Category — Australian Idol

Network TEN is looking to rebuild after a bleak few years rating  wise for them, and the new CEO Hamish Mclennan has said he wants to bring back event television to make sure people are watching the show when it is screened.

It appears people are more likely to time shift drama but not so much sport or reality TV.

In fact he has hinted he might bring back Australian Idol.

On TV Tonight via The Australian he said:

“Live sport doesn’t get time-shifted, and we will have a greater focus on news, and big franchises like Australian Idol. That’s why you’re now seeing a strong commitment from advertisers for upcoming programs on TEN like The Bachelor.”

If Australian Idol came back in it would be entering a very crowded reality TV singing show market with The Voice and The X Factor  and maybe it would struggle to find a solid audience.

However The Bachelor is a great show for TEN as it has never been done here and is huge in the US. Also hopefully this will mean So You Think You Can Dance Australia. These two shows would definitely help TEN differentiate themselves from the other free-to-air channels.

Also if SEVEN are not going to renew The Amazing Race Australia they should try and get it.

Also the Sunday Telegraph was also reporting that former Australian Idol host James Mathison is being considered as host of their new breakfast show. I think that would be a good choice I thought he was quick and intelligent when he was on Idol.

Do you think Australian Idol should come back? Also what show would you like to see on Australian screens? 

Rumours are swirling that Network TEN are considering bringing back Australian Idol. Idol is a great talent show format, however there is a crowded reality talent show roster on Australian screens.

Currently there is The Voice, The X Factor and NINE are trying to revitalise Australia’s Got Talent. Also would there be enough singing talent to go around.

The Daily Telegraph does report Ten’s chief programming officer Bev McGarvey is saying it is not a definite:

“Like all networks, we’re always looking at new options and shows,” she said. “Australian Idol is a consideration, as are many, many other things, but it would be wrong to say it will definitely return to Ten.”

If they are thinking about bringing back an old format they should consider So You Think You Can Dance, they probably think after the stinker that Everybody Dance Now was dance shows are untouchable. There was nothing wrong with the dance talent on that show it was the format.

Maybe having American Idol back on their screens has given the TEN executives a rush to their head as there is certainly some talent there. Contestants are getting knocked out of Hollywood Week that would make top 12 in Australia.
Would you watch a revamped version of Australian Idol?

One of my favourites is Zoanette Johnson who claims she is only twenty. She is like Fantasia but unleashed. She is not a cookie cutter contestant and you don’t know what to expect when she starts to sing. This was her bit from last night’s episode. She will definitely polarise viewers.

On American Idol they are now up to the top forty and the ones that made it were.

Examiner has the list, the names with asteriks are verified.  The top forty perform in Vegas next week to see who gets on the live shows.

“American Idol” top 20 females of 2013

Angela Kristine Miller*
Candice Glover*
Zoanette Johnson*
Janelle Arthur*
Jett Hermano*
Shubha Vedula*
Juliana Chahayed*
Melinda Ademi*
Kree Harrison*
Rachel Hale*
Cristabel Clack
Adriana Latonio
Amber Holcomb
Aubrey Cleland
Breanna Steer
Jenny Beth Willis
Kamaria Ousley
Christina Isabelle Pasqualone
Brandy Hotard
Tenna Torres -

“American Idol” top 20 males of 2013

Paul Jolley*
Lazaro Arbos*
Curtis Finch Jr.*
Devin Velez*
Gurpreet Singh Sarin*
Cortez Shaw*
Jimmy Smith*
Johnny Keyser*
Vincent Powell*
Nick Boddington*
Charlie Askew*
Mathenee Treco*
Burnell Taylor*
Josh Holiday*
Bryant Tadeo
Kevin Harris
Chris Watson
David Oliver Willis
Elijah Liu
Josh JDA Davila

Amercian Idol on Thursday and Friday night at 7.30pm on TEN.

Maybe Wes Carr needs to realise the reason he is not a big rock star is because of him not because he was on Australian Idol.

