Although viewers won’t see it play out on television until next month, American Idol has allegedly selected its Top 24 seventh-season semifinalists.
“The Top 24 [were] chosen today - and no, I have no updates at this time,” “Joesplace” — the online spoiler who had previously released unconfirmed but apparently fairly accurate lists of many of the season’s alleged Top 50 Hollywood Round contestants, at least according to an MTV News investigation — wrote on his/her idolforums.com blog late Tuesday night. “Today 26 hearts were broken.”
“Joesplace’” claims appeared to be supported by a Pasadena Star-News report in which Rick Barr, the general manager of the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, confirmed American Idol filmed at the auditorium on Tuesday.
“[Fox officials] don’t want people around here,” Barr told the Star-News. “This is not an audition, it’s an elimination thing - they’re not singing and dancing. They find out whether they go on or not.”
The show was also seen filming about sixteen American Idol 7 contestants arriving in and emerging from Ford vehicles on the steps of Pasadena City Hall early Tuesday morning, according to the Star-News, which posted photos and video (see below) of the filming on its website.
“I can confirm that we are shooting today, but details are confidential,” Fox publicist Jill Hudson told the Star-News via an e-mail sent several hours after the 7AM PT shoot.
“Two people working on the film crew” reportedly told the Star-News that they were “filming a commercial,” however additional details were not made available, including the exact number of contestants present for the shoot. As one of the show’s three major sponsors, Idol contestants regularly appear in Ford commercials throughout each season’s broadcast run.
Idol has filmed segments for previous Idol installments on the steps of Pasadena Civic Auditorium and in the building’s Gold Room, Ariel Penn, Pasadena’s head of the city’s film office, told the Star-News.
However the auditorium’s steps are currently closed for construction, which Penn cited as a potential explanation for why the City Hall filming may have occurred.
Idol’s seventh-season is currently entrenched in its audition-episode broadcasts, which will end with the show’s February 6 broadcast. The initial portion of the Hollywood Round — where 160 hopefuls get narrowed to the season’s 24 semifinalists — filmed in late November.
The first part of the Hollywood Round will air Tuesday, February 12 at 8PM ET/PT, and the identities of Idol 7’s Top 24 semifinalists will be revealed at the conclusion of the following night’s February 13 broadcast.
No matter what happens on American Idol’s currently airing seventh season, one thing is for certain.
“Not having another Sanjaya in the next season of Idol is probably a good thing,” sixth-season finalist Sanjaya Malakar — speaking in the third person — told People in the magazine’s January 28 issue. “There’s only one Sanjaya.”
While the 18-year-old was known more for his crazy coifs and lack of vocal ability during his time on Idol — he’s apparently not letting that get him down, as he’s currently working on his career as a solo artist.
“I’m not in the recording stages yet,” he told People. “I’m writing music and starting to interview producers. If I had to define it, it would be alternative pop rock, like Paolo Nutini or James Morrison.”
Malakar moved from his native Seattle suburb to Los Angeles in the first week of January, and he currently shares a house with his 20-year-old sister Shyamali, who made it to the sixth season’s Hollywood Round before receiving the boot.
“Seattle is more chill,” he told People. “In L.A., everyone is focused on where they need to go. Move from wherever you are to L.A. to pursue your dreams.”
To insure his debut album has a better sound than the tunes he butchered on Idol, Malakar said he’s taking jazz and hip-hop classes in L.A. and commercial audition workshops and vocal lessons with celebrity vocal coach Seth Riggs.
“I’m doing little things to make sure I know what I’m doing when I get out there,” he told People.
Even if his career as a commercial artist doesn’t pan out, Malakar has a back-up plan to potentially follow in the footsteps of Dancing with the Stars fifth-season celebrity participant Marie Osmond and her spotlight-seeking brother Donny.
“[Shyamali and I are] Donny and Marie for the next generation,” Malakar told People, adding he and his big sister are currently shopping a variety show similar to Donny & Marie in the 1970s.
Not surprisingly, Malakar has no gripes with his Idol journey as he looks to further his career before his 15 minutes expire.
“I’m glad Idol went the way it did,” he told People. “Everything worked out perfectly.”
American Idol continued to be a ratings machine with Tuesday night’s seventh-season premiere broadcast — but it did dip a bit from last season’s record-setting debut numbers.
