American Idol's first results show of the season begins now

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"Every superstar begins with a dream."

That's the way tonight's American Idol begins, as producers give us a montage of the Top 24 contestants, but with Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata playing in the background. Because while they're showing the semi-finalists' happiest moments, some of them will be sad before the evening's done.

But then there will be 12 -- or will it be 13? -- that will incredibly happy.

Cut to Julie Zorrilla, apparently shortly after getting reamed by the judges for botching Breakaway, because she's in tears: "I want to be here," Julie says between sobs. "I really want to be here."

But will she be here two hours from now?

"We make the largest cut we've ever seen at this stage of the competition," Ryan Seacrest reminds us. The good news, though -- they got 40 million votes over the past two nights. That, he says, is the largest number of votes the show has seen at this point in the season.

Ryan introduces the Top 24, then tells us that after the cuts are made, the judges will ask some of the eliminated contestants to sing for a wild-card spot.

"It's going to be a tough night for us," says Jennifer Lopez, admitting that the judges have gone over various scenarios, trying to determine who they might end up offering a second chance.

After the break, Ryan promises, they'll start filling the couch on the side of the stage with the five guys and give girls who got the most votes.

"Drama like you've never seen before is about to unfold on this stage -- live."

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