The following is from access Atlanta reporter Rodney Ho :Executive “Idol” producer Ken Warwick did a press phone conference today from 2 to 3 p.m. EST. At least 15 reporters asked questions, from In Touch magazine to *edited due to external link*to the Birmingham News to the Washington Post. It was a great hour.
He revealed to me that an Elvis Presley theme is forthcoming in “a couple of weeks.” He also said it breaks his heart that he can’t get clearance to do Beatles songs and can’t convince the Eagles to do a theme week.
To reduce busy signals, there will be two phone numbers for each of the six contestants Tuesday.
The performance snippets we see at the end of the performance show comes from the rehearsal, which many of you have noticed.
He never spoke directly with Prince reps about Prince doing the show so it never got very far.
He will reject any big star who refuses to work wtih the kids.
He said he decides the order of the contestants on a number of factors. He prefers upbeat songs to open or end the show. He won’t have a contestant open or close a show two weeks in a row.
He said it’s unlikely the show would film Kellie seeing her dad leave jail because it would be unfair to the other contestants. But he might do it on the final results show if she’s still around once the votes are in and if she’s willing to do it.
He was bemused that “American Dreamz” didn’t do well this past weekend. “People have been copying us since series two and doing a pretty lousy job of it. It’s another one for the pile.”
Greensboro was his favorite audition ever, that this will influence future audition cities.
I asked him about *edited due to external link*but he didn’t seem to mind its existence since only he, Nigel Lythgoe, the Fox standards & practices office and the third-party company that does the voting know who the bottom three really are.
He also noted that the finalists get paid a standard AFSTRA weekly fee for being on the show. I’m not sure how much that is but it’s probably only $2,000 a week or something relatively modest.
He also noted that no finalist can release an album until three months after the winner’s album comes out. He said they can do other things within reason but need to ask. Fox oversees that process, he said.[/quote]
Elvis week huh? Wonder to whom that is geared?