Idol 7’s two-hour debut broadcast averaged 33.2 million total viewers and scored a 13.8/32 rating/share in the Adults 18-49 demographic and a 12.9/33 rating/share among Adults 18-34, according to Nielsen Media Research preliminary fast national ratings — a performance that easily makes it the highest-rated entertainment telecast of the 2007-2008 television season.
However those numbers are down about 10% compared to Idol’s sixth-season premiere broadcast last January, which averaged 37.3 million total viewers and scored a 15.7/36 rating/share among Adults 18-49 and a 14.8/38 rating/share among Adults 18-34 demographic.
The results mean that Idol 7’s debut marks the first time that one of the show’s season premiere broadcasts has failed to deliver bigger ratings than the previous edition’s season premiere.
Idol’s seventh-season premiere also fell slightly short of the ratings numbers that the show’s fourth (33.5 million viewers and a 14.0/33 in Adults 18-49) and fifth season (35.5 million viewers and a 15.3/34 in Adults 18-49) premieres had delivered, making it the lowest-rated premiere since the show’s January 2004 third-season debut.
However in the world of DVR and Tivo these numbers are still skewed and we’re sure American idol 7 will still be hugely successful this year …
Chris Daughtry feels the show (American Idol) mainly responsible for his success is heading in a downward direction.
“I feel like it’s definitely lacking some credibility at this point,” the former American Idol fifth-season finalist told Rolling Stone in an interview published Monday. “It’s in a state of decline and if they don’t do something about it, it’s probably not gonna last too much longer. I’m sure that’ll be used against me, but that’s the truth, you know?”
Daughtry attributed part of Idol’s problem on the terrible talent highlighted during the show’s audition episode broadcasts that begin every season.
“People get tired of seeing people that suck,” he told Rolling Stone. “It’s funny at first, but come on. They spend three weeks on people that can’t sing, and that’s what they’re banking it on. [They should] find some people that you can really invest in.”
In addition, he said after six installments and a seventh edition — which will premiere Tuesday, January 15 at 8PM ET/PT on Fox — the lack of interested participants could also be hurting Idol.
“After going for so long, who else is out there that still wants to get on the show?” Daughtry wondered aloud to Rolling Stone.
Daughtry has been riding high in recent weeks, as his band took home 2007 American Music Awards in November for Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist and Favorite Breakthrough Artist — while the group’s self-titled debut album was also recognized for Favorite Pop or Rock Album.
A few weeks later, Daughtry received three Grammy Award nominations. The group’s self-titled debut was nominated for Best Rock Album; one of its singles — “It’s Over You” — received a nod in the Best Rock Song category; and “Home” received a nod in the Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals category. Last week, “Home” won the People’s Choice Award for Favorite Rock Song.
The band’s self-titled debut has sold 3.6 million copies since its release last November, making them one of Nielsen’s Top 10 selling artists of 2007, according to Rolling Stone.
However not all former Idol finalists are meeting the same success. Idol fifth-season champ Taylor Hicks and runner-up Katharine McPhee, as well as second-season winner Ruben Studdard, have all departed from the Sony BMG recording family in recent weeks.
Daughtry and his band are currently recording their second album, Rolling Stone reported.
Paula Abdul last released an original album 13 years ago, and now the American Idol judge is apparently ready to launch her musical comeback on one of the biggest stages around.
Fox has announced Abdul’s “Dance Like There’s No Tomorrow” music video will premiere during the network’s pregame coverage of Super Bowl XLII on Sunday, February 3, USA Today reported Monday.
The song is the first single to be released off Abdul’s upcoming “Abdulmatic” album — which is produced by fellow Idol judge Randy Jackson, whom USA Today reported will also appear during the pregame show with Abdul.
Abdul’s representative confirmed reports last week that Abdul was in talks to perform as part of Fox’s coverage of Super Bowl XLII. While Fox has yet to announce if the Idol judge will in fact sing, Fox Sports Chairman David Hill told USA Today that he’s trying to “meld two television icons” by seemingly doubling the Super Bowl telecast as one giant Idol promotion.
Fox tapped Idol host Ryan Seacrest to serve as the master of ceremonies for Super Bowl XLII at Arizona’s University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, AZ — which is the hometown of Idol sixth-season champ Jordin Sparks, who will sing the national anthem prior to the game.
“I wish [Idol judge] Simon Cowell had called and said he’s doing, say, an audio book of poetry. Simon reading William Wordsworth. It’d probably sell,” Hill joked to USA Today.
