American Idol – Hit Show or Bust?
As you’ve probably heard by now, Disney has announced that a version of a popular television show is coming to Walt Disney World. Before you get too excited, I can tell you that it’s not going to be “Survivor: Animal Kingdom”. While I did have a fleeting thought of placing tribes of line-cutters out on the savanna on the “other side of the trench,” Disney apparently had something much more civil in mind.
What was announced is that American Idol is coming to Disney’s Hollywood Studios later this year. Yes, that American Idol. The show that, seemingly, is broadcast into our homes each and every night of the year and twice on Sundays—which is only slightly less than the ubiquitous Law and Order reruns. In fairness, American Idol does seem to take a break between competitions while Law and Order just seems to invent new variations on the theme. American Idol is scheduled to debut at the Studios in late 2008 and will occupy the empty theater that once housed the Superstar Television and Doug Live! shows.
This announcement addresses one of my long-held gripes (and I have many): when in Disney’s Hollywood Studios, each time I stroll past that building near the Sorcerer’s Hat I complain that the theater has been idle long enough and ask why they don’t put it to good use. It’s prime real estate and the Studios could use a few more attractions—particularly attractions that would fit within its original theme of a “working studio.” Bring back Superstar Television. Better yet, develop something new, something better than what was there previously. That’s what the Imagineers do, right? With American Idol, do we now have that?
Don’t hate me but, unlike most people, I am not a fan of American Idol. I don’t particularly hate it or anything… it just never really captured my interest. I have seen parts of it although I’ve never sat down and watched a complete show. I just don’t have the attention span necessary to put up with a lot of the background and banter that surrounds the performances. I readily admit, however, that once they get past the first-round auditions, many of which are akin to watching a train wreck in my opinion (does anyone remember William Hung and his 15 minutes of fame?), the performers are typically very talented. I will also admit to the immense popularity of the show, attested to by a recent claim that more people voted on American Idol than in our last national election (just another sign that the Apocalypse is upon us). But does it have a place in a theme park?
I always thought that Superstar Television was a very appropriate attraction in the (then) Disney-MGM Studios. It fit perfectly within the park’s theme of a working production studio, it was fun and it offered some tremendous audience involvement. I have fond memories of the time my wife and I were chosen to appear in a scene from The Golden Girls and I turned my one line (“Let’s go, honey, we don’t want to wear out our welcome”) into a tongue-twister. I slaughtered that line and, essentially, killed any dreams I had of earning a living in front of the camera. From the view point of television show production, however, it would appear that American Idol might be a good fit for Disney’s Hollywood Studios. It should be fun and will certainly involve the audience, or at least those guests that are performing. For the remaining guests that are simply voting on the performances—does that constitute “audience involvement”?
While technically it’s not a game show, I think American Idol carries a lot of similarities to a recently deceased Studios’ attraction, Who Wants to be a Millionaire – Play It!. That show debuted at the Disney-MGM Studios in April 2001 and was based on the enormously popular television show, hosted by Regis Philbin. The Studios’ depiction of the show set, music and game was dead-on with the television show. The game play itself was very close to the television version but allowed a few minor differences to accommodate its theme park setting—offering everyone in the theater an opportunity to play along for a chance to sit in the “hot seat” and play for prizes.
On the television show, contestants played for cash prizes that grew as they moved further into the game and the questions became more difficult. Similarly, in the Studios’ version, the contestants would answer questions of increasing difficulty and receive Disney prizes as preset levels were reached. The prizes began small with pins and lanyards, grew through shirts and hats and, ultimately, offered a free cruise with Disney Cruise Line as the grand prize.
Can a Studios’ version of American Idol succeed as Millionaire did? Can it do better considering its huge fan base and apparent staying power? I, for one, am skeptical about it becoming a premier attraction. Why? While it has similarities to Superstar Television and Who Wants to be a Millionaire – Play It!, I believe its differences will present problems. To explore this, we’ll need to take a closer look at how things will work. Unfortunately, some details in the announcement are sketchy so we’ll need to make some assumptions.
With Superstar Television, participants were selected somewhat randomly from volunteers waiting to be allowed into the theater. If you volunteered, you had a reasonable chance of becoming a participant. With Who Wants to be a Millionaire – Play It!, guests could play their way into the “hot seat.” In fact, the premise of having the entire theater playing along is what kept many people coming back to show after show.
With the Studios’ version of American Idol, guests will be able to “audition” for theme park producers to attempt to be cast in the show. If selected, they will work with a vocal coach and get hair and make-up done, before performing for a live audience and a panel of judges made up of their fellow guests. Presumably, this initial audition will be performed in a kiosk of some kind. A guess is that Disney would attempt to avoid any uncomfortable confrontations with guests that have been turned down so I would expect the acceptance or rejection of candidates to be done as remotely and electronically as possible. I can envision a park producer remotely watching a guest audition while smiling. At the end of the audition, a button is pushed and the guest sees a smiling face saying something like, “Great job! Thanks so much for your participation. Your talents are obvious but, unfortunately, we just have no room for you on today’s show. Please try again on your next visit to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Thank you for participating in Disney’s American Idol and have a magical day” Can you see it?
Will a typical theme park guest even audition? The current American Idol contestants must be between the ages of 16 and 28. I’ve heard Disney may lower that to age 14, to allow some time between winning this competition and getting that audition for the television show. I have absolutely no statistics to back this up but, I’m guessing that the majority of guests at Walt Disney World fall outside of that range. I’m thinking of that typical family of four where Mom and Dad are in their thirties or forties while the kids are still pre-teens. While there are certainly representatives from the 16-28 age group in the parks, I’m suggesting that it’s a smaller percentage of the park population that will have to feed Disney its contestants.
So… of this smaller subset of park attendees, what percentage would consider auditioning for an American Idol-like show? Some guests may audition on a lark. Some others may actually plan for it. It does seem as if this may encourage a steady stream of ambitious locals to audition frequently. Disney may well have to come up with a plan to limit the number of times one can audition or, at the very least, the frequency that one could qualify for a show. Those passing the audition will then be invited to appear in one of the shows that day, performing in front of a guest audience and judges, attempting to gain their votes. The performers with the highest vote totals during the multiple shows that day will compete in a grand finale show at the end of the day for the grand prize, a guaranteed reservation for a future regional stadium audition for the televised version of the show; essentially, a Fastpass for an American Idol audition.
Here’s a question: what’s your interest in attending one of these shows? The fun of playing along with the Millionaire show doesn’t exist here. You’re there strictly as a spectator. Obviously, if you or one of your traveling party is performing, you’ll be there. But would you be willing to give up some valuable theme park time to take in a show if you didn’t know any of the performers? I’m not sure I would. Oh, I’d probably give it a look the first time I’m there, just to say I’ve done it but, I doubt I’d be coming back for multiple shows—maybe not even on future visits.
There is also no mention of any prize levels for participants other than the grand prize winner each day—beyond getting your hair and make-up done, that is. How many people will be willing to give up even larger chunks of their vacation for a chance to win… another audition?
Maybe there are more details to be released that will address some of these concerns. It would be unlike Disney to begin a process like this without having conducted a fairly thorough investigation into the viability of this attraction. However, from the information released thus far, I have some concerns if Idol will be able to come close to the popularity of Millionaire. Will it become a hit show or a bust? We’ll have to wait and see.
Well… that’s my opinion. What’s yours?
