddy's label, Bad Boy Records, having only released demos. She was part of the late-2000s revival of the defunct girl group, Dream.
In 2011, Tori and Taylor Thompson resurfaced on NBC's The Voice as a singing duo. They were selected and coached by Cee Lo Green but were voted off in the first live show.
In 2020, American Juniors semifinalist Grace Leer auditioned for season 18 of American Idol. She made it to Hollywood after singing "Crowded Table" by The Highwomen. She eventually was eliminated at the Top 11.