With a new eighth season ominously approaching in January, American Idol is planning a few shake ups to try and stem the ratings freefall that plagued last season. (Another plague: David Archuleta.) They've got a fourth host, Kara DioGuardi. Thirty-sex contestants will compete instead of 24. They'll have a "wildcard" round where ousted contestants can be brought back. They're canning the "Idol Gives Back"-"empty your wallets" ploy. There will be more backstage and behind-the-scenes footage. And Paula Abdul will try being sober-er. Oh, and that whole business about the crazed fan killing herself outside Abdul's home? They're going to try and cut back on the frequency of things like that, too. CONTINUED »
Paula Goodspeed, the woman who committed suicide in front of Paula Abdul's house last month, had been stalking the American Idol host for 17 years. 17 years of being obsessed with "Straight Up." Can you imagine?
The body found in a car outside of Paula Abdul's house might have belonged to one of the singer's stalkers. The woman died of an apparent drug overdose, not knowing that you have to build up your tolerance of Xanax before ever reaching the American Idol judge's level.
The only people still talking about Clay Aiken's coming out are Clay Aiken and his crazed Claymates (and now us). The singer took to his fan site to speak out about his People magazine cover and assure those crazy Bible thumpers that he's still the same ol' G.
We'll post the full diatribe after the jump, but for those of you who don't care enough to take three hours to read it, we'll sum it up for you: Clay somehow panders to his few "OMG this changes everything" fans without sounding hateful or condescending.
Oh come on, you knew this day was coming. The day where you'd have to tear down all your Ryan Seacrest posters, scribble out his name in your notebooks, and stop planning for the time when you two could own all forms of media, forever and ever amen.
The day has arrived where there finally exists photographic evidence of Ryan Seacrest's alleged metrosexuality in action, with American Idol's Randy Jackson no less:
This picture is the opposite of Yum-o. This picture, however, is the definition of going full homo. No straight man can be in the same room with suspected terrorist Rachael Ray for that long, even if it is a synergistic promotion for both of your shows. (American Idol debuts on Monday and the Rachel Ray Show never ends. Ever.)
No longer satisfied with only a three-ring circus, the producers of American Idol have added a cast member to the eighth season that won't be auditioning. Songwriter Kara DioGuardi has been named as a fourth permanent judge on AI (unlike Mark McGrath or whoever they have filling in every once in awhile) along with the old stalwarts of Simon, Paula, and Randy.
Says the show's executive producer Cecile Frot-Coutaz. "We had originally intended for American Idol to have four judges. We've seen from our international series that having a fourth judge creates a dynamic that benefits both the contestants and the viewers." Deciphered, this means: "We know Kara's done some work at the Phoenix House, so we're hoping we can write off Paula's stay there as a tax-break."
Nationwide Insurance must be incredibly desperate, because the company went all out to promote its newest spokeswhore, American Idol laughingstock Sanjaya. We would not be proud to have the creator of the ponyhawk pimping out our insurance, but to each his own.
America must have passed around some sort of petition saying they wanted their next Rupert Murdoch to have frosted tips and a tiny snub nose, because how else would you explain why Ryan Seacrest is becoming the next media mogul? Sorry, not mogul, "media player," which is what happens when someone like Seacrest decides to split from William Morris and take his agent with him (that's a buy out) to start his own empire. Young Anakin Seacrest will soon be Ryan Seacrest Inc. — he's already attached his name to Dick Clark's Rockin' Eve — not surprising since the man has his hand in every honey pot in town (except the one that is a euphemism for vaginas).
Seacrest not only make $12.5 million per season for American Idol and almost twice that for a 3-year contract with E! Entertainment, but the guy is literally his own brand in about eight different ways (Ryan Seacrest Productions, radio show On Air With Ryan Seacrest, Seacrest Sales, and radio division Sea Calm). Which seems incredible because honestly, the man is a cipher. If all it took to make a fortune was blond hair and an annoying smile, than half Orange County would already be famous. Oh wait.
If you are among the last contestants to survive American Idol, one of two things will happen to you after the show wraps: You will make the morning show press rounds, announce a record deal with a major label, put out an album, win the Grammy for Best New Artist, and go on to a lifetime of fame and money; or you will make the morning show press rounds, announce a record deal with a major label, put out an album, watch sales stall at 200, and get dropped from your label. Guess which category Blake Lewis – who lost to Jordin Sparks – falls into? CONTINUED »
American Idol is: A) The most popular show on television; B) The means by which Fox became the No. 1 rated network on television; C) The launching pad for a select few musical talents who have gone on to win Grammys; D) All of the above.
