posted by Administrator on May 28
The former American Idol sixth-season finalist — who was known more for his creative coifs than his actual singing ability — has been tapped to star in a new “Life Comes at You Fast” commercial for Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company.
“I’m thrilled to star in one of Nationwide’s ‘Life Comes at You Fast’ ads, because I really love the campaign,” said Malakar in the company’s announcement. “My experience on American Idol was is a great example of how life really does come at you fast. The ad is a funny take on the serious subject of planning for retirement.”
The commercial will feature the former Idol finalist visiting a monastery in India to seek advice and is told to both work on his hair and arrange a retirement plan.
????????
“The Life Comes at You Fast concept was created to remind people that they need to think about preparing for tomorrow,” said Steven Schreibman, Nationwide’s vice president of advertising and brand management. “Sanjaya’s ad reminds consumers that they need to be prepared for life to change, because change is inevitable.”
The spot is one of six new Nationwide commercials specifically targeted at the South Asian market.
“The rapidly growing South Asian market is very important to us,” said Tariq Khan, Nationwide’s vice president for market development and diversity. “The creative work in these print ads and TV spots reflect traditions and situations that South Asians can relate to.”
Malakar recently moved to Los Angeles and is currently working on his debut album.
posted by Administrator on May 28
Josiah Leming, a would-be “American Idol” contestant from Tennessee, reportedly has landed a record deal with Warner Bros.
Leming, 19, was living in his car when he auditioned for the singing competition show with an original tune.
Although he didn’t make the cut for the top 24 contestants last season, his MySpace page, which features his music, has since gotten 2 million hits. He also was invited to appear on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”
USA Today said that his most recent success is bittersweet, however.
Leming, who began work on his debut album for Warner Bros. last week, is hoping the CD comes out before his mother Sharon succumbs to terminal cancer.
“It’s a difficult balance between moving forward with my career here in Los Angeles, which makes my mom really happy, and trying to be with her as much as I can,” Leming told USA Today. “I want her to be here when the album comes out.”
With the advance he got for the album, Leming bought a truck for his father, a construction worker who quit his job to care for his wife. Leming also rented a house for a week so his family could enjoy a trip to North Carolina’s Outer Banks, the newspaper said.
posted by Administrator on May 28
“American Idol” Love: David Cook Goes Out With Kimberly Caldwell.
David Cook says he’s dating an “American Idol” alum. The newly crowned “Idol” winner said Tuesday on “Live With Regis and Kelly” that he recently had a dinner date with former “Idol” contestant Kimberly Caldwell.
Cook, 25, said he met Caldwell through the show. When asked if he had a good time, Cook replied: “I did. We’ll probably hang out again. So we’ll see.”
Caldwell, 26, appeared on the second season of the top-rated Fox singing competition.
Cook, from Blue Springs, Mo., defeated 17-year-old David Archuleta last week in a landslide victory. The rocker became the heartthrob of the seventh season around the time he restyled his hair and displayed more confidence onstage.
posted by Administrator on May 27
David Cook never thought he’d make it past his impromptu American Idol audition last summer, never mind defeat David Archuleta to take home the seventh-season title.
“I just figured I’d go in, sing a song and they’d say I wasn’t what they were looking for. I’d go back to Tulsa to work on my record some more,” Cook told reporters during a Friday conference call. “Apparently, somebody had another plan.”
Apparently indeed. The 25-year-old Blue Spings, MO native won Idol’s seventh-season after “97 and a half million” home viewer votes were cast immediately following Tuesday night’s live performance broadcast that saw Archuleta and Cook each sing three songs.
READ THE FULLARTICLE @
Reality TV World >>>>>
posted by Administrator on May 27
While Simon Cowell thought David Archuleta scored a “knockout” over David Cook after American Idol’s final seventh-season performance episode on Tuesday night, Archuleta still felt Cook was more worthy of the title.
“I think he deserved it so much. He just proved it week after week that he deserves to be the American Idol,” Archuleta told reporters during a Friday conference call. “My main priority wasn’t to win the competition. It was just to do my best, because you can suck and people can vote enough for you to win. That wouldn’t feel very good.”
READ THE FULL ARTICLE @ Reality TV World >>>>>
posted by Administrator on May 23
David Cook was fully expecting David Archuleta to be crowned American Idol’s seventh-season winner.
“I thought that [Archuleta] did amazing [Tuesday] night,” Cook told Access Hollywood following last night’s live Idol finale. “I had my mind made up that I was taking second. I had it in my head. ‘Alright, they’re going to say his name, I’m just going to make sure that I congratulate him properly.’”
However it was Cook who would be receiving the congratulations, as the 25-year-old Tulsa, OK resident became Idol’s seventh-season champ during last night’s live two-hour finale.
“When they said my name, I heard Archuleta, so I turned, then it processed as I was turning,” Cook told Access Hollywood about the moment when host Ryan Seacrest revealed him to be the seventh-season victor.
Cook defeated Archuleta, a 17-year-old from Murray, UT, after Seacrest said “97 and a half million” home viewer votes were cast immediately following Tuesday night’s live performance broadcast that saw both finalists each sing three songs. Cook bested Archuleta by a 56% to 44% home viewer voting margin, or roughly 12 million votes.
“I just told [Archuleta] that I loved him,” Cook told Access Hollywood. “I’ve definitely got big brother syndrome with him. I’m proud of him. I’m proud of what he was able to do — from start to finish. He was the front runner from the get go. So to be able to carry that torch all the way through, my hats off to him. I couldn’t have done it.”
While Cook and Archuleta were largely considered to be equals during the more recent weeks of the competition, judge Simon Cowell awarded all three rounds of Tuesday night’s performance episode to Archuleta and said the teenager scored a “knockout” over Cook.
