Those overwrought ballads. Randy Jackson’s wince-inducing dialogue (“You did your thing, dawg!”). The relentless commercial breaks. The endless shots of Simon Cowell in his muscle shirts. Logic would seem to indicate that we should be so over “American Idol” by now.
But Fox’s musical talent hunt, steamrolling through its third season, continues to be television’s dominant show. In the most recent weekly Nielsen ratings release, “American Idol” held down three of the top seven slots.
If anything, fascination with the show seems to be growing at the same rate as Simon’s ego. Viewers want to know all about it–about how it works and its behind-the-scenes quirks.
“Idol” insiders answer some burning questions about America’s favorite show:
The vocal police
Occasionally the judges chide a performer for picking a song that’s “all wrong for you.” Don’t they have a vocal coach to help them make their selections?
Yes, the contestants lean heavily on Debra Byrd, the show’s vocal coach and vocal arranger who leads them in rehearsals and irons out their flaws. (“I’m not a den mother, I’m the vocal police,” she says.) But when it comes to song selection, they are strictly on their own.
“That’s the way the competition is set up. If the judges criticize their selections, they can’t go back and place the blame on anyone else,” Byrd says. “Choosing the correct song is like choosing the perfect outfit. And it’s an important process for any singer. You have to see how you fit inside the song you sing.”
Incidentally, Byrd can often be heard singing background vocals on the songs.
Fashion disasters
Let’s talk fashion for a minute. Some thought Jennifer Hudson’s infamous pink ensemble a couple of weeks ago was hideous. Aren’t there any style gurus around to stage an intervention?
Before the field was trimmed to 12, the singers were required to bring their own clothes, according to an “Idol” publicist. Now, however, they are given a modest wardrobe allotment each week with which to shop. The show has two style counselors who offer their advice, but again, the final choices are up to the contestants.
Simon says …
Has Simon already picked his favorite?
Yes, the Caustic One told reporters at a recent party that Fantasia Barrino is his choice and he would “sign her [to a contract] right now.”
But executive producer Ken Warwick warns that the judges are often prone to opinion changes during the process and that their endorsements don’t always sway the voting, anyway.
Stage fright
Does the stress ever get to the contestants?
Absolutely. Byrd says nervous singers on occasion have frantically approached her moments before taking the stage, pleading “Please tell me what the lyrics are!”
And during a pre-show rehearsal in Season 1, one contestant after another went inexplicably flat. “It was like a snowball effect,” she says, “I’d never seen anything like it. The producers were freaking out.”
Incidentally, “American Idol” does keep a psychologist on staff to deal with performance-night trauma.
Olive oil and O.J.
What do the performers do to keep their singing voices in tip-top shape?
Byrd occasionally has them down a spoonful of olive oil to keep their vocal cords lubricated.
“It’s something gospel and opera singers have done for eons,” says Byrd, who prescribes orange juice and raw spinach for problems with laryngitis.
Revenge of the Boomers
Why are so many of the songs from way back when?
Because the genres are picked by Baby Boomer geezers. Seriously, much thought is put into pleasing the varied age demographics of the audience, and Warwick also points out that the show leans on the retro stuff because they want to test the contestants’ mettle by “having them learn the songs and put them over from scratch.”
By the way, Warwick and fellow executive producer Nigel Lithgoe are both British-bred Beatles fanatics who hope to do a Lennon/McCartney theme night someday.
Idol romances
Forget the singing for a moment. With all the time the contestants spend together in that “Idol” house, there has to be some romantic hooking-up going on, right?
The hook-ups, says Warwick (who doesn’t name names) generally happen after the completion of the show because, during the process, “we tend to work the kids pretty hard. They just don’t have a lot of time.” He also notes that the house is always crowded with producers and security staff and chaperones (underage contestants must have a parent living in the house with them), so there isn’t much privacy.
Yet Simon recently said recently there have been hookups. “They don’t talk about it, but it happens. Of course it happens. What do you think? We’ve got 12 kids living in the same house. Come on,” he told MTV.com.
FYI, house rules state that there’s no singing after 10 p.m. No drinking. No drugs. No boys in the girls’ rooms and vice versa.
Real fans in the audience
Where is the show filmed, and can fans get tickets?
Although “Idol” is a Fox series, it is shot on the CBS Television City lot in Hollywood in front of an audience of about 700. Free tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis, but there is a waiting list (sign up on www.idolonfox.com).
Usually, even some rabid fans who don’t have tickets line up in the early morning hours and are admitted as “seat fillers.” Says Warwick, “We fight against having the place packed with sponsors and network executives as much as possible. We want real fans in there to give the show some energy.”
Don’t say you weren’t warned
What’s on the release form the contestants sign?
According to TV Guide, a pretty stern warning: “Your appearance, depiction and/or portrayal in the Contest may be disparaging, defamatory, embarrassing or of an otherwise unfavorable nature, which may expose you to public ridicule, humiliation or condemnation.”
See what Simon has wrought?
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American Idol
Odds
La Toya London is the favorite to win “American Idol,” and Chicago’s Jennifer Hudson seems like a long shot, according to intertops.com. Here are Intertop’s odds:
La Toya London, 2.6/1
Fantasia Barrino, 3/1
Jon Peter Lewis, 9/1
John Stevens, 13/1
George Huff, 7/1
Camile Velasco, 41/1
Diana DeGarmo, 6/1
Jennifer Hudson, 26/1
Jasmine Trias, 4.5/1
Amy Adams, 21/1
If you’re not used to playing the odds, here’s how it works: You bet the second number to win the first number. So if you bet $100 on La Toya, and she wins, you’d get $260. If you bet $100 on Jennifer, and she wins, you’d get $2,600. Sometimes there’s a 10 percent “vig,” or handling, fee.
