American Idol is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America.
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27 Facts About American Idol
2.
American Idol employs a panel of vocal judges who critique the contestants' performances.
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3.
Success of American Idol has been described as "unparalleled in broadcasting history".
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4.
American Idol was based on the British show Pop Idol created by Simon Fuller, which was in turn inspired by the New Zealand television singing competition Popstars.
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5.
American Idol then added other elements, including telephone voting by the viewing public, the drama of backstories, and real-life soap opera unfolding in real time.
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6.
American Idol's stayed for two seasons and left the show before the tenth season.
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7.
American Idol was joined by previous judge Jennifer Lopez and former mentor Harry Connick Jr.
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8.
However, in the sixth season, during the series' first ever American Idol Gives Back episode, no contestant was eliminated, but on the following week, two were sent home.
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9.
American Idol was eliminated at the top four in a shocking result.
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10.
American Idol Gives Back was canceled for this season due to the global recession at the time.
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11.
American Idol was reported to have eight surgeries during his Idol run, and had considered quitting the show due to the pain.
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12.
American Idol underwent surgery to remove the stones and reconstruct his kidney soon after the season had finished.
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13.
American Idol premiered in June 2002 and became the surprise summer hit show of 2002.
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14.
Nevertheless, American Idol overall finished its ninth season as the most watched TV series for the sixth year running, breaking the previous record of five consecutive seasons achieved by CBS' All in the Family and NBC's The Cosby Show.
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15.
Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly considered that "As TV, American Idol is crazily entertaining; as music, it's dust-mote inconsequential".
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16.
The product placement in the show in particular was noted, and some critics were harsh about what they perceived as its blatant commercial calculations – Karla Peterson of The San Diego Union-Tribune charged that American Idol is "a conniving multimedia monster" that has "absorbed the sin of our debauched culture and spit them out in a lump of reconstituted evil".
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17.
Elton John, who had appeared as a mentor in the show but turned down an offer to be a judge on American Idol, commenting on talent shows in general, said that "there have been some good acts but the only way to sustain a career is to pay your dues in small clubs".
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18.
American Idol revolutionized American pop culture and the pop idol process and has provided an opportunity for many to bypass the small club scene and allow a much larger audience to participate in and select the next potential chart topping performer.
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19.
American Idol was nominated for the Emmy's Outstanding Reality Competition Program for nine years but never won.
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20.
Theories given for the success of Southerners on Idol have been: more versatility with musical genres, as the Southern U S is home to several music genre scenes; not having as many opportunities to break into the pop music business; text-voting due to the South having the highest percentage of cell-phone only households; and the strong heritage of music and singing, which is notable in the Bible Belt, where it is in church that many people get their start in public singing.
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21.
Five consecutive seasons, starting in the seventh season, the title was given to a white male who plays the guitar – a trend that American Idol pundits call the "White guy with guitar" or "WGWG" factor.
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22.
Various American Idol alumni had success on various record charts around the world; in the U S they had achieved 345 number ones on the Billboard charts in its first 10 years, and 458 by its last year of broadcast in 2016, with 100 achieved by Kelly Clarkson alone.
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23.
Impact of American Idol was strongly felt in musical theatre, where many of Idol alumni have forged successful careers.
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24.
American Idol's later became the show's first and only alumnus ever to win the EGOT .
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25.
American Idol partnered with Disney in its theme park attraction The American Idol Experience.
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26.
American Idol Gives Back was a special charity event started in season six featuring performances by celebrities and various fund-raising initiatives.
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27.
American Idol has traditionally released studio recordings of contestants' performances as well as the winner's coronation single for sale.
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