It's almost identical to American Idol. In fact, Nashville Star began the year after Idol started (and surprised the entire music industry by doing so well in the ratings). NS is an almost total 100% rip-off of AI.
They do things a little differently. For example, they don't televise the early auditions and eliminations. Their TV season starts after a group of finalists is chosen by the judges and producers.
Also, because it's country music, the contestants are allowed to accompany themselves with instruments while they sing. And they have one night each season when the contestants must perform an original song that they wrote.
Because they only do one night a week instead of two, they handle eliminations a little differently than AI. They call out who's safe one at a time, then that person performs their song for the night and gets judged. The person with the lowest number of votes from the previous week's performances is called next to last, says their goodbyes, does not perform, and leaves. Then the last safe person performs. Then the public can vote on that night's performances.
AI really think AI should do the same thing regarding original songs.
Do you know hwat kind of viewership numbers NS has?