Sometimes it's fun to just kick back with your girlfriends and watch a good movie. With them, you can watch films that your husband or boyfriend would veto before the first scene was over. Here, in no particular order, are the top five "chick flicks" to rent for your girls' movie night:
1. Ghost - You'll need an entire carton of tissues to get through this one. Patrick Swayze plays Sam, the devoted boyfriend of Molly (Demi Moore) whose spirit works tirelessly to protect her from those responsible for his own murder. Whoopi Goldberg provides some comic relief as the psychic medium who relays messages from Sam to Molly, but this movie is the quintessential tearjerker.
2. Thelma and Louise - This movie is a favorite of many women, but its generous helping of action makes it a good candidate for a date movie as well. The title characters, played by Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon, take off for a girls-only weekend getaway, but end up wanted for murder. On the run across the country, they go on a crime spree. And for those of you who like eye candy, this movie features Brad Pitt in one of his first major roles.
3. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days - If you like romantic comedies, you'll love How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. It's the story of Ben (Matthew McConaughey), the ultimate player who makes a bet with his coworkers that he can get a woman to fall in love with him in 10 days. Ironically, his target, Andie (Kate Hudson) is a magazine writer who is using him as a guinea pig for a story about how to fail in a relationship in 10 days. The results are hilarious.
Project Runway is a Peabody Award-winning American reality television series on the Bravo network which focuses on fashion design. The contestants compete with each other to create the best clothes and are usually restricted in time, materials, and theme. Their designs are judged and one or more designers are eliminated each week. On April 7, 2008, the show's producers, Weinstein Company, announced a five year deal that would relocate the show to Lifetime Television, beginning with Season 6. In response, NBC Universal has filed a lawsuit against the Weinstein Company, for violating its contract rights. Lifetime is moving production from New York City to Los Angeles.
Project Runway uses progressive elimination to reduce the initial field of 12 or more fashion designers down to 3 or 4 before the final challenge. Each non-finale challenge (the scope of one episode) requires the designers to develop one or several pieces of new clothing to be presented at a runway show. The challenges range in creative diversity to test the designers' ingenuity while maintaining their personal design aesthetic. These challenges may include creating a garment from non-traditional materials, such as: apartment furnishings (Season 3), recyclable materials (Season 3), items from a grocery store (Season 1 & 5), edible food items (Season 1 & 4), plants and flowers (Season 2), using their own clothes that they are wearing (Season 2); to designing for a certain high-profile person (such as figure skater Sasha Cohen or Miss USA Tara Conner), a corporate fashion line (Banana Republic or Macy's INC), or centered around a specialized theme (such as "cocktail party", "wedding gown", or "prom dress").
The show takes place in New York City (with a short stop in Paris in Season 3) with designers using a workroom at Parsons The New School for Design. They shop for materials at a fabric store in New York's Garment District (usually at MOOD Designer Fabrics) — unless the challenge requires otherwise (e.g. denim jackets and jeans from Levi's, confectionery and souvenirs at the Hershey's Store in Times Square, or fabric at Spandex House in Season 4). The designers are sequestered by grouped genders together at Atlas New York (an apartment building near Parsons) during Seasons 1-3 (back again at Season 5) and at New Gotham during Season 4. While on the show, the designers are prohibited from leaving the apartments without authorization, making unauthorized communication with family or friends, or using the Internet to research designs. Designers are also forbidden to bring pattern books or similar how-to books with them during the show, or risk being disqualified from the competition (as was the case of Keith Michael in Season 3).
The designers are given a budgeted stipend to select and purchase fabric and notions, and then provided a limited amount of time to finish their designs (from as short as half a day to two or three days). Oftentimes, the designers work independently. Although on some challenges, contestants must work in teams or as a single collective group. Once the deadline is reached, the designers must dress their models and select their hair, make-up, and accessories. Each model walks down the runway, and the garment the contestant made is rated by a panel of judges, scoring each look in a number of categories from 0 to 5, or other personal annotations and comments in regards to the designs being presented. The judges then interview the designers who garnered the highest and the lowest scores (usually a top 3 and a bottom 3) and share their opinions before conferring as a group in private after the designers' defense of their outfits. The panel then selects the winning and losing designers based on their scores and other considerations. Typically, the winner receives immunity for the next challenge, and therefore, cannot be eliminated. As the season progresses, immunity is disregarded during later challenges to prevent the designers from getting an easy pass to make it into the final round. Other incentives given to the contestants aside from winning immunity is that the winning garment may be featured in print media, integrated into a limited edition look for a particular clothing brand, or sold at an online fashion store (e.g. BlueFly.com beginning in Season 4 onwards). Generally, the loser of each challenge is eliminated from the competition, with host supermodel Heidi Klum giving him or her a double air kiss on the runway and wishing the eliminated designer her trademark catchphrase, Auf Wiedersehen, before they depart. Thus, elimination from the show is sometimes called "being auf'd".