You know the answer to this question. And while, despite all this, Simon Cowell will never be eligible for an Emmy, as the Times reports, the paper of record still does not treat the talent competition with much pedigree. CONTINUED »
Fox insists it didn't intentionally run American Idol a smidge long to cut off Ryan Seacrest revealing the winner's name to DVR viewers. "The winner, by 12 million votes, of ‘American Idol’ 2008 is David —," was how things might've appeared on your end after sitting through what was essentially a two-hour ad for The Love Guru. [NYT]
Forget the crowning moment last night on American Idol — the real magic happened a little after 9 p.m. when the producers decided it would be a great idea to bring back Renaldo Lapuz, the guy from the first round of auditions who made up a song for Simon about being brothers forever. Actually, the lyrics go, “I am your brother, your best friend forever.” Deep.
Yes, last night's American Idol finale chose David Cook as the winner, violating everything Simon Cowell said the night before about David Archuleta's "knockout." And yes, 12 million more people voted for Cook than Archuelta. And yes, an early Nielsen estimate pegs total viewers at 26.5 million, the shows best numbers since March, and which could beat last year's audience of 25.3 million. But hands down, the most interesting thing about last night's finale – and it certainly wasn't performances by Jordin Sparks, Carrie Underwood, or any of the Top 12 contestants, or even Mike Myers' The Love Guru tie-ins – was this Guitar Hero ad featuring Cook doing a riff on Tom Cruise in Risky Business. Yes, they made Archuleta do one too, but that was seriously awkward. CONTINUED »
On tonight's American Idol finale, rumor has it producers would love to see David Cook win the contest, because he's much more manageable. [Scoop] David Archuleta, meanwhile, has that horrific Joe Simpson-esque stage dad that 19 Entertainment would have to contend with. So they couldn't have been happy when judge Simon Cowell essentially handed the win to Archuleta and counted Cook out.
Below, an interview with Archuleta after he started tearing up on stage. CONTINUED »
Tonight's American Idol finale, where David Archuleta will, we're imagining, ultimately be named the season's winner, will also feature secret special guest star George Michael, who will perform. [E!] Earlier this week,
producer Nigel Lythgoe refused to say who would be the closer's big ticket item, but insisted he was the “biggest star in the world." Uh huh. While Michael might be just fine for the audiences of Eli Stone, where he music graces each episode (or at least each episode title), on Idol, he will join esteemed names including Andrew Lloyd Webber as those who Idol's audience has absolutely zero idea who they are.
Hang the F on. While American Idol's ratings may be dropping off this season, the numbers the show pulls in are still leaps and bounds ahead of the competition, except for maybe Dancing With the Stars and CSI. The Tuesday-Wednesday shows still pull in some 21-plus million viewers (down from last year's average 30m) and, in the target demographic of 18-49-year-olds, Nielsen says Idol snags 13-14 million people. So why should anybody be surprised the show was renewed for next year? The producers' current contract with Fox allows for the show to be broadcast through at least 2011; expect it to be.
CASTRO, OUT The boy with the dreads, Jason Castro, who didn't even want to be on American Idol anymore, got tossed last night, leaving just David Archuleta, Syesha Mercado and David Cook to battle it out to win during what can be expected to be the lowest-rated finale show ever. [Photo: Fox]
At American Idol, everyone looks out for each other. Or at least producers look out for their star talent, which is why last night it was written into Ryan Seacrest's limited script that he must come to Paula Abdul's defense, and quiet those rumors that blossomed after Tuesday night's "Was that one performance or two?" disaster.
Wait — what rumors? As if you have to ask.
Despite the clipping service's buggy (and browser-crashing) player, RedLasso is always on the ball. Which is why, after TiVo-speeding our way through last night's American Idol and catching Paula Abdul mistake a single performance by Jason Castro for, um, two performances, we knew we could check our inbox within moments and the clip would be there. Indeed, it was. CONTINUED »
Was Carly Smithson voted off American Idol because she sang "Jesus Christ Superstar," the Andrew Lloyd Webber headliner that's offensive to some Christians, who undoubtedly make up a huge portion of the losers who dial 866 numbers? MAYBE! Not even her Irish roots could save her. (The terrible Kristy Lee Cook stayed on another week after singing "God Bless the U.S.A.") Nevermind that the first inkling the same voting bloc gets about David Archuleta's sessuality will also have him canned, unless the OMG HE'S SOOOOO CUTE factor weighs heavier.
