Explain American Idol to me?

Cafe Society
1

I suppose I could just visit the website to find this out, but it reads like a confusing gossip column. Long on “human interest”, short on facts. I refuse to navigate that mess. :frowning:

What are the rules to this game? How are contestants initially chosen to go before the judges? Surely not everyone who shows up gets to. During Hollywood Week, the contestants do a first round of eliminations then a group thing. How many are left at that point? Ho many in each room? And how are the final 24 chosen?

And is it really 24? I thought that America voted when they were down to 16, 8 each men and women.

2

I think there were a dozen in each room at the end. They get on the show by auditioning, and I assume there’s some sort of lottery to get to that group that auditions (good question, though, as I don’t really know).

I believe the public votes on all performances, but I think the even split of boys vs girls is only until they get to the final 12. After that, they vote on sheer talent with no respect to gender.

3

I always thought that there were 16 in a room. But last night, 2 rooms were selected, and that left them with 40. Is this the new math?

4

Well, I may be confused on that. I thought we were down to the 24 at this point. But I will confess to a little dozing through the show, so you may be right. I’m not as schooled in American Idology as I’d like to be (jayzuz…did I say that out loud?).

5

At the beginning of one of the seasons of this show, they did show footage from the very initial auditions which looked to take place in a football stadium. Thousands of people line up to sing to what look to be a slew of production assistants. The PA’s are sitting at tables lined up along the edge of the football field and contestants walk up to the table and start singing. I believe that from there, people are selected to sing for Paula, Simon and Randy. So I guess it’s these PA’s who think it is funny to send completely untalented losers in front of the judges.

6

Tonight we see who the 24 are. The judges will review all the tapes of the remaining, um, 40-- I think. Each of them go into a room one by one and told their fate.

It’s very dramatic, with a scary elevator ride and the contestants waiting for their turn count how many got in.

7

I believe there have always been 20 people per room in the room split portion. I’ve watched this every year but don’t pay much attention to the details before the final 12.

They keep 2 rooms, leaving 40. They then review tapes of those forty to wittle down to 24. Those 24 perform and are eliminated by judges until down to 12. Thats when the public steps in and starts voting.

8

Really? I thought that at the beginning of the public voting, there was a women’s night and a men’s night, with far more than 6 per night.

9

The male/female thing is rather new, started last season or the one before I can’t remember. You may be correct about the amounts, as I said before, I don’t get really invested until it’s down to 12.

10

Here’s my understanding:

Thousands - maybe tens of thousands?- show up at each preliminary audition site. They are auditioned by staff who select the most promising, the most ridiculous, and a handful of the most interesting (e.g., the 60-some year old fellow who just wanted to sing for his late wife) to sing in front of Randy, Paula, and Simon (RPS). I would venture the executive producers have dictated to send some awful singers to RPS, for the sadistic entertainment value. The sad thing is, some of those poor singers don’t appear to realize their shortcomings, think they’ve been sent on because they’re good, and get their feelings hurt.

In each city, hundreds appear before RPS, and some are chosen to go on to Hollywood. I believe there were 180 or so total (from all cities) who got this far. They then sing again for RPS, and are winnowed down. I believe 76 were kept to go on to the group-sing round. After the group-sing, some are eliminated. Then they sing again for RPS and are further winnowed down. That was done last night, with their being divided into three groups (gathered in three different rooms), and one group being sent home. This left 40.

RPS review their material and winnow the 40 down to 24 (tonight’s show). The 24 then do the weekly assignments and are voted on by the public. RPS critique them, but do not vote or select from this point on. For the first few weeks, an equal number of males and females are vulnerable to being voted off. At some point - 10 or 12 left? - the male/female thing is abandoned and 2 per week (regardless of gender) are vulnerable.

11

This is exactly what I think, based on watching the UK equivalent.
The producers want to see people with talent, a story or a quirk…
…because that pulls in the TV audience.

Watching a dozen pleasant singers with no charisma or initiative is not great TV.
Watching someone who grips you in their first few bars is great. :cool:
Watching an emotional appeal might be harrowing, but it pulls in the viewers. :o
And seeing an appalling singer or an argumentative one also ‘works’ :rolleyes:

12

Really? They did it in season 4, which is about when I started paying attention to it.

Season 4, the Year of the Bo.

13

Here is how it goes:

Thousands audition for low-level producers. The good, bad and unique are selected to go on to the next round.

The second round is in front of the executive producers. This is where they are questioned about their “backstory” in more detail. If they are good, bad or interesting enough they then go on to the judges.

The judges then choose 100-200 to go to Hollywood.

In Hollywood, there are a series of cuts. In most recent years, they sing individually, with groups, and again individually. They are then divided into rooms. The rooms have random numbers of people, from about 15-35 in the past. About 40-45 people are selected to go on.

After the Hollywood round, the judges and producers review the tapes and choose 12 men and 12 women to go on to the semifinals. They try to balance for different types of singers, ethnicities, and ages.

The top 12 men and top 12 women sing on subsequent nights and the audience votes. For three weeks, 2 men and 2 women are voted off each week until 6 men and 6 women remain for the finals.

In the finals, all contestants perform and one is voted off each week.

In prior years, there were 30-32 semifinalists who competed in heats with the top 2 or 3 in each group moving on to the finals. This led to an uneven balance of men and women and they had to institute a wildcard and judges’ picks to balance it. Also, after voting for a contestant in the first heat, the audience would not see him/her until 4 weeks later. Thus the change to the current system where men and women compete separately until 6 of each is chosen.

FWIW, getting into the top 12 is less important than getting into the top 10, because the top 10 only go on tour.

14

Aha. Thank you.

Wow, were my assumptions way off!

15

Season four would be the year before last year. (or am I alzheimer’ing again?? :dubious: No I’m sure, Carrie, evil no-personality ouster of Bo, was the last Idol before Taylor right??)

I’m glad the people who pay attention cleared up the process, I was really confused because I really don’t remember the public vote being available until they were down to twelve.

I really need to quit caring about this show :smiley:

16

Psychobunny’s decscription is the most accurate thus far.

Just to add to it.

-The initial auditions are done in multiple small booths within a large venue like a stadium or arena 4 people at a time and each are given 15 seconds to perform. No critique is given by these folks, just a simple yes or no.

-The producers (round 1) and executive producers (round 2) actually have a casting sheet that they are trying to fill out. They not only find people with exceptional singing ability but also “type cast” them into roles. So while they may hear a few dozen young, pretty, thin, blonde, southern gals who do country, once they hit their quota of this “type” they are done.

-Exceptionally good, exceptionally bad, and exceptionally interesting sums it up well when it comes to who goes before Randy, Paula, Simon. And I don’t think these 3 see “hundreds” in each city. I’d say those 3 personally audition less than 100 people per city.