LIVE THREAD: American Idol Finals

http://www.freerepublic.com ^ | May 20, 2003

[Fawnn]

$950K for 30 seconds!

Wow! And thanks!

[Fawnn]

This newbie's turned into quite a FR cheerleader, I guess. So get ready:

Sis! Boom! Bah!

I went to www.weblobbying.com to cast my write-in vote for FreeRepublic. I guess today is the last day. (They haven't had all that many votes so it wouldn't take much effort for FR to win this thing! When I voted, GreenPeace was in the lead! :::shudder::: ... You have to register and -- unlike the Democrats who "vote early and vote often!" -- you can only vote once, but it's a painless registration and supposedly you only get their spam if you check that you want it.)

Please forgive the off-topic digression. I now return you to your regular programming....

[fightinJAG]

fyi everybody

American Idol Host Gets New Show


Twentieth Television has reached a deal with American Idol host Ryan Seacrest to create a syndicated strip show whose title hasn't been decided yet. "Ryan's appeal has helped to make American Idol one of the biggest success stories in network television. We're tremendously excited to bring Ryan's unique talent and style, which has been an instant hit with primetime audiences, to daily television," said Bob Cook, president/COO of Twentieth Television. Seacrest will also be executive producer of the show, which is being described as a daily live show that mixes the news magazine and variety show.

[Howlin]

Strip show?

[fightinJAG]

and this tidbit---neverwouldathunkit out of RJ

'American Idol' Star R.J. Helton Goes Gospel
Tue May 20, 2003 03:18 PM ET
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - R.J. Helton, a finalist in the first season of "American Idol," has signed a recording contract with a gospel label, he announced Tuesday.
"My faith is the one thing that has forever and will forever remain constant," Helton, 21, said in a statement.

He was scheduled to announce his pact with Gospocentric/B-Rite Music during a news conference Tuesday in West Hollywood.

His album will boast "an inspirational gospel feel, with mainstream appeal," said Vicki Mack-Lataillade, CEO of Los Angeles-based Gospocentric/B-Rite, which is owned and distributed by Bertelsmann Music Group. The label's biggest act is Kirk Franklin.

The album is due for a fall release, but recording has not yet begun, a spokesman for Helton said.

Reuters

[fightinJAG]

Best I can tell that's some kind of insider industry-lingo. Looks like it's going to be a talk/fluffy news show to me.

I think Ryan's background is soaps, so it should work out.

[Howlin]

I tell you this: Raleigh is in full Clay Frenzy today/tonight..........

People started lining up at the RBC Centura Center at 1 PM today to get in to see the show!

[fightinJAG]

very cool - more show prep:

'Idol' finalists singing tune of togetherness
The two Southern crooners are ready to team up on a project.
BY DANIEL FIENBERG
Zap2it.Com

LOS ANGELES - "American Idol" finalists Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard could be the Oscar and Felix, Hope and Crosby or Laurel and Hardy for the Mountain Dew generation, and the pair is ready to collaborate.

"We both want to sing 'Ebony and Ivory' so bad, just for fun," Aiken concedes.

Studdard and Aiken have been heading toward this week's final showdown since the competition began in January. From the first set of odds given by Vegas bookies, through weeks of well received performances, it's been clear that America kept craving more of this mismatched duo.

The winner will be announced tonight.

Certainly, the men could hardly be more physically different. Aiken is a red-headed whippet, who could either be generously called wiry or mockingly referred to as scrawny. He admits he began with a persona that was very "boy-next-door quiet, with the glasses" and that he's become "more GQ" thanks to flat-ironed hair and a stylist.

Studdard is a mountain of a man, whom guest judge Gladys Knight dubbed "The World's Velvet Teddybear." His wardrobe has slowly evolved from shirts emblazoned with the number "205" (referencing the area code of his Birmingham, Ala., home), to more stylish leather and suede ensembles. Studdard has towered over the competition all season and views his girth with pride.

"It's cool being a big guy," he says. "I've never been ashamed of my size and I want to show other people of a larger stature that they can be proud of themselves as well."

In conversation, the men are even more different. Finally reaching the conclusion of a three-month odyssey of performances, rehearsals and promotion, they'd both rather be sleeping than greeting the press at 9 a.m. on a Friday. Aiken responds to his sleep-deprived state with nervous energy and general good humor. Studdard, however, offers as many yawns as words, maintaining his soft-spoken reputation. He's unfailingly polite and acknowledges every reporter's question with a genial, "What's up, dawg," but his answers tend toward the monosyllabic side.

The two men eagerly discuss their friendship and downplay any suggestion of pressure surrounding tonight's "Idol" finale.

"I don't feel like I'm going up against Ruben," Aiken says. "He and I have been close for a long time and I don't feel like really at this point it's a competition about who's better. We're both here because we've proven, to some extent, that we're good at what we do."

Aiken and Studdard have both reached this point despite looks and voices that don't conform to a Britney Spears or Justin Timberlake conception of pop stardom, a fact that isn't lost on Raleigh, N.C., native Aiken.

"Last year, I don't think any of the three (including third-place finisher Kimberley Locke) of us would have made the top 32 based on the way they were doing things," Aiken says. "It was a big image thing last year."

Aiken also minimizes the possible commercial liabilities of a voice that judge Simon Cowell has criticized for being too "Broadway" and that Aiken calls "adult contemporary."

"I guess whatever it is that I'm doing now has worked for me so far with 27 million viewers, so hopefully it would be successful," he says.