This week Wes Carr, who actually won the show, spoke about how he has turned his back on his reality TV fame and is now performing under the moniker of Buffalo Tales. He is now an independent (does this mean dumped by record label?) muso.

The thirty year old has not been emulate the success of some of the other Idol alumni like Guy Sebastian, Jessica Mauboy, Ricki-Lee Coulter and even Stan Walker and appears to blame the show.

Whether this is true or not I am not sure, personally I think these shows give a performer a huge opportunity to gain a wide audience to connect with and sell music and perform to.

However this is what he told the Daily Telegraph:

AUSTRALIAN Idol Wes Carr is performing under an alias because he says the reality show ruined his name.

“People have a perception of Wes Carr. That’s not me,” he said.

“Ironically, I had to change my own name to release my own music.

“Meanwhile, I’ve got this Wes Carr thing hanging over my head that I have to kill off.

“I’m sick of that character. It is tainted.”

Carr, 30, who won Australian Idol five years ago, now performs as Buffalo Tales.

Carr’s Idol implosion happened on a flight to Nashville.

“That was the D-Day that ended it all,” he told Confidential. I had a huge anxiety attack on the plane. It was a nervous breakdown and I freaked out.

“I got out of my seat, walked up to the air steward and said: ‘How do I get off this plane fast?’

“That was the moment I learned that, if you keep being untruthful to yourself, you end up in trouble.”

He went home and retreated to Coffs Harbour with his girlfriend-now-wife, former Home And Away beauty Charlotte Gregg.

“I’d lost my way and my intention, which is to play music and be inspired by music,” Carr said.

“My passion had gone. The biggest part of me will always be a musician.

“But it felt like all that had been set aside so people could talk about my beard. It was stupid, trivial and bullshit.

“I was a puppet on the string, then all of a sudden they cut the strings when the next puppet comes along.”

Carr is rejuvenated as Buffalo Tales – an independent singer-songwriter calling the shots.

“Buffalo Tales is my way of saying ‘Wes Carr wasn’t me. Here I am now’,” he said.

Singing reality TV savants will remember that The X Factor contestant Nathaniel Willemse made it to top 24 on Australian Idol.

Back then he had hair. Here is a shaky clip of his Australian Idol doing a respectable rendition of Vertigo.

He also put out a EP and single last year.

There is not doubt these days that being on a quality reality TV show can increase the profile and profits of any performer, and the enigmatic  Adam Levine, coach on the US version of The Voice, confirms this in an interview on The Daily Beast.

The article states the song “Moves Like Jagger,” which Levine debuted on the show in 2011, became the 12th most-sold downloaded song of all time. Overexposed, Maroon 5’s new album, has sold 500,000 copies since its summer debut, with two singles currently on the top 12 of the Billboard Hot 100.

He tells the Daily Beast:

I think it absolutely has helped our career. I think there’s no doubt about that. Things were fine with the band. It wasn’t like we didn’t have success and weren’t satisfied, but I felt like we were at a bit of a crossroads trying to figure out the next move. We were searching a little bit, and [The Voice] changed our career profoundly. It got my face in everyone’s household. It got our music all over the map. What was interesting, our music was already quite big. But people discovered and rediscovered who we were and what we did and got to know me. I always felt like I was slightly misrepresented.

Adam also talks about how the winners of The Voice have not gone on to have as successful post show careers as Idol stars have:

I think the show needs to do things better to help see it through. However, that being said, I also believe people need to understand that launching someone into the stratosphere and creating a huge success is one in a million. It’s not a factory. It’s not a machine. Having been in a band for however long, you release a single, and sometimes it does really well. Sometimes no one gives a shit. We’re two seasons in. You’ve got to give us a minute. I think American Idolgot very lucky in having Kelly Clarkson. Kelly Clarkson was the first winner, right?

Interestingly in the Sun-Herald today it stated how the first winner of Australian Idol Guy Sebastian had received a lot of flack from the music industry about achieving prominence from a reality show. He is having the last laugh now with hit singles in Australia but also he is currently in the US charts.

Thankfully the stigma of achieving recognition through reality TV shows is decreasing.