Australian Idol is the latest search for a musical superstar.
Australian Idol is a 17-week reality program which seeks
to find Australia's new singing star. Over 8,000 people
had auditioned for the program during the recent auditions
in capital cities. Australian Idol follows the landslide
success of Pop Idol in the UK and American Idol. In
the UK the nationwide search for a solo superstar launched
the career of 24-year-old Will Young, while American
Idol was the highest-rated show on the US Fox network
with 22 million viewers. From Germany, USA, Poland,
Canada and the UK, the Idol format has been screen in
over a dozen countries worldwide. Network Ten aspires
to repeat this international success with the launch
of Australian Idol in 2003.
While Australian's are no stranger to popular reality
doco-soap Popstars, with three series having been screened
on Channel Seven, Australian Idol program differs by
allowing viewers the chance to decide who will receive
a record deal and contracts with BMG based on live weekly
shows and a national phone vote similar to Big Brother
evictions. Despite the previous success of Popstars,
Network Ten 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."
Judges Marcia Hines, BMG marketing general manager Ian
Dickson and music producer Mark Holden are responsible
for choosing the 30-40 finalists from a field of around
100 of the best from the national auditions, before
Australians vote for their favourite contestant in a
series of rounds.
The 30 to 40 finalists will be narrowed to 10 as the show
progresses. These 10 contestants will each perform various
songs live to a national audience each week. The group
may also perform a song together which is not judged.
Contestants compete for the major prize with viewers determining
the winner through telephone voting and possibly through
other media such as- SMS and Internet voting. The three
Judges also play a part in determining the winner in each
round. The finalist with the least votes is eliminated
each week until two contestants are left. The final contestant
left standing will be crown the Australian Idol and will
receive a recording contract with BMG.
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Australian Idol- In Brief
TV Network: Network
Ten for 17 weeks
Production Company:
Fremantle Media subsidiary Grundy Television in association
with UK company 19TV
Premieres: Sunday
July 27 2003 from 7.30pm.
Time: Details have
yet to be finalised- possibly weekly on Sundays from 6:30pm,
with possibly two shows a week- Sunday/Monday.
Hosts: Channel V personalities
Andrew G and James Mathison will host the series as well
as Australian Idol Extra which will be screen exclusively
on Channel V. This program screens extra footage from
the making of the series and debuts in August.
Prize: The series
winner will receive a record deal and contracts with BMG.
Judges: The judging
panel consist of singer Marcia Hines, former singer and
now writer and producer Mark Holden and record label BMG
representative Ian Dickson.