After the final challenge, the remaining three or four designers are then told to prepare a complete fashion collection of twelve looks to be presented at New York Fashion Week in Bryant Park. The finalists are given 12 weeks and $8000 for this task, which they perform at their own homes or studios. While some construction work can be outsourced, the majority of the garments must be created by the designers themselves. Prior to the show, the finalists must return to New York City to oversee model casting, hair and make-up consultations, finishing touches to their clothes, final fitting on their models, and also may be thrown an additional challenge, such as designing an additional outfit to blend in with the collection (Season 2). Their receipts are also handed over to the producers of the show to determine if they went overbudget or had outsourcing done as favors, both of which are against the rules. Otherwise, they might be forced to eliminate a crucial aesthetic factor in their presentation (e.g. Jeffrey Sebelia's blond wigs and pleated leather shorts in Season 3), or risk affecting their potential scoring from the judging panel should they stand by their decision to use a forbidden item (e.g. Kara Saun's outsourced footwear in Season 1). The ultimate winner is selected by the judges, and receives $100,000 to start his or her own design line, a magazine feature spread in ELLE Magazine, and a mentorship from a design firm (ended on Season 3). Subsequent seasons have also included a new car as part of the prize package, courtesy of car company Saturn.
Female fashion models who work with the designers throughout the season are also in the competition. Each week, as the number of designers dwindle, the number of models are also reduced, with one model remaining at the end. Models are randomly pre-assigned to a designer during the first challenge, and from the second challenge onwards, the designers will have an opportunity to pick the model they wish to work with. This usually happens during the start of every episode save for the first, with the winner of the previous challenge receiving first pick, and the other designers picking models in order through host Klum's random draw of large red shirt buttons with their names stored in a black velvet bag. Though, there are times when only the winning designer will be given the choice to pick with the following choices: either keep his or her previous model, take the losing designer's model from the last challenge, or switch models with another competing designer. The losing models are also given host Klum's air kiss and Auf Wiedersehen before they leave the runway. Included in the prize package for the winning model is coverage in ELLE magazine, featuring the winning designer's twelve-piece collection as part of her prize. However, certain challenges may not require the models at all, such as: giving a competing designer a head-to-toe makeover (Season 2), the designers creating their own looks (Season 3), designing menswear (Season 4), or creating a garment for a specific client (e.g. reconstructed outfits for women who lost weight or wrestling costumes for the WWE Divas in Season 4).
Joining Klum in judging duties includes American designer Michael Kors, ELLE magazine editor-at-large Nina Garcia, and a fourth judge - typically a fashion designer (Diane von Furstenberg, Vera Wang, Zac Posen, Francisco Costa, Betsey Johnson, Alberta Ferretti, Roberto Cavalli, Monique Lhuillier, Catherine Malandrino), a supermodel (Iman or Alessandra Ambrosio), a celebrity (Victoria Beckham, Sarah Jessica Parker, Nicky Hilton, Natalie Portman), or a professional from an industry related to the challenge given (Nancy O'Dell, Rachel Zoe, Tiki Barber, Apolo Anton Ohno, Patricia Field, Ivanka Trump). Tim Gunn, former faculty member of Parsons The New School for Design and now Chief Creative Officer for Liz Claiborne Inc., acts as mentor to the designers and does not participate in the judging. Instead, he visits the designers midway through each challenge to comment and suggest improvements for each design, as well as announcing additional challenge updates and enforcing the time limit before each runway show. Gunn also usually announces the design challenges aside from Klum, and accompanies the designers during their fabric shopping at MOOD or on field trips related to a particular challenge.
