# Is American Idol shown live at 5pm on the West Coast? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 20, 2006, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-american-idol-shown-live-at-5pm-on-the-west-coast/353418 "2006-04-20T02:46:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DaveRaver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daveraver/32/1078_2.png) [@DaveRaver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveRaver)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-american-idol-shown-live-at-5pm-on-the-west-coast/353418/1 "2006-04-20T02:46:37Z")
American Idol is shown at 8pm on the East Coast, which means it would be 5pm on the West Coast… much too early. So is it taped and shown in prime time? If so, doesn’t that diminish the excitement of a live show, and is the voting time staggered by region? And wouldn’t that allow someone to vote for 2 hours on the east coast, and then use a west coast cellphone to vote for another 2 hours? ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-american-idol-shown-live-at-5pm-on-the-west-coast/353418/2 "2006-04-20T05:06:05Z")
I dunno. I’m on the West Coast, and it comes on for 8:00 PM here. I would be happy to watch Canadian Idol instead, but for that Ben Munroney. I wll NOT watch Ben Mulroney. ---
**Author:** ![Sxyzzx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sxyzzx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sxyzzx)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-american-idol-shown-live-at-5pm-on-the-west-coast/353418/3 "2006-04-20T05:17:10Z")
The only live national shows on the west coast are sporting events and the Academy Awards. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-american-idol-shown-live-at-5pm-on-the-west-coast/353418/4 "2006-04-20T06:52:31Z")
They even delay the results of presidential elections for three hours on the West Coast. ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-american-idol-shown-live-at-5pm-on-the-west-coast/353418/5 "2006-04-20T12:01:19Z")
> [@Savannah](#): > > I would be happy to watch Canadian Idol instead, but for that Ben Munroney. I wll NOT watch Ben Mulroney. Benny isn’t that bad (he’s an improvement over Seacrest). It is Jon Dore that annoys the s\*\*t out of me. ---
**Author:** ![sciguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@sciguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciguy)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-american-idol-shown-live-at-5pm-on-the-west-coast/353418/6 "2006-04-20T18:15:20Z")
AI airs at 7pm here in Denver (mountain time zone, -2 hours from east coast). There’s a little subtitle along the lines of “Aired from a previous taped presentation” or something. So I don’t watch it “Live” live. I’m assuming it’s shown live in the eastern time zone at 8pm, live in central at 7pm, one hour delayed in mountain at 7pm and three hours delayed in pacific at 8pm. I seem to remember a Cecil column about what “prime time” is in the different time zones (IIRC it was 8pm in East and Pacific, 7pm in Central and Mountain), but I can’t seem to track it down. It’d be interesting to hear whether or not they do region screening for the voting calls. Ryan’s spiel usually states that voting is open “_at least_ two hours”, so that may just mean that the west coast gets two hours (since that airs last), other time zones get more. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-american-idol-shown-live-at-5pm-on-the-west-coast/353418/7 "2006-04-26T02:48:09Z")
No, other time zones do not get more. Each time zone gets two hours past the time that the show ends in that zone. The “at least” is a CYA concession to the possibility that some contestants’ lines might stay open 60 seconds longer than others’. Beyond that, they go by area code. If you’re calling or texting from an area code that’s outside the region(s) eligible to vote at that time, you don’t get through. It should also be noted that Hawai’i has its own time zone, so their broadcast and voting window are later than and separate from Pacific and all the earlier time zones. Thus explaining how Jasmine Trias got to third place ahead of LaToya London two seasons ago. As the competition gets tighter, people tend to vote in blocs for the contestants from their own state, and since Jasmine was from Hawai’i, there was no interference from other states during that zone’s two-hour window. (If the final 2 this year ends up being Kellie (which god forbid) and Chris, it’ll be interesting to see if they cancel each other out, because they’re both from North Carolina. Paris is from Georgia and Taylor is from Alabama, so they would have a lot of “southern pride” votes. Elliott is from Virginia, but Virginians aren’t inspired to the same kind of loyalty, and Katherine is from California, which is almost antithetical to the “support our homegirl” system. However high she places, it’ll be due to people from everywhere except here.) ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-american-idol-shown-live-at-5pm-on-the-west-coast/353418/8 "2006-04-26T07:15:54Z")
Nothing is EVER shown live on the West Coast. mumble grumble…