news articles 13 january

[Inside Australian Idol]

Delta gives Fro the flick
January 13, 2004


IT'S taken four weeks, but Delta power has beaten Guy Sebastian.

After 42 weeks, Delta Goodrem's album Innocent Eyes has gone straight back to the top of the charts at the expense of Sebastian's Just As I Am.

The Australian Idol has slipped to No. 3, behind Goodrem and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Sebastian held off Delta for four weeks and shipped more than 420,000 copies of the CD to stores around the country.

It will be interesting to see how the album holds up, now that the hype surrounding Australian Idol and World Idol is waning.

Goodrem has been on top of the charts for 28 weeks.

If she stays at No. 1 next week, she will tie with Neil Diamond's Hot August Night as the second-longest album at the top.

Only Dire Strait's Brother's in Arms has been there longer, with 35 weeks at No. 1.

At the weekend, Sebastian was in his hometown of Adelaide to perform at the annual Australian Scout jamboree.

This year, the jamboree has attracted some high-profile people – including Sophie Monk.

Also at the jamboree was Adelaide's other famous reality television star, Big Brother's Jo Ashton.

The Daily Telegraph

entertainment.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4459,8380678%255E10431%255E%255Enbv,00.html

[Inside Australian Idol]

Idol's Millsy signs deal
January 13, 2004


AUSTRALIAN Idol lad Robert "Millsy" Mills has secured himself a record contract with BMG Australia, the same label behind series winner Guy Sebastian and runner-up Shannon Noll.

Millsy has not strayed far from the spotlight since the competition ended in November and is probably best known for his very public affair with Paris Hilton on her Australian trip last year.

"I'm thrilled to be joining the BMG family, especially since we all worked together so closely during the past few months," Millsy said in a statement.

"After the summer I had, I'm ready to get into the studio and make some music."

Millsy contributed to the Australian Idol chart topping single 'Rise Up'.

His own track from the group album, Dirty Girl, was also popular nationally.

The Australia Idol final 12 will kick off a national tour in Newcastle next week.

AAP

entertainment.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4459,8381388%255E10431%255E%255Enbv,00.html

[Inside Australian Idol]

Idol worship
January 13, 2004 - 5:56PM


Australian Idol winner Guy Sebastian.
Picture: David Moir

Who does the idol worship?

Australian Idol winner Guy Sebastian has made no secret of his religious beliefs. Now a Sydney church is using him as a pin-up boy to spread the word of God.

St Barnabas Anglican church on the busy Broadway strip in the inner Sydney suburb of Glebe sports a billboard which reads "Who does the idol worship?" and a painted likeness of Sebastian with his trademark afro hairstyle.

"Obviously the word idol is a big deal as a Christian," St Barnabas senior minister Ian Powell said.

"In the Old Testament it talks about idol in a physical sense and then Jesus picks it up as you can have all sorts of other things as idols, money being the most obvious."

The Reverend Powell said he had chosen Sebastian for the billboard as a modern play on the age-old theme.

"It was just really playing with the fact that there is all of this talk about the Australian Idol and the fact that Guy Sebastian had come out so clearly as someone who worshipped Jesus," he said.

Sebastian shot to national stardom after winning the popular Australian Idol reality television series in November. He has since represented Australia in the World Idol series, coming seventh.

The 21-year-old from Adelaide made no secret of his religious beliefs throughout the Idol competition and has even publicly declared his virginity.

Sebastian's debut single Angels Brought Me Here was Australia's highest-selling single of 2003 while his first album, Just As I Am, has gone platinum four times.

Meanwhile, Sebastian's most recent gig was to play to 10,000 Scouts at the national Jamboree in Woodhouse, Adelaide, at the weekend.

Former Bardot singer Sophie Monk also made an appearance at the scout camp.