Super Bowl XLII will be Fox’s first Super Bowl broadcast in three years (the game rotates annually among Fox, CBS, and NBC, the NFL’s three broadcast network partners), and while Hill was the first to acknowledge Fox could be “overboard on entertainment,” according to USA Today, he quickly added that it will be all about football following the kickoff.
“No personalities in the booth,” he told USA Today. “I disagree with that totally — 200%.”
The Writers Guild of America strike crippling Hollywood is actually expected to benefit the seventh season of the U.S. TV series “American Idol.”
When the popular reality series returns to Fox this week, it is expected to easily surpass the offerings from rival networks devastated by the ongoing WGA strike, the Los Angeles Times said Sunday.
Ray Dundas, an executive with an advertisement-buying firm, said the fact other networks’ series have been essentially crippled by the strike has created an ideal situation for “Idol.”
“You have the No. 1 program in television for the last four years, and now it’s going up against even weaker competition,” the Initiative senior vice president said. “‘Idol’ is going to do very, very well.”
Such predictions have allowed Fox Broadcasting Co. to increase the cost of advertising time during the studio’s successful singing series, the Times said.
While a 30-second spot during “Idol” this season initially sold for $750,000, that figure has since risen to more than $1 million thanks to the ongoing labor dispute.
Former American Idol finalists are dropping like McPhlies in the Sony BMG recording family.
Katharine McPhee is the latest former Idol to part ways with the recording company, a representative for her now former RCA Records label confirmed to Entertainment Weekly on Wednesday. The fifth-season runner-up joins fifth-season champ Taylor Hicks and second-season winner Ruben Studdard — who recently left Arista and J Records labels respectively — as no longer having a label.
“Katharine is going to record her next album on her own,” an RCA representative told EW.
McPhee was signed to Idol creator Simon Fuller’s 19 Recordings Limited and Sony BMG’s RCA Records two weeks after she finished second to Hicks during Idol’s May 2006 fifth-season finale.
Her self-titled RCA debut dropped at No. 2 on The Billboard 200 album sales chart in its February 2007 first week of release, selling 116,000 copies. However since then the album has sold only 366,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.
While McPhee had previously stated her sophomore effort would be “a much different record” — “maybe more like the female version of John Mayer” — the 23-year-old has also begun to focus on an acting career. This fall, she finished production on I Know What Boys Like — a comedy produced by Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison Productions that she co-stars in alongside Scary Movie actress Anna Faris — which is scheduled to premiere mid-2008.
In addition, EW reported “we hear [McPhee is] already in talks with another label.”
Disgraced former “American Idol” contestant Jessica Sierra will not be going to the Pasadena Recovery Center for treatment of her addictions as planned.
Sierra was released from a Florida jail Wednesday and was due to fly to California to begin her court-ordered, one-year stay at the well-known rehab, however, Tampa prosecutor Pam Bondi told TMZ.com the California Department of Probation has denied treating Sierra as an “emergency transfer,” so she didn’t get on the plane.
Sierra, who is reportedly pregnant, is slated to appear in court in Tampa Thursday to determine where she will go next.
The 22-year-old singer was arrested Dec. 1 in Ybor City, Fla., after she allegedly went on a drunken rampage, violating her probation for an April drug and battery incident.
She will soon be seen on the VH-1 reality TV show “Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew,” which she taped before her Dec. 1 arrest.
Simon Cowell, “American Idol’s” acerbic British judge, says the show’s upcoming season will be “much, much better than its last.”
“We’re completely and utterly reliant on who walks in the door in terms of the quality of the contestants,” Cowell said in a conference call with reporters Wednesday. “Most of our focus this year was to make sure we got a better top 12 and a more interesting top 12 than what we got last year, and I am pretty certain that we’ve got that this year.”
“Idol’s” seventh season begins Tuesday on Fox, with Cowell again joined by fellow judges Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson.
Many critics felt “Idol’s” sixth season was marred by finalists who did not meet the reality show’s previous standards. Winner Jordin Sparks’ self-titled album has made the worst showing of any “Idol” champ’s debut, while sales of runner-up Blake Lewis’ “A.D.D. (Audio Day Dream)” have also been disappointing.
Chris Daughtry feels the show (American Idol) mainly responsible for his success is heading in a downward direction.
Paula Abdul last released an original album 13 years ago, and now the American Idol judge is apparently ready to launch her musical comeback on one of the biggest stages around.
