Dumb question, but I need my ignorance fought:
I am kinda out of the loop regarding PCSTESKEGLM—Pop Culture Stuff That Everybody Should Know, Even Geeks Like Me.
I’ve seen (and enjoyed) the early auditions of Am. Idol-- where the talentless people get laughed at by the judges. But how do those few dozen people get selected from the thousands of others who start out in the stadium?
Sorry if this is a dumb question. But I’ve never paid much attention to how it all works.
The judges spend several days in each city where auditions are held, and I believe they see as many candidates as they can each day, but these people have already been pre-screened by the producers. There’s no way the judges could see everyone who shows up.
As far as I know.
Based on watching the UK version, I agree with vivalostwages.
The producers are looking for precisely 3 types of contestant:
The TV public are not going to tune in to watch a nondescript average singer have a go and be told “Sorry, you’re OK, but not really good enough.”
They want commments like:
“You have a fantastic voice”
“You could win this competition”
“You are the sort of undiscovered talent this show is about”
“You sound like a mumbling frog with a heavy cold!”
“I have never heard anyone as bad as you!”
"Who told you you could sing?! 
"
“So you gave up your job for this audition?”
"You’ve just nursed one of your children through a life-threatening illness and now they have recovered you want to have a go here? 
"
"You clean sewers, but now you want to move up? 
"
.
okay, so how do the producers sort through 10 thousand idiots to find the 50 or 100 who are worthy of an actual audition? How is it organized, and what are the logistics involved in listening to 10 thousand people, even if only for a few seconds each?
From what I understand, there are about 12 teams of people who listen to the contestants sing (or “sing”) and very quickly weed out who will go through to either another level or to the Paula/Simon/Randy panel. Many enter the stadium, but few get to see The Three. I guess the logistics is teams of listeners, and listen quickly.
The other thing I read that I thought was interesting is that the producer teams that listen to the thousands and thousands and the appearances in front of the three TV judges happen on different days. So for a lot of the people who are in bad, costumey outfits, they have to agree to wear the same thing when they come back to audition for the cameras.
This link was posted in this week’s AI thread. It explains some of how it works…
From what I’ve read there are three stages:
Thousands of people show up. They film group shots, then are herded into groups before producers at booths. Each person has about 15-20 seconds to sing. Based on reports of some that were there, some of the tables seemed to favor “good” contestants, and some favored “bad” contestants, although there is no proof that the producers are instructed to produce one or the other. Many good singers are apparently rejected for “type”.
Those that make it past the initial cut meet with the executive producers. They sing again and are asked about their backstory. The producers look for those with a gimmick or interesting story. Many are told to wear the same clothes when they come back.
About 100-200 people in each city audition in front of the judges. This can be more than a week later and in at least one case (due to weather) thousands of miles away (AI paid for transport). At this third cut, they are also required to sing a designated song, such as PCD’s Doncha, which is later cut into a montage. This song is intercut with judge “reaction” footage, but is not performed in front of the judges. The judges’ reactions are often edited so that comments for one performance are used for a different performance. Some auditioners have a real song and a “gimmick” song. Although they sing both for the judges, sometimes only the “gimmick” footage is shown, which is why you sometimes get the reaction of “who would choose to sing THAT?”
If they make it through, they go to Hollywood where the footage is again edited for drama.
Actually, this is the part of American Idol that I find cruel and basically evil.
Yes, there are the “pre-judges” that give everybody a chance to sing.
From a report a year or two ago, they said that most of the people auditioning actually have a decent, if not paricularly great, singing voice, but only a select few are chosen; those who clearly have exceptional talent, and those that can easily be made fun of.
In other words, those poor schmucks that appear on camera and are truly horrible were selected to go in for an audition with the famous three judges! They are intentionally sent to the audition to make fools of themselves, but many sadly don’t realize they are only being sent there to be ridiculed.
It is one thing for some misguided kid to go there with their little hopes all in a bundle and be told they don’t have what it takes and sent home. But it is quite another thing to pretend they are worthy of a real audition, only for them to be ripped to shreds, on-camera, in front of millions of viewers.
How would you feel if your son or daughter called you, all excited because they were selected out of thousands to go audition in front of Simon, Randy and the lunatic, and then discover that the only reason your kid was sent there was so that they could be publicly humiliated and have their egos destroyed on camera?
To me, that makes this audition part of American Idol about as funny as laughing at the kid with Downs Syndrome when he is intentionally tripped in the high school cafeteria. I never thought bullies were particularly endearing, and that is what Simon and crew are during this part of the show.
Some do know that, though. For instance, the girl from a couple weeks ago, who did the Cowardly Lion imitation. She auditioned for the producers with a standard song, but somewhere along the line, also revealed that she had that gimmick. She was told that she was not quite good enough to be one of the “good auditions”, but that she could get on TV if she was willing to do only the CL schtick. So she agreed.
Granted, some of the “bad” auditioners really don’t know that they’re being set up (Keith “Like a Virgin” from season 2, frex), but I daresay that what I described above happens more often than you might think. When you get there, and see how long the odds are of your just getting past the typing-out stage, agreeing to be a “bad” auditioner probably sounds better than wasting your time entirely.