Idol series

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Countries that have their own versions of an Idol series. Countries that film their own versions are in blue, while those that do not are in green
Countries that have their own versions of an Idol series. Countries that film their own versions are in blue, while those that do not are in green

The British talent search television series Pop Idol has spawned spin-offs in 40 territories , in what is now referred to as the "Idols" format, as described by FremantleMedia.[1] As part of an out-of-court settlement between the Pop Idol producers and the creators of Popstars, international sales contracts of the format contain a clause preventing the local broadcaster from using the word pop in the local title. The Idol television series is managed by 19 Entertainment, a CKX, Inc. company.

The Idol franchise is the third most popular international franchise, behind only the The Weakest Link (number two) and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (number one) franchises, both of which also originated in the United Kingdom.[2]

Contents

[edit] Format

[edit] Hosts

Each show has at least one host that directs the show, introduces the singers and delivers the results of the show. While some countries have one host, most shows have two co-hosts. As well as judges, some countries have adopted new members to the hosting/jury party.

[edit] Judges/Jury

A preselected panel of music industry representatives tour some, if not all audition cities (depending on which show) to observe and advance the auditionees throughout the show up to and including the Grand Final. The judges offer critiques and/or advice after each contestant performance, which can be positive or negative; Nouvelle Star 4 for the first time in any country introduced a red and blue "score card" type system where the jury award a blue "positive" or red "negative" rating.

As many as 5 stable jury members have appeared in any one Idol season (Idol Poland 3), though some versions offer "guest judges" or special musical guests on the program to also offer advice.

The judges of some shows gain a lot of popularity outside of the show as well as the contestants, due to them being collectively known to have a "caustic" or raw & blunt attitude towards contestants' performances, notably Simon Cowell [3], Dieter Bohlen, Ian "Dicko" Dickson, Kuba Wojewódzki, Paul Moss & Zack Werner amongst others.

[edit] Performance stages

Auditions are held in numerous places in any particular region or country that gives most people (audition entry is bound by certain legal requirements such as age and citizenship for example) the chance to sing in front of musical/television producers and if successful, they advance to a recorded televised audition where the show "judges" advance up to 300 people in some countries to the next round.

The Theatre round is where a specially selected group of auditioners from all regional auditions converge (always in the host city) to perform in three sub stages: a chorus line in groups of 10 where free song choices are allowed, a trio (or less commonly a duo or quartet) where contestants must memorize a preselected song to perform and choreograph together, and finally a solo A cappella round where contestants sing a song of their own choice without musical backing in front of friends, family, judges & fellow contestants.

Each stage of the theatre round, a number of contestants are eliminated and sent home by the judges, though in some countries there have been very few contestants brought back during the Wildcards show or by the disqualification or resignation of another contestant.

The Semi final occurs usually live or pre-recorded (in some countries) where contestants sing in a television studio fully televised; again judges give critiques but beginning at this stage, home viewers vote via telephone and SMS (and in some countries other voting mechanisms including via Internet or via Red Button) who they want to stay in the competition. During the "semi final" week, contestants receive a workshop tuition with a vocal coach to prepare their song of choice. The format started out with contestants only singing along to a piano, though other instruments & even a live band have been introduced to some versions.

An average semi final usually consists of 18 to 50 contestants where they either perform in an even group of contestants (three groups of ten for example) or in a "heat" type semi final where the contestants sing every week until all finalists have been chosen. During the format, a Wildcards feature was introduced which re-introduced past semi finalists to receive a second chance to become a finalist, in some shows - the judges sometimes pick one or more contestants to advance as well as the viewers' vote. As of late, live audiences have been incorporated into the semi final round.

A results show of the semi final usually airs either a few hours after the performance show or the night after where the results are given. Three or four contestants are told that they may have received highest votes, though only a selected two or three are put through to the finals.

The Live shows (aka Mottoshows, Spectacular shows or theme shows) are an elaborate and spectacular version of the semi final. There is a weekly theme on which contestants must base their song choices, such as "80's Hits" or "Hits Of Elton John" for example. In a bid to counter sagging ratings, contestants on Australian Idol were allowed to bring instruments on stage with them and had the oppourtunity to sing original material from the 2006 season, a world first.Since then America and Canada have followed Australia's lead. Again a results show follows the show; this time it may include group performances, musical guests or extra footage of the contestants' time on the show. The contestant/s with the lowest polled votes leaves the competition. The live shows continue until there are only two contestants left in the competition or three contestants in some cases.

The Grand Finale occurs when there are two (or, rarely, three) contestants left in the competition. This is the pinnacle of the entire series and often highest rated show; also for some countries, it is venued in a prestigious location (American Idol: Nokia Theatre, Australian Idol: Sydney Opera House). In this show a specially awarded song is sung by both remaining contestants which is ultimately slated to be released as the winner's debut single though recently in some countries this has been phased out.

During the extended results show there is usually group performances and/or special musical guests, up until the eponymous announcement of the winner of the series which is followed by an encore of the winner's single which sometimes includes pyrotechnics/fireworks.

While the show's premise is to find one winner with promises of a recording deal and other frugal benefits, the Idol series often has several contestants who go onto the same route of fame, whether they be finalists, semi-finalists, or even auditioners. Key examples of this from American Idol include Clay Aiken (second place, season 2) & Chris Daughtry (fourth place, season 5, thru his band Daughtry), who have each outsold all American Idol winners except Kelly Clarkson & Carrie Underwood; Jennifer Hudson (seventh place, season 3), who would later win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress; and William Hung, who turned his off-key season-3 audition into a recording career and has outsold some finalists.

