'Idol' fans show love loudly
By Robert Bianco, USA TODAY
HOLLYWOOD Idols are made to be loved, as loudly as possible.

Kelly Clarkson, Justin Guarini and Nikki McKibbin at FOX-TV's American Idol in Los Angeles, Ca. Tuesday, August 27, 2002.
Fox
Part game show, part concert, part sports competition, a live visit to American Idol melds big voices, big hair and at least one big talent into a joyfully raucous event. And the lucky 400 in the crowd Tuesday at the Kodak Theatre clearly knew their role in the game: Look excited and be eager to participate.
Actually, they may have been too eager. In their enthusiasm, they threatened to drown out the very pretty, very game and very off-key Nikki McKibbin unless that was an act of mercy. Only the remarkable Kelly Clarkson had a voice large enough to fill the theater and overwhelm the crowd.
While next week's competition between Kelly and Justin Guarini promises to be one of TV's toughest tickets to get, it's hard to imagine how the finals crowd could be any more into the show than Tuesday's fans. They cheered, they danced, they screamed "We love you" incessantly to one and all. They waved their homemade signs, though only the polite ones made it on camera. Before the show started, the producers laughed at a sign that said "Dunkleman for President, Simon for Queen" but for broadcast, they preferred the sign's more demure flip side praising Nikki.
Of course, as with all TV shows, the producers prod this excitement along. "I just want to make sure that you applaud loud enough," said producer Nigel Lythgoe, right before he helped the crowd practice its spontaneous dancing. "Everyone, up you get. Clap your hands. Move your feet."
But really, it's doubtful the crowd needed help. Most TV shows have to boost the volume of audience reaction for air; Idol is the rare show that has to turn the volume down. In the theater, the crowd often was so loud, it obscured hosts Ryan Seacrest and Brian Dunkleman which is just one of the advantages of being there in person.
There's another plus to being there: You feel less oppressed by the staged rancor among judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson. When the cameras weren't on them, they chatted among themselves with seeming ease not just at the breaks, but also during songs.
Despite the pressures of the competition on the singers, the show itself was a relaxed affair, suffused with the confident glow showbiz people sometimes get when things are going their way. During the breaks, Lythgoe took questions from the audience most of which were requests to embrace Cowell, all of them granted. Perhaps it's the latest Southern California incarnation of hug therapy.
On one subject, the judges and theater crowd seemed united: Kelly was by far the class of the competition. Poor Nikki was just trying to get by, while Justin focused on working the crowd or, more precisely, the cameras. Only Kelly connected with the songs, and only Kelly gave you chills. For one moment, it was possible to forget you were at Idol and imagine you were at a Kelly Clarkson concert.
Television, however, is an odd leveler. Kelly's bigger voice blasted through the Kodak in ways Justin and Nikki could not hope to match, but that advantage was lost to TV's equalizing sound mix (which also made her comment about wishing the show were over seem even more ill-advised). On TV, Justin's smile seemed all the more radiant though he might want to save it for songs where smiling is appropriate and Nikki's voice was able to rise above the background noise, a mixed blessing considering her pitch problems.
Which is why, one imagines, the love train for Nikki has hit its last stop. Odds are, even her biggest fans at the Kodak got that picture.
www.usatoday.com/life/television/2002-08-28-idol_x.htm
By Robert Bianco, USA TODAY
HOLLYWOOD Idols are made to be loved, as loudly as possible.

Kelly Clarkson, Justin Guarini and Nikki McKibbin at FOX-TV's American Idol in Los Angeles, Ca. Tuesday, August 27, 2002.
Fox
Part game show, part concert, part sports competition, a live visit to American Idol melds big voices, big hair and at least one big talent into a joyfully raucous event. And the lucky 400 in the crowd Tuesday at the Kodak Theatre clearly knew their role in the game: Look excited and be eager to participate.
Actually, they may have been too eager. In their enthusiasm, they threatened to drown out the very pretty, very game and very off-key Nikki McKibbin unless that was an act of mercy. Only the remarkable Kelly Clarkson had a voice large enough to fill the theater and overwhelm the crowd.
While next week's competition between Kelly and Justin Guarini promises to be one of TV's toughest tickets to get, it's hard to imagine how the finals crowd could be any more into the show than Tuesday's fans. They cheered, they danced, they screamed "We love you" incessantly to one and all. They waved their homemade signs, though only the polite ones made it on camera. Before the show started, the producers laughed at a sign that said "Dunkleman for President, Simon for Queen" but for broadcast, they preferred the sign's more demure flip side praising Nikki.
Of course, as with all TV shows, the producers prod this excitement along. "I just want to make sure that you applaud loud enough," said producer Nigel Lythgoe, right before he helped the crowd practice its spontaneous dancing. "Everyone, up you get. Clap your hands. Move your feet."
But really, it's doubtful the crowd needed help. Most TV shows have to boost the volume of audience reaction for air; Idol is the rare show that has to turn the volume down. In the theater, the crowd often was so loud, it obscured hosts Ryan Seacrest and Brian Dunkleman which is just one of the advantages of being there in person.
There's another plus to being there: You feel less oppressed by the staged rancor among judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson. When the cameras weren't on them, they chatted among themselves with seeming ease not just at the breaks, but also during songs.
Despite the pressures of the competition on the singers, the show itself was a relaxed affair, suffused with the confident glow showbiz people sometimes get when things are going their way. During the breaks, Lythgoe took questions from the audience most of which were requests to embrace Cowell, all of them granted. Perhaps it's the latest Southern California incarnation of hug therapy.
On one subject, the judges and theater crowd seemed united: Kelly was by far the class of the competition. Poor Nikki was just trying to get by, while Justin focused on working the crowd or, more precisely, the cameras. Only Kelly connected with the songs, and only Kelly gave you chills. For one moment, it was possible to forget you were at Idol and imagine you were at a Kelly Clarkson concert.
Television, however, is an odd leveler. Kelly's bigger voice blasted through the Kodak in ways Justin and Nikki could not hope to match, but that advantage was lost to TV's equalizing sound mix (which also made her comment about wishing the show were over seem even more ill-advised). On TV, Justin's smile seemed all the more radiant though he might want to save it for songs where smiling is appropriate and Nikki's voice was able to rise above the background noise, a mixed blessing considering her pitch problems.
Which is why, one imagines, the love train for Nikki has hit its last stop. Odds are, even her biggest fans at the Kodak got that picture.
www.usatoday.com/life/television/2002-08-28-idol_x.htm


