news articles 25 december

[Inside Australian Idol]

What the stars want for Christmas

25dec03


A bad look: Dicko wants some time off.


JOYBELL BULGER (played by Billy Brownless on the The Footy Show's House of Bulger.): A complete beauty treatment including a facial, full body massage, a seaweed wrap (sailor included) and lots and lots of waxing! Plus, of course, the House of Bulger DVD so that I can watch myself over and over again.

DAVE HUGHES (comedian): I want to win the Brownlow Medal by a record margin.

JO HALL (Channel 9 newsreader): Even though I would be competing with my children to use it, a DVD player would be great as I must be the only person in Melbourne without one.

GUY SEBASTIAN (Australian Idol winner): I want family time. And for 2004 I want to play cricket again and write more songs.

JULIAN McMAHON (star of Nip/Tuck): "I only get the chance to see my family (including mum, Lady Sonia McMahon) a couple of times a year, so it would be a great present to see them more.

MOLLY MELDRUM (TV and music industry): I had my annual Christmas bash last Sunday and the last time I looked I think there were a couple of guests who'd passed out under my Christmas tree.

LAYNE BEACHLEY (six-time world champion surfer): I'm wishing for consistent waves, good health and fun.

ANGELA BROWN (Totally Wild presenter): Simply to spend some time with my family, together in the one place. We're spread across the entire eastern coast at the moment. My parents live in the Torres Strait, my sister lives in Sydney, my brother's in Brisbane and I spend my entire working year in Melbourne.

ROBERT MASCARA (also known as Belvedere from GMA): I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, heading to Europe for the first time. I would love it to snow so most of those Christmas tunes will have true meaning.

MIKE LARKHAM (Channel 10 weatherman): Tickets to the David Bowie concert. I used to play guitar and would strum his songs. I'd like to hear them played properly.

IAN DICKSON (Australian Idol judge): I've had the most exhausting year imaginable, so more than anything I would love some rest. It would also be nice to walk out the front door without being ambushed.

BEC CARTWRIGHT (plays Hayley Smith in Home and Away): This Christmas I'd really like a new suitcase and a holiday to go with it.

CHRISTIE HAYES (plays Kirsty Sutherland in Home and Away): I'd like a big kiss from my boyfriend who lives in the UK, or Fleetwood Mac tickets.

KATE RITCHIE (plays Sally Fletcher in Home and Away): OK, here's my ultimate list – a first-class airfare to see my sister in the UK, a new car that works and is not always at the mechanic's, the services of a builder, architect and landscaper to renovate the back of my house – free of charge!

ADA NICODEMOU (plays Leah Patterson in Home and Away): Money to buy heaps of new clothes and shoes during the sales.

DAVID KOCH (Sunrise host): My Christmas wish is to hope that Australians will find Christmas in their hearts, not just under the tree.

CHRIS REASON (Seven News presenter): I'm doing my first Sydney to Hobart this year so I guess my Christmas wish list will include a life raft!

SONIA KRUGER (Today Tonight): James (husband) and I would like a little puppy dog for Christmas, but it will have to come with a fence for the backyard!

SHELLEY CRAFT (The Great Outdoors): My list this year includes world peace (or at least more safe destinations to visit), a matching set of luggage (preferably Louis Vuitton), a cure for jet lag. Is there any such thing as a travel washing machine?


www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,8252607%255E662,00.html

[Inside Australian Idol]

Bowl overflows with cheer
Holly Ife
25dec03



Popular: Guy Sebastian makes his Carols by Candlelight debut in Melbourne on Christmas Eve.
Picture: Tony Reddrop

MORE than 30,000 voices rang out over the Sidney Myer Music Bowl and Alexandra Gardens last night.

Victorians of all ages and nationalities flocked to the annual Carols By Candlelight in what has become a Melbourne tradition for 65 years.
Ray Martin, hosting the event for the 14th year, had lost none of his enthusiasm for the job.

"If you can't sing sweetly, sing loudly," he told the obliging crowds.

Australian Idol winner Guy Sebastian was a major drawcard for the sell-out event. His renditions of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas and Little Town of Bethlehem sent teenage audience members into raptures.

"It's been a lifelong dream of mine to perform at Carols by Candlelight," Sebastian said. "I'm really proud to have achieved it."

Sebastian has recently returned from London where he competed in World Idol.

"World Idol was an amazing experience, but I nearly died of hypothermia in London -- it was so cold!"

