The British talent search television series Pop Idol has spawned spin-offs in 42 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 was created by Simon Fuller and is managed by 19 Entertainment, a CKX, Inc. company.
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The show is a reality television singing competition where the a winner is selected by the audience voting. The show combines a number of elements previously used by other shows such as Popstars - mass auditioning, the search of a new star, and the use of a judging panel that critiques the audtioners' performance and selects the contestants. An important element is audience participation, where the audience may vote by telephone or text to decide which contestant can proceed further each week and ultimately win. According to the show creator, Simon Fuller, "the interactivity was important because this would allow the audience to tell me who they liked best and this, in turn, would indicate to me who would have the most fans and eventually sell the most music and become the biggest stars."[2] To this is added "the drama of backstories and the real-life soap opera of the unfolding real-time events" as the show is presented as a live competition event which drew "more from a sporting concept of true competition".[2]
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.
A preselected panel of music industry representatives tour some, if not all audition cities (depending on which show) to observe and advance those auditioning throughout the show up to and including the Grand Finale. 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 their being collectively known to have a "caustic" or raw & blunt attitude towards contestants' performances, notably Simon Cowell, Kuba Wojewódzki, Dieter Bohlen, Ian "Dicko" Dickson, Paul Moss, Zack Werner, & Anu Malik amongst others.
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 "80s 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 opportunity 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 and only once so far four) 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, Philippine Idol: Araneta Coliseum, Idol Sweden: Ericsson Globe, Singapore Idol: Singapore Indoor Stadium). 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 are 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) and Chris Daughtry (fourth place, season 5, through his band Daughtry), who have each outsold all American Idol winners except Kelly Clarkson and 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.
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.
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 through 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.[3]
Sony Music is the general record company associated and affiilated with the Idols format in most countries, though countries like Iceland, Vietnam and Kazakhstan have affiliate labels as they do not have a local Sony Music subsidiary. FremantleMedia and Sony Music are related through common parent Bertelsmann, which owns 90.4% of FremantleMedia's immediate parent RTL Group and 50% of Sony Music.
There are currently 179 winners of the Idols format, the most recent being Jenny Langlo from Norway.
In 2003, a World Idol competition was held, with the winners from South Africa, the United States, Belgium, Australia, Germany, Norway, the Arab World, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Canada and Poland.
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.
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.
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, Hrvatska traži zvijezdu, 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.
The original version of the intro was created by Liquid TV Graphics in London which 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 from Season 2, 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 by Aerodrome Pictures in Los Angeles which first appeared on the fourth season premiere of American Idol. The intro starts with the Idol logo without the dark blue background spinning in the American and Canadian version while the other Idol formats only glows and sparkles then the logo zooms in featuring 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.
In 2008, a new version of the Idol intro was created and introduced by BLT & Associates in Los Angeles on the American Idol 7th season finals. The intro starts with the Idol logo spinning behind a gyroscope then features real male and female Idol figures passing horizontal and arc displays then walking to an arena where the two figures start to perform. Finally, only one figure raises his/her hands in victory in front of a huge arc display then zooms out to the atmosphere and to space, where the title of the show zooms out in front of planet Earth. The American, Australian, Canadian, Croatian, Latin American and Swedish versions are customized by featuring their past Idol winners in the horizontal and arc displays and last for 30 seconds. Other versions are also customized and last for 30 seconds without featuring their past winners. Only the French and Indonesia version lasts for 15 seconds.
Season 10 of American Idol is the first to use this intro. The intro starts with a stage being spotted under a spotlight from the sky. Then, a stylized bridge leading towards a screen was shown. Winners of American Idol, as well as notable alumni Adam Lambert, Chris Daughtry, and Jennifer Hudson, are shown on the screen. The camera turns to a pyramid-like shape blooming and a CGI figure appears. Depending on the figure's gender in the intro, the figure would yield a different action in front of the American Idol logo and the huge "Idol" word string: the male figure raises his hand in victory and strikes a pose while the female figure raises her arms in victory before bowing down.
Similar formats produced by Fremantle Media and/or 19 Entertainment
(not to be confused with similar, yet different shows, such as The X Factor and the 'Got Talent' series')
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