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I Am the American Idol

Template:Current television series I Am the American Idol is a television show that is scheduled to air on the Rebel television network beginning on May 20, 2007. It is a talent contest, based on the Fox program American Idol, which features impersonators of selected contestants from its first five seasons.

The list of the contestants to be imitated includes all champions and runners-up from the first five seasons, and 14 other performers deemed to be the most memorable by the show's producer, 19 Entertainment, and the program's "owner," FremantleMedia. A further criterion for selection is that all the original artists had qualified for the final round in the original season of competition (this was the top 10 in season one, in 2002, and the top 12 for every succeeding season).

Like the actual Idol show, 12 female singers and 12 male singers have been chosen to compete in the semifinal round, with three weeks of performances reducing the field in half for each gender. After that, the final 12 will compete with eliminations coming one at a time.

For the first round, the impersonators will perform the exact songs that the original artists sang when they premiered in the semifinal rounds for each season.

Contestants

The contestants were picked based on audition tapes sent by mail to Rebel and uploaded online to Rebel's website. In addition, there were two in-person auditions, one at Universal CityWalk in California and at Dave & Buster's at Times Square in New York City. These auditions were shown on an hour-long special on April 8, leading to the announcement of both the contestants and the original artists to which they will be paired.

The impersonators then travelled to Las Vegas for a six-week rehearsal period in which they "grew into" their characters. The sessions were led by Patrick Johnson, former executive producer of the American Superstars show at the Stratosphere Hotel and Casino.

The following 24 performers will be represented on the show, along with the actors playing them and the seasons on which they debuted:

Females

performer name	original artist	season
Sharron Bluntson	Tamyra Gray	1
LaSherrill Bowser	Jennifer Hudson	3
Minnie Britt	Kelly Clarkson	1
Libby Brickle	Carrie Underwood	4
Amy Derryberry	Kimberley Locke	2
Hannah Harrah	Diana DeGarmo	3
Bubbles Hernández	Jasmine Trias	3
Rebecca Killerbrew	Mikalah Gordon	4
Melanie MacMelville	Katherine McPhee	5
Brandy Faye McSween	Fantasia Barrino	3
Rachelle Minnieweather	Paris Bennett	5
Brittany L. Spears	Kellie Pickler	5

Males

performer name	original artist	season
Antonio Baltimore	George Huff	3
Bubba Brister	Taylor Hicks	5
Cody Joe Brookshire	Clay Aiken	2
Michael Heavenridge	Justin Guarini	1
Benjamin MacMoose	Constantine Maroulis	3
Chandler McBunch III	Chris Daughtry	5
Bobby Kyle McCrabb	Bo Bice	3
Randy McRill	Kevin Covais	5
Richie Piercefield	Jim Verraros	1
Dwayne Plump	Ruben Studdard	2
Jason Robertshaw	Elliott Yamin	5
Jason Sprayberry	Josh Gracin	2

The contestants vary greatly in the amount of previous singing experience. MacMelville, Spears, and Brister are all professional singers (in fact, MacMelville and Brister have recorded for Little Boy Records, owned by network co-owner Buddy Wayne Barefoot), while a few others have never sung in public before in any venue. Benjamin MacMoose is one of them.

Season summary

Template:Spoiler On May 20, 2007, the show debuted with a two-part, four-hour debut resembling the first semifinal round. All singers performed the same songs their real-life counterparts did when they debuted. The female singers performed on May 20, the males on May 21. On May 22, the first four eliminations were announced - Baltimore, Piercefield, Hernández, and Derryberry. Harrah (DeGarmo) was in the bottom three, but got just enough votes to advance.

Brian Dunkleman, normally one of the judges, hosted the results show in place of Ryan Seacrest, who was at the Kodak Theater for the "final two" performance show of the original program.

On May 28, the second semifinal round aired with both episodes airing back-to-back. The shows had no particular theme, but led to some controversy (see below) and the elimination of four more contestants, including the reps of the season 1 runnerup (Heavenridge) and the season 5 third-place finisher (Robertshaw). The female contestants voted off were Minnieweather and Killerbrew. Harrah was in the bottom two, but again she survived. The May 29 result show had a live interview and performance from season 6 winner Jordin Sparks. Template:Spoiler-end

Ratings

The first performance episode drew a 5.4 rating, the fifth-highest in Rebel history. But the number plummeted to 4.1 for the second show, which was trounced by such shows as Dancing with the Stars and Deal or No Deal. The result show did rebound to a 4.4, which was barely worse than On the Lot, the new Fox show that followed the last Idol season 6 performance show. However, Dancing received four times the audience in the first hour as both of those shows in the same time slot.

