(This is a GQ post but I guess more answers will come from CS.)
When checking the news websites reuters.com, cnn.com, and msnbc.com, I noticed that all three had the winner of American Idol on their front web page of stories.
My immediate reaction was wondering why pixels were wasted on something trivial like that. But, I do a little google on AI and find out it’s the #1 rated TV show. Well, it looks like AI is not a trivial after all.
I’ve never seen an episode of AI because the description of it sounds like any talent show that’s been on TV such as Star_Search from the 1980s. Star Search was somewhat popular but it was never a huge mega hit.
Here’s my question: What’s different about American Idol that makes it must-watch TV?
(I guess I could try to catch an episode to see what the fuss is about but I’m guessing I’d be too clueless to figure it out even if I saw it firsthand.)
I think it has something to do with audience participation. With Star Search, the judges determined the winner. With AI, the viewers get to vote. Also, AI is more of a season long tournament and (having never seen Star Search) probably goes fore more emotion and crafting story lines than SS.
Star Search was also, I think, not on during prime time. I can’t remember if it was on at 7 or 11, but it wasn’t on at 8 or 9 where we lived (which, back then, was the NYC area, not some hick town). Plus, it wasn’t just singers, it was comedians, dancers and spokesmodels so you didn’t have just one favorite. It looked cheap as hell also.
Even today, America’s Got Talent, a prime time talent search using the Idol formula, is no Americal Idol and I think it’s because it’s not just singers.
BTW, kudos on avoiding knowing how huge American Idol is for this long.
Simon Cowell, for all his diabolical charmlessness, has a credibility with the kids and the industry that Ed McMahon never had. That has to go pretty far.
American Idol used a formula that many successful reality TV shows of this decade have been using. Survior, The Apprentice, Big Brother, The Amazing Race all have one thing in common. They all use the elimination formula. Start out with a large group and eliminate them one-by-one on a weekly basis. Probably started back in the beauty pageant days but back then the elimation process happened in the span of one nights show, not dragged out for a season. People love this formula for a lot of reasons. You start out with a large group of whom you know little about. As the weeks wear on you learn more about these people but through the elimination there are less to keep track of. Until the end of the show where you have the finalists whom you are very familiar with. Almost like a sports playoff scenario.
Also, Star Search was a bit unfocused. Today, every category in Star Search has its own reality show dedicated exclusively towards it.
American Idol
Last Comic Standing
So you think you can dance
Heck, they even have some sort of “make me a soap opera star” elimination show.
They’re tailored to a particular audience and you’re not watching the “boring” stuff you don’t care much about, even if it’s just a 5 minute segment.