The international competition will screen on Channel 10 on Boxing Day.

Other crowd pleasers included ex-Bardot starlet Sophie Monk, Australia's Funniest Home Videos host Toni Pearen and The Block's Amity Dry.

Pearen attracted wolf whistles in a fitted red dress, while Dry said she was almost overwhelmed when she finished her performance.

"At the end when everyone clapped they lifted up their candles -- and I nearly burst into tears," said Dry.

An energetic performance by children's group Hi-5 got the young -- and the young-at-heart -- dancing.

Connor, 16 months, is already a regular at Carols by Candlelight.

"He came last year," said mum Belinda Oregan, of Cranbourne. "I've been coming for around 20 years," she said.

Almost every age group was represented at the event, from babies to seniors to large groups of teenagers.

And dress-ups were popular with every age group, with Santas, elves, reindeer and shepherds all appearing in the crowd.

All proceeds from the evening go to the Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind.

Carols fan Kathy Ball has attended for the past eight years. Husband Damian has joined her for the past four.

"We come for the atmosphere," Ms Ball said.

"This is like Christmas Day for us."

Spokeswoman Michelle Bourke said people waited at the gates from the early hours of yesterday morning.

"I got there at 7am and there were already around 30 waiting. By 5pm we had thousands filing in," she said.

Carols by Candlelight has been an integral part of Christmas in Melbourne since the inaugural event in 1938, when 10,000 people gathered in Alexandra Gardens to sing carols.


www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,8253758%255E2902,00.html

[Inside Australian Idol]

GOLDEN 'IDOL' HOLIDAY GAMBLE

By MICHAEL GILTZ
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"Idol" winners from 11 countries, including Alex (above), Guy Sebastian and Will Young with Kelly Clarkson, face off.


December 25, 2003 -- DOES the "American Idol" Santa have one more gift in his bag?
The talent show has been a ratings superstar for Fox and a ray of sunshine in the otherwise gloomy climate of record sales.

Tonight, "World Idol" airs in more than 20 countries, with "American Idol" Kelly Clarkson and original UK "Pop Idol" Will Young facing off against 9 other winners from around the world.

Why air such a potentially big show on Christmas night, when TV is usually a bunch of reruns and families traditionally go out to the movies?

Because elsewhere around the world, Christmas night is among the biggest TV nights of the year - jam-packed with specials and favorite shows, the equivalent of Super Bowl night here. In England, for instance, Christmas Day helped launch "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire."

Can America learn to love Christmas night TV?

"Fox has a tough task in changing American habits," says Marc Berman, the Nielsen ratings guru at Mediaweek,.

"It should do okay," he says, pointing out that last year Fox aired a rerun of the animated movie "Anastasia." "World Idol" will certainly do better than that, he says.

"It's not a night people watch TV," says Berman adding: "But 'World Idol' should be the highest rated show of the night."

The idea is to entice viewers through their patriotism - encourage them to root - and then vote - for America's Clarkson to outshine singers from the Netherlands (Jamai Loman), Australia (Guy Sebastian) and Poland (who calls herself Alex, real name: Alicja Janosz), among others.

It's a nationalist karaoke match Europeans indulge in every year during a highly rated special called Eurovision that does much the same thing.

Even convincing Clarkson and Young to participate was a bit tricky. (If the show turns into an annual event, future "Idol" winners will doubtless be contractually obliged to take part.)

As judge Simon Cowell points out, Grammy nominee Clarkson and Young had "no incentive" to take part, while the relative unknowns from elsewhere "would jump at the chance to beat those two. All Kelly and Will can do is go from winners to losers."

But while Young has proven Idols needn't be a flash in the pan - he's had five No. 1 singles and his second album just debuted in the top spot - neither he nor Clarkson has been able to parlay their relatively local fame into international stardom. (Young charmed the pants off journalists during a press conference last year for "American Idol," but his on-air American debut fell resoundingly flat.)

At worst, if US viewers don't huddle around the TV, at least the young singers have a chance to show off their chops in front of 50 million potential record buyers around the world.

ABC too sees potential in Christmas night. It is debuting its NBA basketball season (with Justin Timberlake singing the new theme song - take that, Kelly Clarkson) tonight also.

Perhaps, Christmas night TV will become the same draw that Thanksgiving was when "Friends" and Must See TV began offering new episodes during the late '90s and created a sort of instant tradition.

"It worked for NBC," concedes Berman.

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