American Idol
American Idol is the No.1 television show beaming on American television right now; in fact it is the only program in American television history to have enjoyed No.1 status over six consecutive seasons. Fitting into the genre of reality shows as a television competition to discover new solo singing talent, it has surpassed extremely popular shows like ‘All in the Family’ and ‘The Cosby Show’ in the race to the top. Created as a spin-off of the hugely popular British television show Pop Idol by Simon Fuller it debuted in 2002on the Fox Network.
It was a masterstroke by Fox, for without the persuasion of the network boss Rupert Murdoch’s daughter Elizabeth who was a huge van of the Pop Idol show, the show would never have gone live. The astounding performance ratings and outstanding popularity have helped Fox Network and the producers of American Idol strike a deal to keep the show on air till the 2012 season.
Airing on prime time on Tuesday and Wednesday nights in the USA and Canada, American Idol has enjoyed huge success and top of the rung ratings, because most of the winners that the show threw up have gone on to become stars in their own right. Worldwide, the show goes on air two days a week and enjoys high viewership.
Notable judges on the critique’s panel to review performances include Randy Jackson, the Grammy award winning record producer and music manager and Simon Cowell the award winning music executive. Another eminent personality from the music world who graced the panel for the first eight seasons was Paula Abdul who has now been replaced by the equally popular Emmy award winning talk show host, Ellen DeGeneres. The show is hosted by Ryan Seacrest who has stayed with the show since its debut.
The format follows a series of auditions held nationwide in select cities. From the thousands of applications, only a couple of hundreds make it to the audition for selecting a winner. Winners are determined by viewer voting. Past winners on the show include Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Hicks, Jordin Sparks, David Cook, Kris Allen and Lee DeWyze. The competition is open to contestants between the ages of 16 and 28, the upper age limit having been increased from 24 which was the limit for the first three seasons of the show.
The themes for the competition are grounded in the musical genre; popular songs by select artists, themes such as Billboard hits or songs which made it to the hit list in the contestant’s year of birth. Songs by well known big band groups have featured on the show along with music by artists like Elvis Presley, Dolly Parton, Billy Joel, Gloria Estefan, Mariah Carey, Elton John and Michael Jackson.
The finals of the show are broadcast from Los Angeles’ CBS Television City studio in prime time slots in the presence of a live studio audience. Finals usually last for eight to eleven weeks. Each finalist is required to sing one or two songs from weekly themes and as the competition progresses; contestant elimination is decided by the number of votes they receive.
American Idol has created huge marketing potential for products of sponsors, chieflyCoca Cola, Ford, AT&T, Apple, Kelloggs and the Florida theme park, Disney Studios. An advertising spot for a 30-second commercial on the show rakes in nearly $620,000 for American Idol.
In spite of the controversies the show has raised on racial and geographical biases with regard to the show’s contestants, it has nevertheless garnered such high viewership worldwide – as they say, the juggernaut roles on.
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