[republicandiva]

FWIW - was watching the Fox talk show at noon with Jillian Barberie (?) and whomever... They were talking with a reporter in LA who had just been given info that the vote is so close they're not sure how they're going to declare a winner...and apparently there was some sort of anomaly with the phones! Sounds sucpicious and makes me wonder if they're setting this up to be a tie?!? Have you heard anything along these lines?

[Howlin]

I have not heard that, but I do know that when I picked up my phone to dial last night at 9 PM, there was NO dialtone for about fifteen minutes.

I am going to be FURIOUS if it's a tie; I think that's a total load and I hope they get investigated!

[republicandiva]

I'll be a little pi$$ed as well. I tried for 3 solid hours and couldn't get through. How can the vote possibly be representative if the system can't handle the votes? It should be interesting.

Simon was also interviewed on the same show and said that the only performance that stood out was Clay's Bridge and that that would probably seal the win for him. Apparently there was a consensus that Clay would win until this anomaly thing was mentioned. Gotta go feed the clan...catch you later.

[fightinJAG]

I have not heard this, but the phones just did not seem like they were working correctly.

Somebody said if the lines are jammed, that means lots of people are voting for Clay. But that doesn't mean lots of people are getting through! As the number of people trying to vote exponentially increases each week, chances of getting through exponentially decrease. The same percentage of people are not necessarily getting through each week.

[Ima Lurker]

The same thing happened to me, either no dial tone or all the circuits were busy. Just for kicks I dialed that number this morning around 8AM and still got a busy signal.

[fightinJAG]

SBC Network Prepared to Handle Calls for Millions of American Idol Fans
< back




Approximately 38 million additional calls handled by SBC's network
after last week's semi-final round

SAN ANTONIO, May 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Last Tuesday, the SBC
telecommunications network processed close to 145 million phone calls in a
two-hour span of time after Fox's hit reality TV show American Idol ended, as
customers throughout the company's 13-state region called to register their
votes in the show's semi-finals. The next night, the SBC network processed
nearly one-third less calls -- approximately 106 million -- during the same
two hours.
"Last week's incredibly high voting volume gave us a good indication of
what to expect this coming week," said Angie Wiskocil, SBC senior vice
president, network services. Company network monitoring specialists have
noticed the numbers of voting phone calls increasing each week as the field of
American Idol performers was narrowed. Anticipating that millions of
additional calls will be made by American Idol fans calling to make their
final vote of the season and discuss the vote with friends, the company has
made sure that it is well prepared to deal with the volume.
"We built our network to be strong enough to survive a hurricane, flood or
other natural disaster, but it is also flexible enough to adapt to enable our
technicians to handle a surge in calls due to a radio call-in contest, rock
concert ticket sale or American Idol voting," said Wiskocil.
While the company's network is designed to handle heavy call volumes, the
initial surge when millions of SBC customers pick up their telephones
simultaneously as the voting lines open this Tuesday, May 20th could cause
some callers to experience a "fast busy" signal, as the network provides far
more than the usual number of customers with a dial tone to place their calls.
Wiskocil explains: "If callers hear a fast busy signal on Tuesday night, we
encourage them to hang up and try their call again in a little while. Our
network experts have advised that if callers can wait approximately 30 minutes
after the show ends, they will most likely get through on the first try."
Wiskocil indicated that, for some parts of their service area, SBC takes
special precautions to protect the network -- causing the fast busy signal at
random as the very robust network begins to reach capacity for any of its
thousands of telecommunications facilities.
"American Idol fans should know that our technicians are constantly
monitoring the status of our network and are standing by, ready to re-route
traffic if necessary. We encourage all of our customers to participate and
cast a vote for Clay or Ruben."

SBC Communications Inc. (http://www.sbc.com) is one of the world's leading data,
voice and Internet services providers. Through its world-class networks, SBC
companies provide a full range of voice, data, networking and e-business
services, as well as directory advertising and publishing. A Fortune 30
company, SBC is America's leading provider of high-speed DSL Internet Access
services and one of the nation's leading Internet Service Providers. SBC
companies currently serve 57 million access lines nationwide. In addition, SBC
companies own 60 percent of America's second-largest wireless company,
Cingular Wireless, which serves 22 million wireless customers.
Internationally, SBC companies have telecommunications investments in 27
countries.

[Howlin]

pbear is getting ready to put up the live thread for tonight's show!

[Cordova Belle]

I dialed last night from 9:46 --11:30 PM Central time.voting for CLAY, of course!)


Only got through 3 times--even though I hit redial the entire time. Even used up the entire battery on the portable phone.
I was NEVER so frustrated!!!!!

Howlin, I can't believe you have a connection with Clay! He's really charming. Thoroughly delightful! And definitely the superior talent.(Although Ruben is a dear.)

No doubt both will have great careers.

[Cordova Belle]

pbear is getting ready to put up the live thread for tonight's show!

I'm there---though only for the for the next 30 minutes---I want to go home and watch the show--can't do that here at the cubicle!

[OldFriend]

No way will it be a tie. There were nearly 28million calls attempted. Easy to overload the system. There will be a winner. But they are both winners and one thing I am eternally grateful to AI for is that the family hour on TV has been changed to real family entertainment. The copy cat shows are great too and you don't have to be embarrassed to sit down and watch with your kids.

[OldFriend]

Somehow I felt guilty about just giving up so I kept re-dialing under the covers in the dark......LOL

[OldFriend]

Frenchie is in the Broadway show RENT!