List of American Idol spin-offs

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Since the debut of American Idol in the summer of 2002, several spin-offs (whether they be official or not) have been produced for both television and cinema:

  • In July 2005, Fox began airing the series So You Think You Can Dance, which is based on the American Idol selection system. Contestants have to audition in front of judges and as the show progresses, the selection process is handed over to the viewers, who vote for who they think is the most qualified.
  • In March of 2006, American Inventor was aired. It was run like American Idol except it started having the audience vote late in the show and was about inventions instead of singing.
  • In March 2006, the series American Idol Extra began airing on the Fox Reality Network. The series featured interviews with the contestant eliminated from the final 12 that week, as well as features on previous contestants and the crew members who help keep the show going.

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The 1950s television series Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts was a #1 rated program that launched the careers of many famous entertainers. Godfrey's show was in turn a contemporary of and (at least in part) inspired by Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour, which started out as a radio show. Additionally, AI's showcasing for entertainment value of extremely poor acts - most of whom were oblivious to just how bad they were - mirrored The Gong Show and other shows such as Best of the Worst.

American Idol is a spin-off of the successful 2001 UK series Pop Idol.

The series format has been imitated by many other shows by other companies outside of FreMantle, among them Nashville Star on the USA Network. Nashville Star still airs and has had a successful run. Other similar formats include:

  • In the fall of 2004, VH1 launched a music reality talent-search series In Search of the New Partridge Family, in which aspiring actor-singers competed for the roles of Keith, Laurie, Danny, and Shirley Partridge. A pilot episode was aired in early 2005, but the show * didn't get picked up.
  • Rock Star: INXS is a rock competition that premiered on CBS in the summer of 2005.
  • The WB aired a parody series entitled Superstar USA, in which the worst singers were picked to move on without knowing that it was a search for the worst rather than the best.
  • Super Girl hosted by HNTV of China also imitated it.
  • American Idol was parodied on the children's television show All That in the sketch American Idiot. Kyle Sullivan played an essentially useless host named Brian Peefest. Giovonnie Samuels played the judge Mandy Snackson, whose frequent catch phrase was "You did your thing, dog," cuing a pack of dogs to enter the stage and attack the "idiot." Jack DeSena played an overly cruel judge, Slimon Bowell. Chelsea Brummet played an overly nice judge, Pauly Baboo.
  • Far Far Away Idol is an imitation found on the bonus features of the Shrek 2 DVD. Almost all of the characters sing a song of sorts, and then the viewer at home can vote for their favorite using their remote.
  • Dutch independent martial arts filmmakers Baaah Productions have parodied the Dutch version of the show, under the name Kungfu Idol.
  • Most likely inspired by Idol's success, in 2003 CBS revived Star Search, the long-running syndicated program. Arsenio Hall took over for Ed McMahon as host, and the show also featured celebrity judges such as Ben Stein and Naomi Judd, with Judd assuming the "brutally honest judge" role similar to Simon Cowell on Idol. Although more of an overall talent competition, the show only could garner middling ratings before being cancelled after the 2004 season.
  • In the Arthur episode "What's Cooking", the character Muffy Crosswire is scolded by chef Ming Tsai (dressed like Simon Cowell) in an audition for American Chef Idol.
  • In MADtv, a parody of the American Idol runner-ups and winners (along with William Hung) singing "Since We Were On", a parody of the song "Since You've Been Gone", where they sing about how the show went on, when Simon Cowell said that they messed up their talents so much. He shoots Clay Aiken, and all the others run off.
  • During the 57th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, an Idol-like mini competition was featured throughout portions of the ceremony in which selected TV stars sang popular TV theme songs while viewers at home cast their vote via phone.
  • One of the episodes of Robot Chicken featured a parody of American Idol, named "Zombie Idol", where legends of rock 'n' roll return from beyond the grave to haunt the Zombie Idol reality show.
  • In the Spider Riders episode "Hero Act", after the boring play, they say they want to try out for "Arachna Idol".

Being a relatively new series, Idol has had few reunion specials. The musical film, From Justin to Kelly starred the debut season's winner and runner-up as a couple who meet at summer camp. For 2003 holiday season, some season 1 and 2 finalists along with the American Juniors and Canadian Idol winner Ryan Malcolm appeared in An American Idol Christmas.

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