American Idol judge Paula Abdul looked confused and slurred some words while promoting the show's new season during a bizarre rambling interview Thursday with a Seattle TV station. The clip of Abdul behaving weirdly during a TV interview has burned up the Internet and YouTube.com. In the interview, the hosts seek Abdul's thoughts on the coming season, which starts Tuesday at 8 p.m. "How about a lot of you coming in," said Abdul, 44. "It's a wild party where you are." The clip had been viewed here and had been viewed more than 21,800 times by mid-day yesterday About American Idol The Show: In the show, hosted by Ryan Seacrest, hopeful contestants are screened by preliminary panels to be selected for singing talent or humorous potential and human interest. Those which pass the prelims are potentially aired on the show. They then audition before the three main judges - Simon Cowell (one of the judges from Pop Idol), Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson - in cities across the United States. Sometimes a celebrity fourth judge is added. These are generally held at large convention centers where thousands of people wait in line for auditions. Past audition cities have included; New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Atlanta, New Orleans, Chicago, Philadelphia, Greensboro, Washington, DC, Houston, Honolulu, Denver, Detroit, St. Louis, Boston, Las Vegas, Orlando, Nashville, Memphis, Dallas, Cleveland and Austin. In order to be eligible, the contestants are not permitted to have any current recording or talent management agreements (but may have had one at some point in the past). Based on turnout and availability, producers select a certain number from the crowd to audition before the three judges (this usually takes 2-4 rounds). Contestants are required to sing a cappella. Those who impress the majority of the judges move on to the second round auditions which take place in Hollywood (typically only several dozen out of the thousands in each city move on). The contestants selected despite lack of singing talent for appearance before the panel provide a major attraction to the viewing audience as they simultaneously proclaim their talent while turning out gut-wrenching performances which are ridiculed by the judges. In the finals, which last eleven weeks, each finalist performs a song live in primetime from a weekly theme (two songs in later rounds) at CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California in front of a live studio audience. Themes have included Motown, disco, big band music, and Billboard #1 hits. Some themes are based on music recorded by a particular artist, and the finalists have a chance to work with that artist in preparing their performances. Artists around whom themes have been based include Billy Joel, Neil Sedaka, The Bee Gees, Barry Manilow, Gloria Estefan, Elton John, Stevie Wonder and Queen. When there are three finalists remaining, themes are no longer used. Instead, each contestant sings three songs: one of their own choice, one chosen by the judges, and one chosen by record executive Clive Davis. However in Season Two, in the final three, one song was chosen randomly from a bowl, with one chosen by the performer and one by the judges. In any case, each week on the following night's live "results" episode, the contestant with the fewest votes is sent home. The bottom three vote-getters are separated from the remaining contestants. Over the course of the episode, two are revealed as being "safe" for the week, and the loser is sent home after performing one final song to end the episode. This process is repeated each week until the one remaining contestant is declared the winner. American Idol Live News: |
