Reality TV Magazine-related stories
Posted Feb 13th 2007 2:23PM by Liz Finn-Arnold
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, FOX, American Idol, Web, Contestants, News and Gossip
American Idol is a show whose popularity and success hinges on some well-kept secrets and big-ass surprises. Which is why the Top 24 Finalists will have to put their MySpace pages on temporary hiatus. There will be no blogging allowed during this part of the competition.
Part of me is disappointed by this rule. I love the behind-the-scenes first hand accounts that blogging provides. But I also understand why the producers need to be such a bunch of paranoid control freaks. Thirty-three million of us are not going to continue to tune in each week if too much vital information is leaked on the Internet.
Continue reading Idol finalists won't be allowed to blog
Posted Feb 12th 2007 3:42PM by Liz Finn-Arnold
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, FOX, American Idol, Music and Variety, News and Gossip
Some things get better with age. Try telling that to the producers of American Idol. They believe that singers over the age of 28 are over-the-hill.
But they may be changing their youth-obsessed tunes. At least a tiny bit. There is some talk of increasing the Idol age limit from 28 to 30 next year. In Season Four, the age limit was raised from 26 to 28 paving the way for a dancing silver-haired "old-timer" called Taylor Hicks.
American Idol producer Nigel Lythgoe believes that raising the original age limit, "brought us some more maturity and a little more professionalism in certain areas. We're happy about that. I wouldn't mind extending it even further next year, to be honest."
Continue reading Will Idol producers raise age limit to 30?
Posted Feb 6th 2007 12:31PM by Liz Finn-Arnold
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, FOX, OpEd, American Idol, Music and Variety, Watercooler Talk, Contestants, News and Gossip

He looks like Osama bin Laden, Fidel Castro, and Jesus all rolled into one. And when Sean Michel first appeared at the
Memphis auditions, I thought he was one of those bizarre bombs the producers were going to drop on us. Instead, Michel surprised us all when he sang an amazing version of Johnny Cash's "God's Gonna Cut You Down."
But now it seems that Michel's fifteen minutes in the spotlight may already be up. According to
Internet buzz, despite Michel's singing talent, he was disqualified from the competition during the Hollywood round because of his refusal to cut his long locks and shave his scruffy beard.
Continue reading Has long-haired 'Idol' contestant been disqualified?