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Idol pleasures
Idol pleasures
2 June 2003
The Sun-Herald
You can help decide pop's Next Big Thing, Clara Iaccarino
writes.
It's Young Talent Time meets Big Brother,
but with the added intensity of thousands of TV viewers
whose votes can determine a future in the music industry
for talented hopefuls.
Ladies and gentlemen, presenting Australian Idol,
the television program that seeks to uncover Australia's
"next big thing" in the music industry.
But this time around, the simpering Johnny Young smiles
and "Goodnight Australia" farewells have been
replaced by a trio of scathing judges and a sudden-death
vote that sees aspiring idols knocked out one by one until
only Australia's hottest young singer remains.
Australian Idol follows the landslide success of
Britain's Pop Idol, a nationwide search for a solo
superstar and a program that launched the career of 24-year-old
Will Young. The first official pop idol, Young's winning
ballad Evergreen went on to become the second-highest-selling
single in UK history.
Then came American Idol, the highest-rated show
on the US Fox network with 22.8million viewers. Network
Ten aspires to repeat this success with the launch of
Australian Idol at the end of July.
"In every market around the world this format has
eclipsed every other type of show," says Network
Ten head of entertainment and Australian Idol executive
producer, Stephen Tate. "It out-rated the summer
Olympics in the US.
"It's a completely honest format, it is unashamedly
looking for the best talent in the country."
Despite the previous success oftalent-search cousin Popstars,
Tate is convinced that the Idol phenomenon is a
winning formula.
"The key difference is that [Australian Idol]
is predominantly studio-based, it's predominantly live
and it's 100percent about talent."
Popstars executive producer Andrew Backwell believes
it has great potential, "but it depends on the producers.
It depends how it's executed."
Will audiences respond to yet another reality show? Jane
Roscoe, head of the centre for screen studies and research
at the Australian Film Television and Radio School, believes
society's obsession with celebrity has not yet been quenched.
"We are obsessed with ordinary people being turned
into celebrities," she explains. "We start to
feel we know these characters. Viewing becomes ritualised,
it's television that encourages us to interact."
Roscoe believes Australian Idol is "going
to be big". She believes viewers feel connected with
contestants because their votes determine ultimate success
or failure. But the response of the audience also depends
on the contestants chosen as finalists.
"The format is a winner, but you need to feel connected
to the characters, so it depends who's on the show,"
she says. "There's a definite novelty value, but
the constant struggle for reality TV is that there has
to be more than a novelty value, they're constantly working
to surprise us."
The nationwide search for Australia's new idol began in
Adelaide on Wednesday with Channel V's James Mathison
and Andrew G taking the hosting reins. Judges Marcia Hines,
BMG marketing general manager Ian Dickson and music producer
Mark Holden are responsible for choosing the finalists
before Australians vote for their favourite contestant.
Sydney auditions for Australian Idol will take
place on June 13 and 14 at Sydney University Wentworth
Building from 8.30am. Visit au.australianidol.yahoo.com
for details.
The judging panel consist of singer Marcia Hines, former singer
and now writer and producer Mark Holden and BMG record label
representative Ian Dickson.