International versions of Project Runway closely follow the US series format in terms of design briefs, designer and model eliminations, winning prize package, and other related factors, such as urban cinematography and candid interviews with the designers. The judging panel for these international spin-offs also mimic the original US version: hosted and judged by a well-known local model or celebrity, a famous local fashion designer and a fashion publishing editor to act as regular co-judges, and a weekly rotating roster of guest judges. The mentors for the competing designers are also selected based on their reputation and knowledge of fashion design and the industry in general. While keeping true to the US series, the international versions try to inject a bit of local flavor and original design challenge concepts in order to differentiate themselves from Project Runway USA. So far, Project Runway has versions in the United Kingdom, Canada, Norway, Malaysia, Australia, and the Philippines.
General Hospital (commonly abbreviated GH) is the longest-running ABC Daytime American soap opera broadcast on the American Broadcasting Company television network. It is also the longest-running serial produced in Hollywood (having been taped at the Prospect Avenue ABC Television Center West and Sunset-Gower Studios). It holds the record for most Outstanding Drama Series at the Daytime Emmys, with 10 wins.
Set in the fictional city of Port Charles, New York, General Hospital debuted on April 1, 1963, the same day that rival network NBC launched its own medical daytime drama, The Doctors. The show originally aired for a half-hour until the network expanded it to 45 minutes in 1976, and then to a full hour in 1978. The serial was created by soap writers Frank and Doris Hursley, a husband-and-wife team.
General Hospital (commonly abbreviated GH) is the longest-running ABC Daytime American soap opera broadcast on the American Broadcasting Company television network. It is also the longest-running serial produced in Hollywood (having been taped at the Prospect Avenue ABC Television Center West and Sunset-Gower Studios). It holds the record for most Outstanding Drama Series at the Daytime Emmys, with 10 wins.
Set in the fictional city of Port Charles, New York, General Hospital debuted on April 1, 1963, the same day that rival network NBC launched its own medical daytime drama, The Doctors. The show originally aired for a half-hour until the network expanded it to 45 minutes in 1976, and then to a full hour in 1978. The serial was created by soap writers Frank and Doris Hursley, a husband-and-wife team. More information about General Hospital.
America's Next Top Model is a reality television show in which a number of women compete for the title of America's Next Top Model and a chance to start their career in the modeling industry.
The show was created and is hosted by television personality, former supermodel and current talk-show host, Tyra Banks, who also serves as the head judge and executive producer of the show. The first "cycle" premiered in May 2003 and was one of UPN's highest rated shows. The show's seventh cycle was the first of the shows among regular programming on UPN's successor network, The CW, and thus far is the network's highest rated series.[1][2] The show will continue until at least the 2009-10 season.[3] The opening theme is performed by Tyra Banks and is produced by Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins. Banks co-produces the show with Ken Mok and Anthony Dominici. For the 2006-2007 television season, ANTM was the #1 show in average viewers on The CW.
Each season of America's Next Top Model has from 9-13 episodes and starts with 10-14 contestants. Each episode, one contestant is eliminated, though in rare cases a double elimination or no elimination was given by consensus of the judging panel. Makeovers are administered to contestants early in the season (usually after the first or second elimination in the finals), and a trip to an international destination is scheduled at about two-thirds of the way through the season (usually with five or six contestants remaining).
Each episode of Top Model covers the events of roughly a week of real time (however, while overseas, an episode roughly covers three to four days, totaling two weeks of filming abroad), and features a fashion challenge, photo shoot or commercial, a critique of each contestant and her performance by the judging panel led by Tyra Banks, and the elimination of one or more contestants. As of Cycle 10, the current judging panel includes runway coach J. Alexander, fashion photographer Nigel Barker and Czech supermodel Paulina Porizkova. Previous judges included fashion icon Twiggy, supermodel Janice Dickinson, fashion stylist Nolé Marin, designer Kimora Lee Simmons and fashion editors Beau Quillian and Eric Nicholson. Photo shoot director Jay Manuel, though not a permanent judge, is featured every episode. Usually, an additional guest judge will sit in on the panel every week. Each episode is usually associated with a theme in the world of modeling, such as dealing with the press in interviews, selling a commercial product, appearing in a runway show or going on "go sees".
An episode usually begins with the contestants receiving training in an area concurrent with the week's theme. For example, contestants may get coached in runway walking, improvisational acting, or applying make-up to suit various occasions. A related challenge soon follows, such as a mock runway show or interview, and a winner is chosen by a judge. She receives some prize, such as clothing, a night out, or an advantage at the next photo shoot, and she is usually allowed to share the benefits with a certain number of other contestants of her choice.
