news articles 1 February

[Inside Australian Idol]

Will Kiwis love our wannabe idols?
01 February 2004
By MEGAN NICOL REED

Nine thousand there to support the cause; 4000 hungry hopes pinned on victory; 8940 shoulders damp with tears; 3940 dashed dreams; 60 relieved wannabes. And that's just the first three weeks.

NZ Idol begins tonight (TV2, 7.30pm) with footage from the Wellington and Christchurch auditions. The trials and the tribulations of the Auckland auditions will air next Sunday.

The seven days of auditions in mid-January produced 500 hours of footage, which post-production teams of 20 people have watched and edited around the clock since auditions started.

TV2 and South Pacific Productions are banking on New Zealanders caring who will be our idol and making the show a hit. Australian Idol and American Idol both enjoyed extraordinary success, with the recent debut of American Idol 2 drawing a record audience, for a Fox non-sport show, of 26.5 million. Australian Idol's Final Verdict show was Australia's highest-rating show of 2003, with 3.3 million viewers.

Executive producer Andrew Shaw scoffs at any doubt about Kiwi enthusiasm. "I don't give a fat rat's ass about the Australian and the American ones. These are our people," he says.

But in format at least, NZ Idol will stick to a similar model. Australian Idol had two hosts and we've got just the one, Dominic Bowden. But the gender make-up of the judging panel, Frankie Stevens, Fiona McDonald plus Paul Ellis, is the same, and there's a musical director, Eddie Rayner plus a vocal coach, Suzanne Lynch.

Of the 4000 hopefuls seen auditioning in the first two episodes, 60 successful applicants will come to Auckland to perform in front of the judges. Their stage performances will be revealed in a 90-minute special on Sunday, February 15.

The judges will then select three groups of eight contestants to continue to the next round. Each group will spend a week in Auckland, preparing their chosen songs for their first studio performance.

Public voting will begin after the first Sunday night performance show on February 22. Viewers will be able to vote by text message or 0900 phone call. The polls will close at 6pm on Mondays with half-hour results shows every Monday night. Each week the five entrants with the fewest votes will be thrown off the programme, leaving three from each group.

The nine remaining contestants will be joined by a "wildcard" chosen by the judges from the 15 eliminated entrants. That means there'll be 10 left for the "countdown" stage; each week they'll perform in front of a live studio audience. Viewers will vote for their favourite after each show.

No one is revealing the final screening date but the show will come down to two contestants who will each give a final performance, before one is chosen by viewers to be New Zealand's first idol.

Shaw laughs off the idea he's hedging his bets by waiting to see how well it rates before announcing a time. He says the confidentiality around the final details is based purely on market competition. "I don't want (TV3 owner) CanWest to know. It's as simple as that."

www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2801519a1860,00.html

[Inside Australian Idol]

Rejection happens - get over it
01 February 2004

By FRANKIE STEVENS

I've been amazed how exhausting judging Idol has been.


After the first day in Wellington I felt totally done in. Every day has been like that.

We see so many people and some break down in front of us - they seriously believe they can sing and they can't. We'd ask: "Do you honestly believe you can sing?" and they'd say yes.

A surprisingly large number - about 10% - are deluded. A few times I was really embarrassed. It was cringe-making.

And it was sad having to tell talented people, who were almost there and had good voices, that they didn't have the personality to go with it.

Some contestants need to toughen up. We're not in the education business. I'm not sure if the talent is actually as strong as I thought it could be.

From one performer to another, I sympathise and understand when people are rejected but it's part of the game.

I've been told by producers and directors that I didn't get the gig; you have to get used to it.

Our role is to find a group with talent. It's not about who has the best voice, it's about the package - the singing but also someone with a certain twinkle in the eye.

It has to be a good voice, but not a great voice. Look at Elton John - he hasn't got a great voice.

I can't understand Meryl Cassie saying we had an evil vibe. She's a seasoned pro and she has probably done quite a few auditions and been knocked back.

I've walked into auditions all over the world and it's never a nice thing.

We don't have a good cop-bad cop thing among the judges. I realise being offensive makes better television but the producers haven't told us to do that. I haven't commented about anyone's weight, I haven't said: "You're dressed like a bloody truck driver."

I think we've hurt some people but I don't think we've offended them.

Everyone seems to want to know who's going to be the bad-arse. The fact is, all three of us at different times are going to hurt people. Whether we've offended them in the public eye, the public will judge.

Fiona McDonald is a strong, opinionated woman with extensive experience in the industry. She's never going to sit back like Marcia Hines in Australia and not give a strong opinion.

Paul Ellis is the same - and he's the guy who's got to take one of these kids and make an album and a single.

That's why it's important these kids know how to sing with live musicians. They're not doing themselves any favours singing along to records or karaoke because that way, they'll never learn to come in on cue. With karaoke, you just come in when the dots tell you.

You might forgive a 16 or 17-year-old who hasn't sung with live musicians, but not a 28-year-old.

We've had some heated arguments among the three of us. You have to have two votes of three for someone to go through and we've had plenty of disagreements.

Quite often one of us has talked the other two around. But we get on well. Fiona and Paul came around to my place for drinks and dinner and I'm sure we'll socialise a lot more as this thing goes on.

I've seen Fiona performing many times and I'd met Paul before, through his association with Sony.

I've had no second thoughts about any of the rejects. I'm confident we've made the right decisions.

I thought Guy was the right winner in Australia. Shannon was lucky to get to the final. He had a fantastic story - he was struggling financially with two kids and the farm was going bust and he had no money. It was heart-wrenching. I thought Cosima was a great singer but I would still have chosen Guy. Vocally he was probably better and he had the cuteness factor, the X-factor. He has the talent to continue.

I know what the talent is going through. It happened to me in Britain when I won a competition just like this one, Opportunity Knocks. That was a mail vote in those days (I was 20). I beat a guy called Bobby Crush, who became huge. He was a pianist and he was a good-looking guy, beaming away, slightly Liberace-ish. We haven't kept in touch.

I think people will agree we've made the right decisions on this show. I remember watching the British and Australian Idol shows and, without knowing I'd be involved in this one, I agreed with most of their choices.

I thought long and hard about doing this job. I could become disliked but I thought as long as I feel good with my decisions and the process, I'm just going to have to take it as it comes. But none of us has been nasty.

I'm full of the dreaded head cold but have to perform in Rotorua tonight (Saturday) with Rima Te Wiata, Tim Beveridge and Midge Marsden with a 20-piece orchestra in a tribute to Las Vegas. If it happens to some of the talent during the show, we'll understand and sympathise but it's part of the business.

After the show, although I'll be tired, I'll be on a high, an adrenalin buzz.

When I started out, there were so many more live gigs than there are today. Today you go into a pub and there's just music blaring with a DJ.

The Idol contestants have such a great opportunity to launch a career. How many people get the opportunity to be out there on a day-to-day basis? It just doesn't happen these days.

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