American Idol has been a national phenomenon for the last six years. It draws millions of viewers each week, and each year the turn out for the show gets larger and larger. The show is about the average American making it big in the music industry--basically, some judges pick out X number of people that America then gets to vote on. The winner becomes America's next 'American Idol.'
It begins each season with the insane auditions of hundreds of thousands of hopefuls. Auditions are held in five to eight cities across the nation, where everyone stands in line outside, sometimes days in advance. At sign up, each person is given a number to wear for the rest of their audition. As the time nears for those numbers to sing, groups of people are ushered into a waiting room, and as called, enter one at a time into the audition room. It is large and barren, and at the front sit Simon Cowell, a BMG producer; Randy Jackson, also a producer as well as a former bassist for the band Journey; and Paula Abdul, former L.A. Lakers girl and 80's pop star. The person auditioning is allowed a few minutes to sing any song of their choice, to which many people add dance routines, or even come in with costumes or pets. Most auditions are stopped part-way through by Simon, at which point each judge will give feedback. Randy and Paula are known for their cop-outs in this arena, generally giving comments such as, "I just wasn't feelin' it, dawg," or "The important thing is you came in here and gave it your best shot." Simon is known for being brutal in his remarks, telling people he didn't like, "That was absolutely awful." After this, each judge decides individually whether or not they would like to see the contestant move on to the next round--Hollywood. If at least two of the three judges, or two of four judges when a guest judge is present, say yes, the contestant moves on. Approximately twenty people from each city are sent on to round two.
Once in Hollywood, contestants stay in a hotel together. The week begins with gropuing off into threes, and choosing one of about a dozen songs to sing together. They must harmonize and each has a solo. All are judged for their performances individually, and some are sent home right then. This continues until all the groups have gone, at which point the reamaining contestants are split up into three rooms. One room is sent home. The contestants then have one more chance to prove themselves. The decisions are made by the judges in a loft room, making contestants take a long, anxious elevator ride to the top. Only twenty four stay--twelve women, and twelve men.
This remaining twenty four constitutes the finalists of the show. The early part of the eleven weeks of finals are held at CBS Television City in Los Angeles. One set of twelve begins the week on Tuesday, singing only a snippet of a song to fit the show into the time slot. However, after each contestant sings this time around, the judges give feedback like usual, then Ryan Seacrest, the host, steps in to give a number to call at the end of the show to vote for that contestant. The following night the next set of twelve sings in the same fashion. Thursday night the results show airs, in which all twenty four contestants are present. Ryan begins the show by recapping the contestants performances earlier that week, and reveals whether the contestant is safe--meaning they have received a majority number of votes--or if they are in the bottom three. Two groups of bottom threes are made, one of males and one of females. After drawing it out until the last possible minute, Ryan announces who is out from each group, after which a montage of the contestants' journeys through American Idol shows. Eliminations continue this way until six men and six women remain, at which point they perform on the same night. Most of the time, each week is given a theme for the contestants to go by, generally something like the music of Stevie Wonder or Top 40 in the 1960’s. A guest coach comes in to help them choose and rehearse their songs. Beginning in the top five, contestants sing two song each night. Once there are only thee contestants left, each sings three songs that week. At this point, there is no bottom three--instead, Ryan just drags out the show for as long as possible, many times quarreling with Simon Cowell over a contestants performance. In recent years, there have been new additions to the show, such as last years Feed the Children drive, in which viewers were asked to donate to starving children in Africa, and much of the air time is taken up by this.
The finale is held at the Kodak theatre, and draws a huge crowd every year--at least 3400. Shows on this week are generally two hour specials, with guest appearances and performances. The remaining two contestants sing three songs each, and are given multiple numbers for viewers to call at the end of the show, which Ryan repeats incessantly. The winner receives a record deal with 19 Entertainment, cash, and more recently, cars.
One of the most interesting things I have noticed after watching this show for several years is that it seems to be all about advertising, and I don't even mean the commercials, such as the Ford commercials done by the top contestants after it has been narrowed down to the final six. The show itself, through drawing in the audience with the emotional roller coaster of the Idol journey, makes for huge record sales. Of course, one might view this as simply giving the audience what they want, seeing as they did vote for the contestant they would like to see win, but how does the audience know their votes are really even being counted? Instead, the show is about hooking the audience on the winner, so as soon as they release their album, sales skyrocket, and every single released goes top forty. This makes venue for not only the record company, but everyone involved in the making of American Idol, Ford motor company, and Coke, who advertise on every commercial break. This isn't a bad tactic, nor does it make the show bad (though thee is far too much advertising still going on within the show) and as long as the public feels they are still getting what they want, they will continue to consume.
