{"id":60,"date":"2008-05-19T21:10:03","date_gmt":"2008-05-20T03:10:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sebersole.wordpress.com\/?p=52"},"modified":"2008-05-19T21:10:03","modified_gmt":"2008-05-20T03:10:03","slug":"fans-idolize-american-idol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebersolemedia.com\/blog\/fans-idolize-american-idol\/","title":{"rendered":"Fans Idolize American Idol"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ebersolemedia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/american-idol.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-53\" src=\"http:\/\/ebersolemedia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/american-idol.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"298\" \/><\/a><em>American Idol<\/em> is a cultural phenomenon in nearly every culture in which the franchise has been licensed (about 40 to date). <em>American Idol<\/em> (<em>AI<\/em>) came to America from England in 2002, and has spread around the globe at the speed of sound, from Armenia to Vietnam. If <em>AI <\/em>were a book it would be a best seller&#8211; if a movie, a blockbuster&#8211;and if a record, it would have gone platinum! Season after season, <em>AI <\/em>ranks at or near the top of the Nielsen ratings. As we approach the end of season 7, the two Davids are set to take the stage for the final two nights May 20 and 21. But many are left wondering what is the appeal that keeps fans glued to their sets? Can it be the lure of imagining oneself taking the stage and finding fame and fortune? Or perhaps the guilty pleasure of seeing contestants humiliated week after week. Whatever the allure, <em>AI <\/em>is only beginning to show signs of ratings weakness. While Fox struggles to tweak the show&#8217;s format, fan continue to tune in and vote.<\/p>\n<p>Another interesting thing about <em>AI <\/em>is the way that it so conveniently demonstrates some of the leading trends of TV programming, such as interactivity (phone voting), product placement (Coke, iTunes,  Ford, AT&amp;T, and even Kellog&#8217;s Pop Tarts!), and spin-offs (programs that are derivatives of the original program concept).<\/p>\n<p>What do you think? What makes the <em>AI <\/em>franchise so successful, marketable, and universal?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>American Idol is a cultural phenomenon in nearly every culture in which the franchise has been licensed (about 40 to date). American Idol (AI) came to America from England in 2002, and has spread around the globe at the speed of sound, from Armenia to Vietnam. If AI were a book it would be a &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ebersolemedia.com\/blog\/fans-idolize-american-idol\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Fans Idolize American Idol&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,10,14,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advertising","category-interactive-media","category-media-industry","category-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebersolemedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebersolemedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebersolemedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebersolemedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebersolemedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ebersolemedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebersolemedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebersolemedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebersolemedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}