Thursday, January 04, 2007

Idol Academy

Do you want to learn how to sing? Maybe have your favorite Idol contestant as your teacher?

2007 might be your lucky year.

FremantleMedia — the company that produces "American Idol" — recently filed documents with the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) to protect the phrase, Idol Academy, for "performing arts camp" and "website relating to performing arts camp."

An Idol summer camp seems like a natural next step, doesn't it?

AI has stars like Barry Manilow help aspiring singers at the level below him and then perform live. I can see the same thing happening at Idol Academy. AI sweethearts like Lisa Tucker and Katharine McPhee — two performers who just sang at the end of my street in the Tournament of Roses Parade — would spend a day at camp to help lesser singers and then perform live. Same gimmick, same results.

Plus, Idol Academy would be a great feeder system. There's a reason why AI keeps extending the age cutoffs, and there's a reason why most talent shows have limited lifetimes. The talent pool is small. As the number of truly interested and talented singers continues to shrink, summer camp would produce higher quality contestants by providing formal training.

What better advertising for your summer camp than to have one of your own be crowned the AI winner? I can already hear the cries from the audience about an unfair system!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

not just anyone will be able to attend the camp. it is for "disadvantaged" youth from boston, nyc, new orleans, and chicago. idol is underwrtiting an existing camp, not creating a training ground for future contestants.

dr. tv (mike vicic) said...

That makes me much happier about Idol Academy.

Thanks for the note!

Anonymous said...

i keep seeing this silly idol camp...the show may be good, but i am sure the camp isn't for the future idol contestants. i checked into it. go to camp medolark in maine. you'll get the training in theater and dance and have a REAL camp experience.

Anonymous said...

TRUE. med-o-lark is an incredible camp.


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