This week’s TV Week interview with Nigel Lythgoe. Download here.
- Nigel says he thinks it was the best Top 3 that they’ve ever had, and, “The most talent they’ve had on that stage in a long time.”
- While Nigel was careful to spread the praise around evenly he said that the two females could split the vote to leave a male in the race.
- He thinks Jordin Sparks should be the next American Idol and was a little disturbed at Simon’s critical attitude toward her last night.
- Initially, the Maroon 5 song did not get cleared. Nigel claims they relented when Blake called them up personally to ask permission to sing the song.
Read a transcript of the interview after the jump. Continue reading ‘TV Week Interview with Nigel Lythgoe: He thinks Jordin Sparks should be the next American Idol’
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Chuck Ross, editorial director at TV Week interviews producer Nigel Lythgoe.
Nigel is predicting….that tonight’s double boot will not be a shocker. He says, “I’m not that shocked tonight, and I don’t think our viewers will be shocked tonight.”
Chuck congratulates Nigel for raising Nearly 70 million dollars through Idol Gives Back.
Nigel claims that the vote totals this week were very close to the vote totals last week. He believes that holding the phone lines open for 4 hours helped, and that “people have now decided who…their favorites are.”
Nigel says the IGB videos are #1, 2, 3 and 4 on the iTunes video downloads chart. The money generated from the iTunes’ downloads have not been added to the total yet.
Nigel mentions that Robin Thicke will be performing tonight (he doesn’t mention it, but this performance is pre-recorded). Read Nigel’s comments on the contestants performances after the jump. Continue reading ‘TV Week Interview with Nigel Lythgoe - Tonight, not a shocker, says Nigel’
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Published by mj April 18th, 2007
in American Idol, News, S6 Finals, Simon Cowell, Chris Richardson, Melinda Doolittle, LaKisha Jones, Phil Stacey, Sanjaya Malakar, Blake Lewis, TV Week and Nigel Lythgoe.
Chuck Ross of TV Week interviews producer Nigel Lythgoe about this week’s Top 7 performance show.
Nigel explains tonight’s results show gimmick, “I’m going to split the group into the highest voting group and the lowest voting group, and then I’m going to take one of them and say, ‘congratulations, you’re safe, go and join the group that is safe’ and have them make the decision.” (me: they’ve done a variation of this every year since Season 3 during Top 7 week)
When Chuck asked if there was a surprise tonight, Nigel said, “I don’t deal in surprises Chuck, I deal in reality.”
Nigel Lythgoe attempts to clear up the controversy that’s been brewing all day around Simon Cowell’s ”eye roll” after Chris Richardson’s post-performance condolences (not until after he had some words with Simon) to his fellow Virginians regarding the VA Tech tragedy. Nigel becomes pretty angry, to the point where he begins to ramble midway through. Here is his entire screed verbatim: Continue reading ‘TV Week Interview: The Top 7′
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Published by mj April 11th, 2007
in American Idol, S6 Finals, Chris Richardson, Melinda Doolittle, LaKisha Jones, Jordin Sparks, Haley Scarnato, Phil Stacey, Sanjaya Malakar, Blake Lewis, Ken Warwick and TV Week.
Chuck Ross from TV Week interviews American Idol producer Ken Warwick for the magazine’s weekly Backlot Talk interview.
- Ken mentions that tonight, Ryan will be announcing more celebrities guests slated for the big charity event.
- Martina McBride will be guest mentor for next week’s country-themed week.
- Will there be any surprises tonight? Ken says, “We’re on for an hour, so we are doing a few fill-ins tonight, things have been stretched out and we’ve put a few…new couple of elements in, so it’s going to be worth watching.”
Before sizing up the contestants’ performances, Ken says that Latin music is always difficult for the contestants to sing. He mentions that Gloria Estefan week during Season 3 was challenging for some of the contestants that year. coughjohnstevenscough. Continue reading ‘TV Week Interview: The Top 8′
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Published by mj April 4th, 2007
in American Idol, TV Week and Nigel Lythgoe.
This week’s TV Week backlot talk interview with American Idol producers. This morning, Chuck Ross spoke with Nigel Lythgoe.
- Blake - “I didn’t think Blake bit it well enough for me…I thought he sang it very well and sustained the notes, but that one, you really bite the notes [Nigel demonstrates]…it’s quite a nasty song about the underworld.”
- Phil - “Tony thought he was a great crooner, he sounded like the old…Jack Joneses and this sort of thing.”
- Melinda - “She did a great job…Tony Bennett said…, ‘you know what, you sing that song just how the composer wanted you to do it…you did the verse, you did the main tune of it and then you brought it to a climax’…it was absolutely right.”