[edit] Releases

Often, a studio compilation album and/or a CD single is made to promote the show. In some cases, DVDs of highlights of the show will be released. While these releases have sold well in countries including the United States and Australia, many countries did not release CDs after the first series.[citation needed]

Since season 6, American Idol has sold only promotional downloads instead of CDs. For season 6, it sold studio-recorded MP3 and performance video downloads of the finalists on its website; no CDs were sold prior to the post-Idol releases of winner Jordin Sparks and runner-up Blake Lewis. For season 7, audio and video downloads are sold exclusively thru the iTunes Store, which became a sponsor in that season; the iTunes downloads have included audio of all semi-finalist performances, studio recordings and performance videos for all finalists, videos of finalist group performances, and audio and video performances from the Idol Gives Back episode.[4]

[edit] Media/Sponsorship

Sony BMG is the general record company associated and affiilated with the Idols format in most countries, though countries like Iceland and Kazakhstan have affiliate labels as they do not have a local Sony BMG subsidiary. FremantleMedia and Sony BMG are related through common parent Bertelsmann, which owns 90.4% of FremantleMedia's immediate parent RTL Group and 50% of Sony BMG.

[edit] Idol around the world

Main article: Idol series winners

There are currently 116 winners of the Idols format, the most recent being Amandine Bourgeois of France.

[edit] World Idol

Main article: World Idol

In 2003, a World Idol competition was held, with the winners from South Africa, United States, Belgium, Australia, Germany, Norway, Pan Arabia (Arab World), Netherlands, United Kingdom, Canada and Poland.

Kurt Nilsen from Norway was the winner.

The top five contestants on "World Idol" were:

1. Kurt Nilsen, Norway
2. Kelly Clarkson, United States
3. Peter Evrard, Belgium
4. Heinz Winckler, South Africa
5. Will Young, United Kingdom


[edit] Themes

A notable commonality among Idol-format shows is the theme logo & intro style. Many different versions of the Idol logo and show intro have been created since Idol's inception in June 2001.

[edit] Logo

The basic plan for the logo is an oval with the particular show's name centered in custom lettering based on a common font (Kaufmann). Mostly the name of the show is written horizontally, however occasionally part of the name is angled upwards.

Sample Logos for Idol series shows
Pop Idol
The original logo
American Idol
"American" angles upwards
Germany's Deutschland sucht den Superstar
with the underline
The Philippines' Pinoy Idol
with underline and raised word opposite the word Idol.
France's Nouvelle Star
with the purple palette

The original Pop Idol logo featured an enhanced star in the logo. The star also appeared briefly on the American Idol logo, but was scrapped early in the Season 1 auditions.

The logo for some countries comes with an underline on the words SuperStar, or Idol, such as Deutschland sucht den Superstar, Hrvatski Idol, Super Star, Hay Superstar, Nouvelle Star, Narodniy Artist, Super Idol, and Pinoy Idol (which also has a raised word). Turkstar has the only Idol logo to not use the common font style. As part of a relaunch after the first season, the French Nouvelle Star logo was changed to purple - the only logo to depart from the standard blue palette until Arab SuperStar season five had changed to the same color scheme also.

[edit] 'Intro' sequence

The original version of the intro started with the dark blue Idol logo descending on the screen. A CGI human figure appears, with arms raised, intended to be the 'Idol' of the show's name. While the Idol figure sings, and then walks, images of guitars, microphones, cameras, and airplanes flow by, representing the life of a superstar. During this, the gender of the figure alternates between male and female. Finally, the figure is again in front of the Idol logo, raising hands in victory.

The U.S. version of the intro was altered each season, including new sound effects and replacing the jet airplanes with waving flags. The flag concept was also used in the Indian Idol intro, as well as displays of famous national landmarks appearing in the first scene.

In 2005, a new version of the Idol intro was created which first appeared on the American Idol 4 season premiere. The intro includes a long section of the CGI Idol figure riding an open elevator past large vertical screens and displays and then walking down a stylized tunnel to a stage, where the figure starts to perform. On this basic template, the American and Canadian versions are customized, with past Idol winners appearing on the screens in the American version, while the Canadian version's screens feature Canadian landmarks. The American & Canadian versions last for 30 seconds; the new intro sequences for other Idol shows only last 15 seconds, with no customization and instead of the logo being 'stuck down' to the outside of the tunnel, it is pasted over the top. Also, the intro sequence for Nouvelle Star has a purple and blue color scheme instead of the standard light blue/light green.

[edit] Similar shows

[edit] Similar formats produced by Fremantle Media and/or 19 Entertainment

[edit] Other shows with a similar format

[edit] Fictional material based on Idol

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Idols, FremantleMedia website, accessed 2006-12-03
  2. ^ BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Millionaire dominates global TV
  3. ^ Simon Cowell lied about not knowing his mean comments were being recorded, RealityBlurred.com, accessed 2006-12-03
  4. ^ [1] iTunes Downloads - American Idol
  5. ^ Ethiopian Idol official website
  6. ^ "Showmanship, demolished the wall(Korean), The Hankyoreh, Retrieved on June 6, 2007
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Idol series
National franchises
Map showing the extent of Idol franchises.
Regional franchises