The next segment is a photo shoot, and each contestant's performance will reflect heavily on her judging for that week. Each season features photo shoots such as bikini or lingerie shots, beauty shots, posing nude or semi-nude, posing with a male model, and posing with animal(s). Usually one photo shoot per season is replaced with a commercial shoot (excluding Cycle 2, Cycle 5 and Cycle 9 where there were both a commercial and a photoshoot and Cycle 4 where there was no commercial at all) and in Cycles 2 and 9, a photo shoot was replaced by a music video for Tyra Banks and Enrique Iglesias respectively.
The final segment of each episode is judging. During judging, contestants are often given a challenge in some area such as posing, selling a product, runway walking, or choosing a representative outfit or make-up to satisfy a given prompt, known as a pre-evaluation task. This practice has been discontinued since Cycle 8. Each contestant's photo is then shown and evaluated by the judging panel. After all photos have been evaluated, the contestants leave the room as the judges deliberate. The elimination process is ceremonious, as Tyra reveals and hands out the photos of the contestants that have not been eliminated one-by-one, in order of merit, each time saying, "Congratulations. You are still in the running towards becoming America's Next Top Model". The last two contestants who have not received their photos are brought up as "the bottom two", and Tyra critiques each one before revealing which of the two is continuing on in the competition (the other being eliminated). However, there have been three exceptions, as Cycle 4 had a double elimination, Cycle 5 had a non-elimination, and in Cycle 9, the original eliminee was saved by another contestant's decision to quit on the spot, just moments after Tyra had called her name for safety.
The format varies slightly when only three contestants remain. With the exceptions of Cycles 1 and 2, (when CoverGirl wasn't a sponsor), and Cycle 3 where there was no commercial, the three remaining contestants compete in one last photo shoot and commercial for CoverGirl, followed by a judging session in which the judges eliminate the contestant they feel to be the weakest. The final two then compete in a runway show in front of the judges and a live audience, before both their performances there and during the entire competition is considered when the judges declare a winner.
Since CoverGirl has become a sponsor, each week from week 3 to 12, recap excluded (with exception of Cycle 3, Cycle 9 and Cycle 10 where it was awarded on Week 2 as well) a girl can be voted CoverGirl of the Week by the viewers.
American Idol, with the full title American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season only, is an American reality-competition show airing on Fox. It debuted on June 11, 2002, and it has since become one of the most popular shows on American television. Part of the Idol franchise, it originated from the reality program Pop Idol created by British entertainment executive Simon Fuller, which was first aired in 2001 in the United Kingdom.
The program seeks to discover the best singer in the country through a series of nationwide auditions. The outcomes of the later stages of this competition are determined by public voting by phone. The format features three judges who give critiques of the contestants' performances: record producer Randy Jackson; pop singer and choreographer Paula Abdul; and music executive Simon Cowell. The show is hosted by former children's game show emcee and television personality Ryan Seacrest; comedian Brian Dunkleman co-hosted with Seacrest during the first season. The American Idol band is led by Rickey Minor. The show usually airs on Tuesday and Wednesday nights in the US and Thursday and Friday nights in the UK (two days after the US airing). In its seven seasons, its winners have been Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Hicks, Jordin Sparks and David Cook. The Runners-up have been Justin Guarini, Clay Aiken, Diana DeGarmo, Bo Bice, Katharine McPhee, Blake Lewis, and David Archuleta.
Before contestants get the chance to see the show's judges, they go through two rigorous sets of cuts: the first consists of a brief audition in front of one or two of the show's producers with three other contestants. All four contestants are then either sent through to the next round of producers or are asked to leave. Only about 100-200 contestants in each city make it past this round, which is a staggering statistic considering that tens of thousands of people show up to audition in each city.
Those few contestants who make it through to the next round of auditions sing in front of another panel of producers, who then narrow the remaining contestants down to about forty singers. The remaining singers (again, only about 40 out of 10,000 to 20,000) then audition in front of judges Simon, Randy, and Paula for a chance to make it to Hollywood Week.
Singers are not permitted to have any current record deals or talent management agreements (though they may have had one at some point in the past). They must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents eligible to work full-time and, for the first three seasons, had to be 16 to 24 years of age on October 19 of the year of audition. Since the fourth season, the upper age limit was raised to 28 with an earlier cutoff date, August 4, to attract more mature and diverse contestants.
