What do Ruben Studdard, Taylor Hicks and Katherine McPhee have in common?

Unbelievable.

 

All ya gotta do is go to lyrics.com and bada bing bada boom, there it is.

 

Um, I spent last night in a hotel 5 hours from my house. Not exactly sure why a.) it's any of your business, nutjob, or b.) why you care.

 

IJAG has a stalker? Cute.

 

Fixed.

 

They're all sucking cock behind the Burger King in Pamona.

 

He should say this is a show merely to get ratings, which is the one thing it does better than anything else...

Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and Chris Daughtry are now legit pop/country/rock stars...

Clay Aiken has had a very successful career.

The majority of the rest of them are either putting out sex videos or singing at casinos in Elko, Nevada or North Dakota state fairs...

Becoming a legit pop/country/rock star is a difficult thing. I think the show's percentage of one every two seasons is about right...

 

Jennifer Hudson hasn't done too bad

 

I believe that Cowell didn't even make any money from his role in the U.K. version and took only a very small salary at the start of the U.S. version. The idea was that he would make money as a producer when the contestants made records.

As I understand it, each person who make the final 10, 12 or 16 signs a contract with Simon Fuller's management company. Not sure how long the term is, but it is probably at least 3 years. That covers any ads, the Idols tour and any albums. Fox might get a piece of the tour as well. Then, J records (Cive Davis) gets the right to record up to a certain number of albums for each of this group. My guess is that he can opt out at anytime, and probably gets a cut even if he declines. I believe that Simon Cowell only is an on-air talent -- he makes more than anyone on TV and I think that he settled a big case with Simon Fuller which covered this.

If anyone else read the book Desperate Networks, it's pretty amazing how the show went from a filler also-ran to such a big deal. The only reason that the show was on was that Murdoch's daughter liked the U.K. version. They didn't even realize until right before the first show that the voting results had to be announced the next day (in the U.K., with 1 time zone, the show is on early and they announce at the end of the night). They had to pre-sell most ads in order for Fox to greenlight. So they created a company to do this and Fox and Cowell split any excess ad revenue. When they show became a top 5 show the first season, they decided to do a clip show and then realized that Cowell was entitled to half of the cash from this 2 hour show (which was mid-high seven figures). Fox flipped and they ended up working out a deal.

 

I'm sure Webster knows what he's talking about.

According to the Simon Cowell interview with everybody's favorite Vanderbilt, the suggestion is that Cowell earns about as much as Bruce Springsteen, who has a $100 million contract, for his work with the Idol winners. I think the greatest part of that, if not all, is from his producing work.

 

It will be interesting to see how she does post-Oscar... It's not like there are too many roles like that out there, but man was she great in Dreamgirls...

I hope she continues to do well, both as a singer and as an actress...

 

They all thought Brad Renfro was great, or at least pretty good, in The Client.