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American Idol: Behind The Scenes
April 21, 2009 03:00 PM by Britteny Elrick
Last week, USA Todaywas grantedfull access to go behind the scenes of American Idolthe day of the live performances. They also spoke with Ken Warwick, executive producer of Idol and also Britian’s Pop Idol. Find out what before the show…
Their day starts around 11:00 am, where Warwick is in his office mulling over the issue of time. When American Idol ran over the previous week, it not only caused many people to miss Adam Lambert’s performance, which was arguably his best to date, butit also forced Fringe to fall into the news timeslot. Warwick told USA Today, “[Having eight singers] was always going to be a problem. If we have four judges, we need longer or we’ll end up going over.” He says that they asked the judges topull backtheir comments after the third person but “they don’t respond really to telling them to shut up.” It is then that he comes up with the idea of having only half of the judges comment on each performer.
Later on, Warwick mentions something of the finale, “We’re talking about Sacha Baron Cohen doing something. The trouble is he always goes a little bit off the rails, and we’ve got to be very careful. It’s a family show.” Off the rails? Naw. The Idols have a run-through of the evening, and Warwick tweaks the set, the sound, and the video. After the rehearsal, the Idols get to relax in a room that is filled with well wishes and memorabilia from fans. An hour later, the will perform a full dress rehearsal in front of 600 people and stand-in judges.
When the real judges get wind of the new format, Warwick is informed that there is a “meltdown.” However, when he goes to explain it he says, “It was substantially less than ‘a meltdown. All the judges weren’t madly happy. I went and explained it. She’s [Paula]OK now.” Ryan Seacrest comes and does the voice overs for the video and the Idols film the video clips for the recap at the end of the show. Aftermany frantic last minute changes, the show finally goes live!
You can go here to see the entire interview along with backstage pictures.
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Photos Courtesy: Robert Hanashiro/ USA Today
Topics: American Idol, FOX Reality TV Shows |
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