May 28 episode controversies

The second week of semifinals became infamous for several reasons:

• The telephone lines and text messages used for voting encountered mechanical problems. Because the shows ran back-to-back due to a conflict caused by the Coca-Cola 600, at which network co-owner Buddy Wayne Barefoot drove, lines were open for only 90 minutes for each program, instead of the normal two hours. The numbers were supposed to "zero out" at the end of the male contestants' episode, allowing for separate tabulations of the male and female singers. However, according to various sources, votes for the "girls" were still being tabulated, making it impossible to know just how many votes each contestant received. It is possible that some votes were thrown out by mistake. Robertshaw, who was a computer science major in college and an amateur singer, called the results "fishy."
• Harrah encountered a "wardrobe malfunction" during her performance, as her dress strap came off. Although the show was pre-taped, I Am producers allowed it to remain in the show, although she was allowed to start her song all over again. Harrah complained to Game Opera News that this should not have been allowed to happen.
• When Robertshaw tried to call Idol producers Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick, and even judge Simon Cowell to complain about the voting from the previous night, but no one answered. This may have to do with the fact that they are tied up in other projects like America's Got Talent, So You Think You Can Dance, and American Inventor. Bruce Gowers, Idol director, is overseeing a limited staff on this program. In a related note, viewers and even some contestants have complained about the show's poor production quality in comparison to the original show. Example: on the May 29 results show, the microphone "died" on at least two occasions, and Rebel took a long commercial break at one point to resolve the problem.

Production details

• Ryan Seacrest hosts this program, as he does the original show. However, all three judges will be different from the original: Kimberly Caldwell, Matthew Rogers, and Brian Dunkleman. Caldwell and Rogers are past contestants and Dunkleman co-hosted Idol in season one.
• I Am... is broadcast from the Sunset and Gower Studios in Hollywood, California, not CBS Television City, the site of Idol. The reason is that the Idol set will be reused over the summer for the "sister" program on Fox, So You Think You Can Dance. The Idol set location was torn down after the next-to-last episode and relocated to S&G.
• Other than the aforementioned May 28 episode, the schedule is identical to the real program: for the first three weeks, the females will perform on Sunday nights (in the My Ideal World slot), the males on Monday nights, and the result shows are on Tuesdays. After the field is reduced to 12, the performances are all on Sunday nights and the results are on Mondays.
• Dunkleman will also host the June 24 and July 1 shows, as Seacrest presumably goes on vacation.
• Segments are scheduled to air from the annual tour of the top 10 American Idol finalists for season 6.
• All phone numbers begin with "I VOTE," not "IDOLS" as on the other program. Also, the texts work differently; one texts the number of the contestant (in order of appearance) to the short code 56565. In exchange for opening the text voting to all wireless providers (rather than just AT&T), there is a limit of 10 entries per cellular or landline telephone per show.

Themed weeks

• In the first week of competitions, contestants performed the exact songs that their real-life counterparts debuted with when they reached the top 10 (or top 12) that season.
• On June 17, the 11 remaining singers will dedicate songs to members of their families or close friends, to tie in with Father's Day.
• On June 24, the 10 remaining contestants will re-enact the most memorable performances in American Idol history. A public vote online will decide which songs are performed. William Hung will be the guest judge that night.
• On July 1, the nine who are still in competition will sing patriotic songs, as Independence Day is three days after that.
• On July 8, a "Christmas in July" episode will feature Christmas carols.
• On July 22, the final six will perform the first singles release from each of the six American Idol winners (in order, Clarkson, Studdard, Fantasia, Underwood, Hicks, Jordin Sparks).
• On July 29, the final five will sing songs from the greatest recording artists in pop music history, again as determined by public vote.
• On August 26 and 27, Barefoot himself will host the final performances and the results that will reveal the winner of this contest.

Controversy

• The presence of MacMelville and Brister on the program, as noted above, is a prima facie conflict of interest because of the shared ownership of their record label and a 20 percent share of Rebel. Network president Steve Beverly has dismissed the charges, saying that this is an "exhibition contest" with only a nominal cash prize for the winner. Village Voice columnist Michael Musto has responded by calling Beverly a hypocrite: "How can you help bring down Manhunt [a little-seen "reality" game show on UPN] by showing its dishonesty, and not do anything about this show?" It has also been reported that the show was put together in only six weeks, and that MacMelville and Brister accepted appearance fees to be on the show. Both denied the reports. Furthermore, I Am... is part of a larger content deal in which special custom editions of The Price is Right and Family Feud will be shown on Rebel, and in which Price reruns may air on a spin-off channel, Fame Network.
• On May 14, 2007, leaders in the Filipino community in Honolulu, Hawaii lodged a formal protest with the Rebel network and local affiliate KPXO because Trias, who is Filipino, is being portrayed on the show by Hernández, who is Mexican. While producers admitted to making the decision based mainly on the similarities of their surnames, they also cited the opportunity being given to more undiscovered entertainers. Trias also did not seem to mind the portrayal, saying that "as long as she doesn't sound like crap, she's OK."[1]

See also

• The Next Best Thing, another contest between impersonators

External links

• Show page
• Original American Idol site