- Chris - “I thought this was a good performance from him. I didn’t think it was his best–the judges thought it was his best…he’s learning every week. He and Blake are really good singers.”
- Jordin - “Both Ken…and myself talk about the journey of American Idol and the growth that these kids go through, and she really is enjoying this journey and growing every week.”
- Gina - “I’m a Nat King Cole fan, I prefer Nat King Cole’s version [over Tony Bennett’s version of “Smile.”]…it was a strange one for me, because she didn’t look like she was going to sing “Smile”…she looked like she was going to sing a French rock song…she had these sort of fishnet tights on and the split skirt…it reminded me very much of the French resistance…only she wasn’t carrying a machine gun.”
- Sanjaya - “I thought he sang it reasonably well, actually…well Tony actually says he sings in tune, and he did, that’s a plus there. But I think the big thing for me and it was Randy said, he’s turning into an entertainer, and that’s absolutely true. And also Tony says, ‘he dares to be different’ and there he was wandering around in Al Pacino’s suit from Scarface. I do understand why people vote for him.”
The interviewer, Chuck Ross, says that although Taylor Hicks was VFTW’s candidate last year, he was a very deserving winner. He goes on to say that he would be very surprised if Sanjaya wins. Nigel says “It would be a shock.”
Then, Nigel elaborates on the concept of winning, “What do you mean by winning? Taylor won the competition, but the one selling the albums at the moment is Daughtry. So what is the “win” at the end of the day? I think Sanjaya is going to win in this, in the sense that he is gonna have a very interesting career.” Nigel adds, “Chris was my favorite last year…I was surprised [that he didn’t win] at the same time I was also delighted that Katharine and Taylor were in the finale.”
- Haley - “I think Haley comes into her own with those little cheeky songs…I think she is a really good performer…a little highschool…
And then the mp3 cuts off. Fire the intern! Hopefully, they find the mistake and upload a new podcast…
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This week’s Idol Coach is the legendary singer, Tony Bennett. He’ll be mentoring the kids as they take on the standards.
Bennett, a fan of American Idol, says the contestants can learn a lot from working in front of a live audience, “You learn things like knowing not to stay on the stage too long so you are always welcomed back…I’ve learned everything from my audiences; they have become my best teachers.”
I’m still on vacation, and still playing catch-up. I won’t be watching the show live tonight–I’ll be at the Avalon in Boston watching Taylor Hicks do his thang…
I’ll be recaping the Chicago and Boston shows soon. In the meantime, some items that I missed this week. Continue reading ‘Bits and Pieces’
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Published by mj March 21st, 2007
in American Idol, News, Ken Warwick and TV Week.
This week’s TV Week interview is up.
Chuck Ross from TV Week magazine interviews producer Ken Warwick this week. They discuss last night’s performances.
Ken was pleased with last night’s show. He said, “Great music, great melodies, good stuff.” He thought Peter Noone and Lulu did a great job with the contestants. He said they were passionate, sensible and intelligent.
Lulu and Peter Noone will be performing tonight.
Ken says that with the big charity event and everything else taking up so much time, the songwriting contest has been put on the back burner. But it may still happen, but is up in the air.
Gwen Stefani will be next week’s special guest.
Contestant rundown:
- Haley - She’s had a bit of a tough time, but this week she found her own niche. He thought she was great.
- Chris R - He liked Chris’s version of the song.
- Stephanie - Ken thought she did a good job of it, considering she did not know the song. Ken mentioned that she’s had throat problems and has been a bit under the weather lately.
- Blake - Ken likes the song. Thought Blake “sort of brought it up–made it modern.” He thought Blake did a good job of it.
- LaKisha - He thought she did a great job. He didn’t agree with Simon who said it was “old fashioned.”
- Phil - Ken thinks the tune is a “good country rock song.” He thought it was pretty good, but agrees with Simon–that Phil does not have that rock edge to his voice. Ken thinks it may or may not become a problem. Ken says it’s tough when he remembers the originals so well.
- Jordin - Ken thought she was fabulous. He thinks she is going to do very well in this competition. Ken feels her performances seem effortless.
- Sanjaya - Ken says, “It was manic, bless him. He just went for it. If you are going to do something like that, you have to go for it. It caused a stir in the audience.”
- Gina - Ken says that Gina did not know the original Stones version very well. She knew another version by someone else. He says she should have based her arrangement on the original–the one folks would recognize.
- Chris S - Ken thinks he has a very good voice. Ken loves the song.
- Melinda - Ken says, “It’s a great song–it was made for her. She’s a great pro.”
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