- AAP

www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/01/13/1073877822059.html

[Inside Australian Idol]

Brace yourselves, networks get a firmer grip on reality
By Chris Johnston
January 13, 2004


Call it popular factual entertainment, docu-soap, observational documentary, but most simply call it reality TV.

And it isn't dead yet, because it will flood networks this year. Channel Seven alone will show 14 new reality TV programs.

"This is evidence of panic," the head of screen studies at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School, Jane Roscoe, said.

"The networks see reality TV as a way of taking back lost audiences. The problem is that where one show works spectacularly well, nine fail miserably. They are a very big risk."

Seven's director of programming and production, Tim Worner, said the network was not gambling heavily on reality TV.

"That notion is querulous. Not all our new shows are reality TV in the strict sense," he said. "Some are what could be termed observational documentaries but they are pigeonholed as reality. They are real, but not reality."

Mr Worner said that, contrary to predictions of its demise, reality TV was peaking.

"We wouldn't screen these shows unless people wanted to watch them. I don't think reality TV has run half its race yet. There are so many more good ideas that are yet to be mined. The bubble has not burst," he said.

The new TV ratings season begins on February 8. One Melbourne television executive said it would usher in Australian TV's most competitive year. Seven is still smarting from losing viewers last year. Channel Ten was static last year but consolidated itself as the youth network.

Channel Nine was the only commercial network to increase its audience and this year will stick to a winning formula by banking on a second series of The Block, which along with Ten's Australian Idol was last year's runaway ratings winner.

Ten's program manager Peter Andrews said: "They (both shows) were so involving that if you weren't watching you felt like you were out of the loop."

Even the ABC has entered the reality TV race, with five shows this year. Legs in the Air follows six Australian women through Moulin Rouge auditions. Children's Ward is set at a Perth children's hospital. Our Boys goes inside Canterbury Boys High School, where John Howard was schooled. 1860s House recreates colonial outback Australia. And Strictly Dancing follows the lives of ballroom dancers.

Ten screens six new reality shows. In The Hothouse, couples compete to build a waterfront mansion. The winners get to keep it. It will also screen a local version of cult makeover show Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.

Seven's new shows include My Restaurant Rules, in which five couples compete at running a real restaurant. Each state has its own version. Diners are able to review their meal on video. It will also show What not to Wear, hosted by fashion designer Wayne Cooper and Vogue's Melbourne editor Anthea O'Connor.

Ms Roscoe said she could see no clear winners in this year's flood of reality shows, except perhaps My Restaurant Rules and the local version of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. The rest was overkill, she said.

"People like to feel involved in a TV show rather than merely consuming it, but we don't want to watch it all the time on every channel," she said.

www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/01/13/1073877773889.html

[Xio]

Inside said:

Idol's Millsy signs deal
AUSTRALIAN Idol lad Robert "Millsy" Mills has secured himself a record contract with BMG Australia, the same label behind series winner Guy Sebastian and runner-up Shannon Noll.

Here's his official website millsy.com.au/ for those interested !

[TeenQueen]

Ergh! But it's full of pix of Millsy! ;D

[angel01]

did you have to see Millsy. You poor thing

[chippee]

Spot the Idol
From Sydney Confidential
14jan04

HE'S recognised everywhere he goes back home in London, but apart from his appearance on World Idol recently, Australian audiences haven't seen too much of the original Idol,Will Young.


Which is probably why the singer was able to slip under the radar into Sydney this week.

The record-breaking artist has been in the Harbour City since the weekend and Confidential hears he has been shooting a video around town for an upcoming single.

And following on from the World Idol show, Australians are likely to get to know Young a whole lot better soon. His second album Friday's Child will be released here in April.

Young has been checking out a few nightspots while here, popping in to Establishment, where he caught up with a few members of the Lady Boys of Bangkok troupe and expressed a keen interest in catching one of their shows before heading back home.

Speaking of Idols and recording videos, Confidential hears Guy Sebastian is also shooting his next clip somewhere in Sydney this week.