SPOILERS! AI11 Sing-For-Your-Life & Green Mile – Update – Yesterday and today, the top 42 contestants performed/are performing at Cirque du Soleil’s Le Rêve Theater at the Wynn Las Vegas (pictured below). Green Mile is being filmed tomorrow. (Via The Idol Pad)
‘American Idol’ Mocking Simon Cowell Behind the Scenes – Simon Cowell is the butt of an inside joke behind the scenes at “American Idol” … and it’s all over some cocky statements he made about a rival show just a couple of months ago. Sources at “Idol” tell us … the honchos have been joking that they’ll be DEVASTATED if the show doesn’t get 20 MILLION viewers when “A.I.” debuts tonight. They’re not serious … they’re simply mocking their former judge, who told the Hollywood Reporter last year he was counting on “X Factor” to pull in 20 mil on its debut … or else he’d consider it a disappointment. – Read more at TMZ
‘X Factor’ contestant to be feted in Santa Cruz – Singer Chris Rene, who came in third on Fox TV’s “X Factor” in December, is set to return to his hometown of Santa Cruz for a concert and celebration from 2 to 4 p.m. Jan. 29 at Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, 307 Church St., Santa Cruz. Tickets go on sale at noon today at the Santa Cruz Civic. Cost is $5 for children 13 and younger, $8 for adults. Ticket purchases are subject to service charges. – The Californian
Why Did Reality Judges Decide to Never, Ever Say Anything Critical Again? – Last week’s season premiere of 30 Rock included a B-story that found Jenna moonlighting as a cruel toddler-bashing talent scout on NBC’s new hit Kidz Got Singing. Tina Fey’s show is usually spot-on when it comes to skewering reality TV, but this time it was working off an obsolete premise. The age of the brutal, ego-crushing Mean Judge has pretty much ended on prime-time musical competition series. Last year American Idol welcomed a judging trio that offered nary a discouraging word to finalists once the ringers from the early rounds were dismissed. The four superstar jurists of NBC’s The Voice were too busy playfully dissing each other last spring to notice when contestants delivered subpar performances. All hopes for a break from the incessant and often undeserved wave of televisual praise fell on the reliably bitchy Simon Cowell when he returned to TV for The X Factor last fall. – Read more at New York Magazine</a>
A media buyer’s primer on ‘American Idol’ – “Idol” was the No. 1 show in product placement during 2011, with 577 instances, 80 fewer than the previous year, according to Nielsen. NBC’s “The Biggest Loser” was No. 2 with 533. “Idol” reaches a desirable audience. It is annually the highest-rated program among 18-49s with a household income of more than $100,000 and the top-rated show among 18-49s with four-plus years of college. More than half of “Idol” viewers live in households with three or more people, meaning the show draws a large family audience. – Read more at Media Life
Oxygen Moves Season Premiere of “Best Ink” to Tuesday, March 27 at 10PM ET/PT – Oxygen moves the season premiere of “Best Ink,” a new competition reality series to Tuesday, March 27 at 10 PM ET/PT from its previously announced debut of Monday, January 30 10 PM ET/PT. “Best Ink” pits ten of the best male and female tattoo artists from around the country against one another in this all-new competition. With nothing but their needles, ink, and passion, these artists compete for $100,000 and a cover story in Tattoo magazine. The contestants are guided through the competition by host and recording artist Kimberly Caldwell (“American Idol”). Read more at The Futon Critic
Will ‘Idol’ and ‘The Voice’ Ever Produce New Pop Stars? – Taken collectively, TV competition shows are having a love affair with older musical styles rather than the contemporary music one hears on the radio. Could this be a key reason recent pop-oriented winners of “American Idol” and “The Voice” have struggled in sales?
Obviously, “old-fashioned” works in country music, as “Idol” season 10 winner Scotty McCreery is nearing 1 million in sales of his debut album and runner-up Lauren Alaina is at the quarter million mark with her debut. But no one who has ever been an “Idol” or “Voice” contestant is making making music that could fit alongside Rihanna, Bruno Mars or LMFAO. – Read more at Billboard
The ‘American Idol’ Matrix: Why It’s Tough to Create a Superstar – In my book Celebrity Inc.: How Famous People Make Money I speculate that it is because Idol is a moneymaking endeavor first, entertainer second, and star-maker third (in order of importance). Each Idol who signs a record deal following the show becomes a business unit in the asset portfolio of the label (Sony until 2010, then Universal Music Group) and Idol management company, 19 Entertainment. I classify previous Idol winners and the occasional runner up lucky enough to get a contract through the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) growth-share matrix, a business tool oft used to classify successful and struggling business units in a company. – Read more at Rollingstone
Is Carrie Sorry She Gave Lauren Alaina Her Phone Number? – You might recall Carrie Underwood and Lauren Alaina sang together on American Idol, and Carrie gave Lauren her number after that. “I’ve gotten to keep in touch with her. She congratulates me on everything,” Lauren told CMT Radio’s Cody Alan. “She is truly a wonderful person. And she’s someone I can always call if I need some advice. She is there for me and it’s really an awesome situation.” – Read more at Country Weekly
Jim Cantiello’s Musical Glee Cap
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Cover! Glee’s Chris Colfer’s Children’s Book, The Land of Stories
Glee star, Chris Colfer reveals the cover for his upcoming children’s book “The Land of Stories” set to be released on July 17. The book is a “modern fairy tale” that follows twins who leave the real world to enter the land of fantasy they’ve read about in books. (Via Entertainment Weekly)