“I honestly thought that he had been more consistent,” Cook told Access Hollywood about Archuleta. “For a 17-year-old kid, never mind, for a performer he’s amazing. And it was an honor just to share the stage with him. I kept catching myself almost crying tonight through out the whole process because it was just like, ‘What am I doing here?’ But you know, it was a trip, it was heavy.”
Cook found himself auditioning for Idol’s seventh season last summer in Omaha, initially attending the open casting call to instead support his brother.
“This is the last thing I could have anticipated when I was pushed into auditioning by brother Andrew,” Cook told Access Hollywood. “So to be here now, it’s such a trip.”
While his Idol experience may be in the books, the residual affect of winning the show has only just begun.
“I haven’t celebrated in four months,” Cook told Access Hollywood. “I’m gonna do all this fantastic press, and then I’m going to go hang out with my friends and family, and hopefully let it sink in.”
posted by Administrator on May 23
The upset “American Idol” victory by rock singer David Cook drew nearly 32 million U.S. television viewers Wednesday night, up 3 percent from last year’s finale, Nielsen Media Research reported Thursday.
The two-hour broadcast on News Corp’s Fox network marked the second-most-watched episode of the smash hit talent contest this season, behind only the 33 million-plus viewers who tuned in for the debut of the show’s seventh installment in January.
The Nielsens rally came after weeks of record low ratings. And “American Idol” finished its latest run down year-to-year for the season as a whole in both overall average audience size and in ratings for viewers aged 18 to 49, the group most prized by advertisers.
It was the second straight year of season-to-season declines though the finale’s ratings could be adjusted when the final Nielsen data comes in.
“Idol,” which generally airs twice weekly, averaged about 28.1 million viewers per broadcast for the current season, compared with 30.8 million at the height of show’s popularity in 2006. But it remains by the far the most watched show on U.S. television.
The unexpected triumph of Cook, 25, who was tending bar and playing in a band before he auditioned for the singing competition, marked one of the more surprising outcomes of the series.
His rival, 17-year-old David Archuleta, went from being the contestant widely dubbed “The Chosen One” to runner-up after a record 97.5 million votes were cast by fans of the show on Tuesday night, final performance episode.
The show is produced by 19 Entertainment, a unit of CKX Inc , and by FremantleMedia, a division of British-based RTL Group., which is controlled by media giant Bertelsmann AG . (Reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Cynthia Osterman)
Source: Reuters North American News Service
posted by Administrator on May 23
Simon Cowell continued to be in an apologetic mood the morning after American Idol’s live seventh-season finale — further explaining his desire to repent for why he felt his Tuesday night criticism of David Cook was “verging on disrespectful.”
“I was almost horrified when I went back home and watched [Tuesday night’s performance show]. It was literally like watching and listening to a whole new show. What you thought was good wasn’t very good and what you thought was bad actually was a lot better,” said Cowell as a guest on Thursday’s broadcast of Ryan Seacrest’s KIIS FM radio show.
“[Idol’s live finale] is the only opportunity I got to sort of say something publicly, because he’s quite a proud man, David. That felt like the right time to say it.”
Cowell’s apology to Cook came moments before Seacrest revealed home viewers had crowned the 25-year-old Tulsa, OK resident Idol’s seventh-season champ over 17-year-old David Archuleta.
“I didn’t know at that point who was going to win — but win or lose, it had to be said,” Cowell told Seacrest about the timing of his apology.
An Archuleta vs. Cook finale was both forecasted and anticipated by Cowell, who only predicted Cook as his favorite to take home the title during a Tuesday appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. However during that night’s live performance episode he awarded all three rounds to Archuleta and said the teenager scored a “knockout” over Cook.
Cowell told Seacrest he was only thinking of one word when Cook was revealed to be the champ — “justice.”
“I thought it was the right thing,” said Cowell. “You always think in a situation like this where someone who’s cute like David Archuleta, that it’s going to be carried by young girls or grandmothers or [whoever] vote for people like David Archuleta. But actually the person who I thought did the best performances over the 11 or 12 weeks actually deserved to win and he did win. It was good.”
In addition, Cowell said he was “actually quite emotional” after Cook was crowned, however he couldn’t tell if it was because the seventh-season’s resident rocker had won or because the latest installment of the Fox mega-hit had come to a close.
“A bit of both I think,” he said with a laugh. “As soon as the announcement [of the winner] comes in, you realize how long its been. It’s quite a relief when it’s over.”
posted by Administrator on May 23
Newly crowned “American Idol” winner David Cook has become the first singer to star in an “I’m Going to Disney World!” commercial, Walt Disney World said.
The commercials traditionally feature sports stars using the catch phrase.
Cook shouted, “I’m going to Disney World!” Wednesday night after learning he had won the TV singing competition series “American Idol.”
Disney said camera crews captured Cook’s pronouncement on the Nokia Theatre stage in Los Angeles, just moments after host Ryan Seacrest announced Cook’s name as the winner.
Cook was then featured in the newest “I’m Going to Disney World!” commercial, which aired only hours after the “Idol” finale.
A new attraction called “The American Idol Experience” is scheduled to open January at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, Disney said.
posted by Administrator on May 22
Representatives for David Cook said the “American Idol” winner has released his first single, “The Time of My Life,” on iTunes.
Cook sang the song after he found out he won the the Season 7 edition of the U.S. singing competition show Wednesday night.
The song was written by Regie Hamm, winner of the “American Idol” songwriting competition, and will be available Friday at all digital music retailers, BWR Public Relations said.
GET IT NOW : 
