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Information about 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 don't are in green
The British talent search television series Pop Idol has spawned spin-offs in over 30 countries, 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 Weakest Link and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? franchises, both of which also originated in the UK. [1]

Format

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.

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 [2], Ian "Dicko" Dickson, Kuba Wojewódzki, Paul Moss & Zack Werner amongst others.

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 ( 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. 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 prestige location (American Idol: Kodak 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. [2]

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.

Media/Sponsorship

SonyBMG 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 SonyBMG franchise.

Idol around the world

Main article: Idol series winners


There are currently 104 winners of the Idols format, the most recent being Phương Vy of Vietnam.

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

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.

Logo

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



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, such as Deutschland sucht den Superstar, Hrvatski Idol, Super Star, Hay Superstar, Nouvelle Star, Narodniy Artist & Super Idol. 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.

'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 US 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 featuring 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. As with the logo, the intro sequence for Nouvelle Star has a purple and blue color scheme instead of the standard light blue/light green.

Similar shows

Similar formats produced by Fremantle Media and/or 19 Entertainment

Other shows with a similar format

Fictional material based on Idol

See Also

External links

References

1. ^ Idols, FremantleMedia website, accessed 2006-12-03
2. ^ Simon Cowell lied about not knowing his mean comments were being recorded, RealityBlurred.com, accessed 2006-12-03
3. ^ Ethiopian Idol official website
4. ^ "Showmanship, demolished the wall(Korean), The Hankyoreh, Retrieved on June 6, 2007
5. ^ Sao Mai official website


 •  • [ e]
Idol series
National franchises: United Kingdom (original) • Armenia • Australia • Belgium • Brazil • Bulgaria • Canada • Croatia • Czech Republic • Denmark • Estonia • Finland • France • Germany • Greece • Iceland • India • Indonesia • Kazakhstan • Malaysia • Netherlands • New Zealand • Norway • Philippines • Poland • Portugal • Russia • Singapore • Slovakia • South Africa • Sweden • Turkey • United States •
International franchises: Arab world • Asia • Latin America • Serbia-Montenegro & Macedonia • West Africa • World Idol
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Map showing the extent of Idol franchises.
British television broadcasting has a range of different broadcasters, broadcasting multiple channels over a variety of distribution media.

Major broadcasters

There are six major broadcasters:

Free-to-air analogue terrestrial networks


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Pop Idol is a British television series which debuted on ITV on October 5 2001; the show was a talent contest to decide the best new young pop singer, or 'pop idol', in the United Kingdom, based on viewer voting and participation.
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Main article: Spin-off
Media spin-off is the process of deriving new radio or television programs from existing ones (see list of television spin-offs). Spin-offs work with varying degrees of success.
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FremantleMedia is the content and production division of RTL Group, Europe's largest TV, radio, and production company. Its world headquarters are located in London, England.
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Popstars is an international reality television program and a precursor to the Idol series. The series first began in New Zealand in 1999 when producer Jonathan Dowling formed the five member all-girl group TrueBliss.
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19 Entertainment, based in the United Kingdom, is a leading creator and producer of entertainment properties, including American Idol in the United States, Pop Idol
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CKX, Inc.

Public (NASDAQ:  CKXE )
Founded February 7, 2005 (United States)
Headquarters New York City

Key people Robert F.X. Sillerman, CEO & Chairman
Michael Ferrel, President
Simon Fuller, CEO & Director
Thomas P.
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The Weakest Link (known as Weakest Link in many countries) is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000.
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Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is a television game show which offers very large cash prizes for correctly answering successive multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty. The format is owned and licensed by the British production company Celador.
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The music industry is the business of music. Although it encompasses the activity of many music-related businesses and organizations, it is currently dominated by the "big four" record groups, a.k.a.
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review.
The word critic comes from the Greek κριτικός, kritikós - one who discerns, which itself arises from the Ancient Greek word κριτής, krités
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Nouvelle Star (a.k.a. A La Recherche De La Nouvelle Star for the first season) is a French reality television show based on the popular British show Pop Idol. The show searches for the best singer in La Francophonie.
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In political geography and international politics, a country is a political division of a geographical entity, a sovereign territory, most commonly associated with the notions of state or nation and government.
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Idol is a television show on the Polish television network Polsat, based on the popular British show Pop Idol. The show is a contest to determine the best young singer in Poland. It is hosted by Maciej Rock.
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Simon Cowell (born 7 October, 1959) is a British artist and repertoire ("A&R") executive for Sony BMG in the United Kingdom and a television producer, more commonly known as a judge on television programmes such as Pop Idol, The X Factor, American Idol
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Ian "Dicko" Dickson (born 28 March 1963 as Ian Ross Perrygrove in Birmingham, England) is a music industry and television personality in Australia. He is best known as a judge on the hit television shows Australian Idol and The Next Great American Band.
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Jakub Władysław Wojewódzki (born on August 2 1963 in Koszalin, Poland) – Polish journalist, showman and comedian.

Kuba Wojewódzki was a judge on Idol (Poland).
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Paul Raymond Moss was the AS A&R director of record company Positive Tone from its inception in 1994 until last year. Moss oversaw the transformation in Malaysian music that created whole new markets for English-language artistes and new genres of music.
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Zack Werner (born Isaac Werner) in Winnipeg, Manitoba has had an extensive career in the music industry as an artist, producer, entertainment lawyer and manager. He is also president of Toronto-based Venus Management and Venus Records (distributed by EMI), where he spends his time
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Citizenship is membership in a political community (originally a city or town but now usually a country) and carries with it rights to political participation; a person having such membership is a citizen.
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The primary role of a television producer is to coordinate and control all aspects of production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking.
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''This article is about the musical ensemble. For other uses of trio, see Trio.


Trio is generally used in any of the following ways:
  • Three musicians playing the same or different musical instrument.
  • The performance of a song by three people.

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Choreography (literally "dance-writing", also known as "dance composition"), is the art of making structures in which movement occurs. The term composition may also refer to the navigation or connection of these movement structures.
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A Cappella (Italian: “in the church style”) music is vocal music or singing without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way.
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A television studio is an installation in which television or video productions take place, either for live television, for recording live to tape, or for the acquisition of raw footage for postproduction.
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Short Message Service (SMS), often called text messaging, is a means of sending short messages to and from mobile phones. SMS was originally defined as part of the GSM series of standards in 1985[1]
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Internet is a worldwide, publicly accessible series of interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using the standard Internet Protocol (IP). It is a "network of networks" that consists of millions of smaller domestic, academic, business, and government
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Red Button is a button on the remote control for certain digital television set top boxes in the UK, Australia and Malaysia. It is for interactive television services such as BBCi and Astro (Malaysia).
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Sir Elton Hercules[1] John CBE[2] (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March, 1947) is a five-time Grammy and one-time Academy Award-winning English pop/rock singer, composer and pianist.
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