"I'll trade you my extra Brian Dunkelman cards for your EJay Day. I'm so close to completing my Season One run and I've got like a hundred of these damned Dunkelmans." -- me, April 22, 2009The American Idol empire hasn't quite expanded its reach enough so it's going to go into the once vast but now slightly less impressive trading card market. That's right, American Idol trading cards are coming your way starting April 21, 2009. The set promises "chase cards" like autographed cards by past Idols as well as face time for rejected favorites like William Hung and even this season's Nick (Norman Gentle) Mitchell.
In the show's eight seasons, we've had six Top 12s, one Top 10 and this year's Top 13, meaning it'll take 95 cards just to spotlight each finalist at least once. Give one to each of the four judges and Ryan and you're down to 38 cards up for grabs in the 138-card set. I wonder if we'll get any of the quirky side shows like Crying-Girl, Super-Clay-Aiken-Fan or David-Hasselhof-Fanatic? Maybe a bonus set of Simon's weird faces and inadvertently rude gestures.
Earlier this year, Ryan Seacrest 
I was going to write something snarky
about how Brian Dunkelman 
Hey, did you guys know that there used to be two hosts of American Idol? Ryan Seacrest and the inferior
Brian Dunkelman shared hosting duties during the first season of the singing contest. You can meet this Dunkelman
person now that American Idol has gone into syndication. You can also meet a shy and humble Kelly Clarkson and
an ego-free Ryan Seacrest (really!). The re-runs, dressed up with "never-before-seen" footage, will begin
airing on weekends in the fall with the title American Idol Rewind. Right now, Tribune Entertainment, the
syndicator of Idol is only planning to re-air the first season. If it's popular, subsequent seasons will
receive the same treatment.
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