"Idol": Hicks Out, Wannabes In

Taylor Hicks proved you don't have to be manufactured. Clay Aiken proved you don't have to be the winner. And William Hung proved you don't even have to be talented.

But you do have to audition.

American Idol is getting ready to crush the hopes and dreams of millions of wannabes, and make a superstar out of at least one, kicking off the auditions for the sixth season of the juggernaut reality TV competition next month.

Show producers will hit seven cities in their nationwide search, beginning the trek Aug. 8 in Los Angeles and winding down Sept. 19 in Seattle. In between, they'll stop in San Antonio; East Rutherford, New Jersey; Birmingham; Memphis; and Minneapolis, Fox announced Tuesday.

Three of the cities--Minneapolis, Memphis and Birmingham--will be receiving their first visit from the series, though not for lack of trying. Memphis was on the producers' itinerary for last season, but was scrapped as a tryout location at the last minute so as not to distract the city from its efforts to help Hurricane Katrina refugees.

As for Birmingham, producers likely hold high hopes for auditioners there. Reigning champ Taylor Hicks hails from the Soul Patrol-harboring locale, as did season two Idol winner Ruben Studdard and season four runner-up Bo Bice.

"Because that's where so many of our Idols have come from, that's a must," exec producer Nigel Lythgoe told USA Today. "If they paid us a visit, we must pay them."

Auditions again will be open to contestants of both inspiring and exceedingly questionable talent, with the age restrictions again limiting tryout slots to people ages 16-28. The age limit was bumped up from 26 to 28 two years ago and with fortuitous results: Hicks barely made the new cut, having been 28 at the time of his audition last fall and taking home the crown at the ripe old age of 29.

As for the audition process itself, producers are sticking with what's worked--and canning what hasn't.

After nearly debilitating, or at the very least, particularly sweat-inducing, levels of heat at last year's Austin audition and torrential downpours at the Chicago, Boston and San Francisco dates, this year's tryouts are moving to indoor locations.

Lythgoe told USA Today that he expects upwards of 100,000 Hicks and Katharine McPhee wannabes to show in each city. Of those, nearly 1,000 will make it to a second round, 250 of which will be deemed worthy of either praise or extreme condemnation and will be sicced upon judges Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul.

With last year's season marking the show's most watched yet, producers are already busy planning the sixth go-round, with Lythgoe telling USA Today that he already has designs on Carole King and Andrew Lloyd Webber to appear as musical mentors.

The new season will also feature return engagements from some of the previous year's most popular contestants, and judging by the final 10's post-Idol success, producers will have a large pool to choose from.

Resident rocker Chris Daughtry, despite his fourth-place finish, became the third finalist to sign a record deal with 19 Recordings/RCA Records to release a solo album. Daughtry, who turned down a high-profile offer to front the rock band Fuel in lieu of "doing his own thing," is expected to release his debut by the end of the year.

Hicks and McPhee inked similar deals, with Hicks' album due to be the first out this fall.

As for McPhee, the songbird has bailed on the opening dates of the American Idol summer tour to recover from a double bout of laryngitis and severe bronchitis. But she is well enough to have accepted a gig as guest cohost of The View next week.

The sixth season of American Idol returns to Fox in mid-January.