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Pop quiz: Can you identify these men: Caleb Johnson, Nick Fradiani and Trent Harmon?

If you guessed they are reserve players for the Golden State Warriors, or the short list to be the new FBI director, or jockeys in this year's Kentucky Derby, you would be wrong.

These three young men were the last three winners of the singing-competition show "American Idol," which departed from Fox 13 months ago, after 15 seasons of hopeful — if not always tuneful — young belters thinking they had what it took to become platinum-selling music stars.

At the time, host Ryan Seacrest ended the final episode by signing off: "Goodnight, America — for now." It seemed like wishful thinking at best, a veiled threat at worst. Who, after 15 years, wanted more of "American Idol"?

ABC thinks you, the American public, want more — which is why this week the Disney-owned network won a bidding war to resume the franchise, with a start date to be determined.

News of the rebooted "American Idol" caused my TV critic colleague, Scott Pierce, to swear at his desk. He hates the thought of having to follow another season of these pop-star wannabes — especially if one of them is from Utah, which would mean Pierce would have to follow our hometown singer until he or she was eliminated.

Even the show's detractors, and there were many, had to acknowledge its popularity at its height. For six seasons — from season 5 in 2006 to season 10 in 2011 — "Idol's" final two nights (the last performance show and the last results show) were the season's two top-rated TV shows, reaching a peak viewership of 31 million people. The thing was a phenomenon.

It also was a pipe dream. Though the music professionals who acted as judges and mentors on the show, led for years by the famously acerbic Simon Cowell, assured the standouts that they could become big stars, the track record was not so kind. It was akin to college basketball stars thinking they were getting an express elevator to the NBA, when in reality only a handful make it to the big leagues.

Of the 15 season winners, only two — Kelly Clarkson in season 1 and Carrie Underwood in season 4 — went on to sell out concert arenas. Some of the also-rans, like Jennifer Hudson or Chris Daughtry, made big splashes. Others had to go outside the music world: Katharine McPhee is now starring on CBS' series "Scorpion," while Constantine Maroulis got a Tony nomination for "Rock of Ages." But the vast majority of finalists have seen sporadic or short-term success, if any at all.

Some contestants were stifled by the need to compete every week or by the rigidity of the genres they were assigned — and those restrictions often continued through the contracts singers signed with the show's production company.

The strongest of them did their best work outside the "Idol" umbrella. Clarkson went the furthest, leaving behind her "Idol" ties with the appropriately titled album "Breakaway" and its signature single "Since U Been Gone," which won her two Grammys.

In the early years, four of the first six winners were women: Clarkson, Fantasia Barrino in season 3, Underwood, and Jordin Sparks in season 6. In the last nine seasons, eight of the winners were earnest and inoffensive young men — a streak of mediocrity often attributed to the show's main audience, teen girls and their grandmas, voting for the one they thought was nice.

In the final seasons, "American Idol" found its thunder stolen by other competition shows with snazzier formats, namely the turn-the-chairs drama of "The Voice." And there was less interest in "Idol's" contestants than in the behind-the-scenes turmoil on the judges' panel — and even "The Voice" topped that with the backstage romance between Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani.

ABC is betting a lot of money that it can make "American Idol" great again. A lot of fame-hungry kids, singing into their toothbrushes, are counting on it. So are a lot of regional musical-theater casting directors, wondering where they will find the next touring cast of "Newsies."

Sean P. Means writes The Cricket in daily blog form at http://www.sltrib.com/blogs/moviecricket. Follow him on Twitter @moviecricket. Email him at spmeans@sltrib.com.