THIS....is American Idol (American Idol)

Member Name: Whizz11

Product:	American Idol
Date:	13/03/09 (206 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Singing, competition

Disadvantages: None

THIS....is American Idol!

American Idol is a reality singing contest in the United States to find the next big star. It has launched the careers of Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and David Cook to name but a few. It first debuted on June 11th 2002. It was created by Simon Fuller as a spin off of the original British Pop Idol.

American Idol is by far my favourite reality talent show because it features the glitz and glamour of Hollywood that the British shows are just not able to offer.

The format is pretty simple, hold auditions across the country, whittle those people down to 12 who then perform each week and are voted off by the American public until one remains and becomes the American Idol.

The show is shown on ITV 2 in this country and is broadcast on Thursday evenings and Friday evenings at the moment. The problem IO have with this though is that the live show is shown in America a day or two before so if you don't want to know who made it through you have to be careful to not tune into American media in the meantime.

The host of the show is Ryan Seacrest. He is a popular presenter in America and not only does Idol but also has a reality gossip show (E News) and a radio station programme in Los Angeles (Kiis FM). He is good, a bit goofy in my opinion and sometimes has no idea about things. The judges tend to take the mickey out of him and tease him for being a bit metro sexual, he is a pretty boy, with a permanent tan and highlights in his hair, but I like him, he's funny. His funnies moment this season so far was when he tried to high-five a blind contestant. He had his hand hanging in the air and of course the other guy could not see it because he was blind. In a later show the blind guy, Scott says they should high-five as kind of a joke and it was very funny.

The show has four judges. What I really like about them is that they have all been in the music business so long and have hit records and acts between them and really know what they are talking about. You trust their decision and know that they are making the right decisions in what they say. This is in contract to say Cheryl Cole who has been in music 5 minutes and is a manufactured pop act.

The judges are:

Randy Jackson - a Grammy award winning record producer and music manager. He is really quite cool and has a habit of calling all the contestants dog, or saying things like, yo, what's up, etc, etc. Very entertaining though and he definitely knows what he is talking about.

Kara DioGuardi - a new judge this season. She adds a bit of glamour as she is a cute looking lady and is also a Grammy-award nominated singer, songwriter and record producer.

Paula Abdul - Grammy award winning pop singer and Emmy award winning choreographer. She is hilarious on this show. She tells just about every contestant that she loves them and that she is proud of them each week and comes out with some really ridiculous comments that you think she must be in cloud cuckoo and some of the time, very entertaining though. She normally sits next to Simon Cowell and they always bicker throughout the show too which is funny.

Simon Cowell - Music Executive and Music Manager. What I like about Simon is that he is very blunt and says what he means. If he doesn't like a performance he will tell you in no uncertain terms and some of his comments are like, "oh my gosh, did he just say that?," but very funny!

The auditions around the country are fun to watch because you always get to hear the people who are absolutely terrible or the absolute weirdoes who come out. They really do think they can sing and it's really funny to watch when they can't. What's funny is, near the end of the whole show, they bring back the worst auditions and have them all sing a song live on stage, cringe worthy but funny. If you make it through this first audition you are given a yellow piece of paper, "the Golden Ticket" which then means you are coming to Hollywood week.

Hollywood week is where all the successful people get together and have to audition again for the judges over a number of days. If you make it through that week you are then in the top 36!

The top 36 get to sing on stage n live TV in front of the whole of American. This generally takes place over three weeks. America votes for their favourite three each week and the 36 are finally cut down to the top 12.

The top 12 then sing each week so America can decide who is the worst each week. They have to do this in front of a studio audience as well as the judges who will comment on their performance but do not have the final vote. What I like about the live shows is that each week has a different theme. For example, last night was Michael Jackson week where they all had to sing one of his songs. It's great to see how they interpret it and makes their own mark on it. At the end of the show they tell you who is voted off, sometimes you don't always agree but its great nail biting stuff.

In the end an Idol is born!

Summary: American Idol