One of the most popular singing competition shows in the United States is American Idol, which originally aired on June 11, 2002, on the commercial broadcast TV network Fox. American Idol is an iconic singing competition show, and it is popular not only in the United States but also in other countries around the world. Because of its massive popularity, American Idol had a significant influence on the history and culture of television. To know more, here is the origins of American Idol and its impact on pop culture.
The Origins of American Idol
American Idol was based on a British singing competition show called Pop Idol, which was created by Simon Fuller, a British artist manager and TV producer. Interestingly, Pop Idol was also inspired by another competition show called Popstars that aired in New Zealand. With the help of Nigel Lythgoe, a television producer who watched Popstars, Simon Fuller was able to bring the show over to Britain under a new name, Pop Idol. [1]
Much like American Idol and Pop Idol, the original Popstars featured a panel of judges that picked singers in an audition setting. However, Simon Fuller wanted the audiences of the TV show to become more involved and invested in his singing competition show, so he added dramatic elements like backstories and soap-opera-style narratives during the scenes where the chosen singers are practicing the songs they will be singing for the show. In addition, Fuller also added telephone voting, which allowed the public to vote on who they wanted to stay on the show. Pop Idol debuted on British TV in 2001, with Simon Cowell, an entrepreneur and record executive, being the most popular judge on the show.
After the success of Pop Idol in Britain, Simon Fuller and Simon Cowell, along with TV producer Simon Jones, tried to sell the Pop Idol format to the United States. Unfortunately, almost all TV networks rejected the idea of Pop Idol except for Fox. Initially, the head of Fox, Rupert Murdoch, didn’t like the Pop Idol format, but he was convinced by his daughter, Elisabeth Murdoch, who was a fan of Pop Idol. [2]
Even though the executives of Fox wanted to change the format, Rupert Murdoch insisted on following the same formula used on Pop Idol. However, because of the multiple time zones in the United States that will make public voting difficult to do simultaneously, Fox decided to make the performance episode separate from the voting results episode, which aired the following day. So, when the performance episode is aired on a Saturday, the voting results episode would be aired on Sunday to give viewers in the US more time to vote. The name of the show was also changed to “American Idol.”
The show would debut in 2002, and much to the surprise of Fox, it would become one of their most successful shows. The popularity of the show was due to it allowing the public to have the power to choose who they wanted to stay or leave in the show, and although the voting mechanic for TV shows already existed even before Pop Idol, American Idol is credited for popularizing the feature.
The Hosts and Judges of American Idol
Aside from public voting, what made American Idol very popular in the US was the hosts and judges of the show. In the first season of American Idol, it was co-hosted by Ryan Seacrest and Brian Dunkleman. Ryan Seacrest is a radio and television host who hosted The NBC Saturday Night Movie before hosting American Idol. Brian Dunkleman is a comedian who played minor roles in various TV shows, including Friends, Ghost Whisperer, and Las Vegas.
Before the start of the second season, Brian Dunkleman quit American Idol, making Ryan Seacrest the sole host of the second season. Starting from the second season, Seacrest would become the main host of American Idol and appeared in most seasons of the show. During Seacrest’s hiatus from 2016 to 2018, as well as his absence in an April 8, 2019 episode due to an illness, radio and TV personality Bobby Jones replaced him as the host. During the show’s series finale on Fox in 2016, Brian Dunkleman returned as a guest.
Although there have been numerous judges that have appeared in different seasons of the show, the first three judges of American Idol remain the most popular among them. These three original judges are Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul, and Simon Cowell.
Randy Jackson is a record executive and musician who produced music for artists under Columbia Records and MCA Records. Paula Abdul is a singer, dancer, and choreographer who became the choreographer for Janet Jackson’s music video before becoming a successful musical artist herself.
Simon Cowell is one of the people responsible for bringing the Pop Idol format to the United States. Besides being a judge on American Idol, he has also created other competition shows like X Factor and the Got Talent shows like America’s Got Talent and Britain’s Got Talent. In addition, Simon Cowell has produced and promoted singles and albums for various artists, including James Arthur, One Direction, Little Mix, and Fifth Harmony.
Cultural Impact of American Idol
The massive popularity of American Idol in the 2000s enabled it to have a huge impact on pop culture, as the show was often referenced in other shows in the United States and other countries. Simon Cowell became a pop culture icon because of his brash and brutally honest personality, and he would also be featured in many shows, including official guest appearances and parodies.
Along with Survivor, The Amazing Race, and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, American Idol helped increase the popularity of reality television in the 2000s. Throughout the 2000s, American Idol was the most-watched non-scripted primetime TV series.
American Idol is also one of the most profitable shows in the US for many years, and because the show is watched by millions of people in the country, several companies and brands have advertised their products in different episodes of the show. Some of the brands that became sponsors or advertisers for American Idol include, AT&T (who is also the service provider for the show’s text-voting mechanic), Coca-Cola, Ford, and Apple iTunes.
Because of the success of American Idol, other singing competition shows began to appear in the mid-2000s and early 2010s, and these shows include The Voice, The X Factor, Nashville Star, Rising Star, and Rock Star. It also inspired the creation of competition shows that are not necessarily focused on singing, like the dancing show called Dancing with the Stars and the talent show America’s Got Talent.
In the music industry, American Idol was able to produce some of the most successful musical artists in the world. American Idol helped contestants gain fame, even if they didn’t actually win the biggest prize in the show. Some of the most notable alumni of American Idol include Carrie Underwood, Chris Daughtry, David Cook, Jennifer Hudson, Adam Lambert, David Archuleta, and Kelly Clarkson.
American Idol would also have an impact on the industries of film and theater. Jennifer Hudson, who is also a successful singer, got a role in the 2006 musical drama film titled “Dreamgirls,” where she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Hudson would later win an Emmy Award, a Grammy Award, and a Tony Award, thus making her the first and only alumnus to win an award in four of the most prestigious award shows in history.
In 2009, a theme park attraction based on American Idol called “The American Idol Experience” was opened at Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park located inside the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. The attraction allows visitors to audition in front of Disney cast members privately, and those who are selected by the cast members will have to sing in a theater that replicates an American Idol set. The American Idol Experience closed on August 30, 2014.
During the mid-2010s, the popularity of American Idol started to die down, as ratings for the show fell over 20% each season in the said decade. [3] The last season of the show aired on Fox ended in April 2016, and this season was considered to be the last until it was revived by ABC in 2018.
American Idol is an iconic TV show that will never be forgotten, even if it has lost its popularity in recent years. There is no telling if American Idol will get back its former glory, but it already made its mark in the history of television and it has become an inspiration and influence for many reality TV shows today.
References
[1] Tsintziras, A. (2021, May 8). What Was The Inspiration Behind ‘American Idol’? The Things. Retrieved September 8, 2023, from https://www.thethings.com/what-was-the-inspiration-behind-american-idol/
[2] Carter, B. (2006, April 30). How a Hit Almost Failed Its Own Audition. The New York Times. Retrieved September 8, 2023, from https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/30/business/yourmoney/how-a-hit-almost-failed-its-own-audition.html
[3] The Masked Scheduler. (2018, March 9). The Masked Scheduler on ‘American Idol,’ part 4: The decline and end of the FOX run. TV by The Numbers. Retrieved September 8, 2023, from https://web.archive.org/web/20180309233835/http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/more-tv-news/the-masked-scheduler-on-american-idol-part-4-the-decline-and-end-of-the-fox-run/