Others who are ineligible to compete include those who have made it into the top 40 contestants in past seasons (or the top 50 of season 7), and people employed by affiliates of Fox, FremantleMedia or 19 Entertainment (including sponsors, subsidiaries and parent companies). Even if a person is eligible, he or she may not have a chance to audition or be seen because the show can see only a limited number of people in each city.
Auditioning contestants must bring with them to the audition a valid proof of age and work eligibility, such as a birth certificate and driver's license or a passport, and minors under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. All auditioning contestants are required to print out a copy of the release form (available on the show's web site) to fill out and turn in at the audition in order to grant permission to be seen and heard by the producers' cameras. Contestants who are found to have given false information are disqualified. After auditioning - regardless of the outcome (even if eliminated on the very first cut) - contestants are under contract with the show until three months after the final episode.
In an interview with Anderson Cooper on the CBS TV current affairs show 60 Minutes on March 17, 2007 (repeated in extended format on CNN's AC 360 program on March 27, 2007), judge Simon Cowell openly declared that the underlying primary purpose of the Idol franchise (including American Idol) was for 19 Entertainment (the parent corporation that produces the Idol TV shows) to discover new singing talent that can be signed to recording agreements that the corporation maintains with a major record company (Sony/BMG), and benefit from the record sales of contestants and winners who are exposed to the worldwide marketplace through the TV shows. Cowell indicated that revenue from recordings by performers associated with the Idol franchise has already exceeded US $100 million. 19 Entertainment also retains exclusive right of refusal for management and merchandising of any contestant. Exercising management rights is at the sole discretion of 19 Entertainment; in the alternative the contestant performer is free to pursue his or her own career.
Once in Hollywood, the contestants perform on different days, with dramatic eliminations by the judges on each day. The first day typically has each hopeful sing a song that they had selected from a list. The next round, the contestants split themselves into small groups and perform a song together. In the final round, the contestants perform a song of their choice a cappella.
Starting in the 2008 season, the structure of the Hollywood round was revamped. There were no longer musical group rounds; rather, the contestants would sing on the first day and if the judges felt the performance was adequate, the contestant moved onto the final Hollywood round. If the performance was not up to par, the contestant would have one more chance to impress the judges before the third day. For the first time, contestants were able to perform with a musical instrument if they had the ability; however, with the exception of only a few contestants, the judges criticized the use of the instruments.
In the finals, which last eleven weeks, each finalist out of all of the contestants performed a song live in prime time from a weekly theme (two songs in later rounds) at CBS Television City in Los Angeles in front of a live studio audience. Themes have included Motown, disco, big band music, and Billboard #1 hits. Some themes are based on music recorded by a particular artist, and the finalists have a chance to work with that artist in preparing their performances. Artists around whom themes have been based include The Beatles, Billy Joel, Neil Sedaka, Mariah Carey, The Bee Gees, Barry Manilow, Rod Stewart, Gloria Estefan, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Neil Diamond, Queen, Bon Jovi, Dolly Parton, and Elvis Presley. Once in the top five and four, the contestants sing two songs each; once in the top three and finale, the contestants sing three songs each to the three judges, Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell, and Randy Jackson.
Following each performance episode, a results show airs that reveals the breakdown of the voting public's decision. Voters can vote more than once if they choose. All they do is send a text message to the number of which the singer they vote for. The most popular contestants are not typically revealed (although they have been in very rare cases), but the bottom three vote-getters are typically called to the center of the stage. From the bottom three, the bottom two are revealed, until finally the contestant who received the lowest amount of votes is eliminated from the competition. A montage of the contestant's experience is played and they give their final performance.
In the finale, one remaining contestant is declared the winner. Until the 2008 season, the stage was moved to the Kodak Theatre for the finale showdown, where the two remaining contestants perform for an audience of at least 3,400. In 2008, the venue was shifted to the Nokia Theatre, which holds an audience of over 7,000. The winner is announced at the following results show. The winner receives a one million (US) dollar record deal with a major label, and is managed by American Idol-related 19 Management. In some cases, non-winners have also been signed by the show's management company (who has first option to sign contestants) and received record deals with its major label partner. So far, all of the seasons' winners and runner-ups have had major record deals.
American Idol has come under fire for maintaining what some claim to be total control of the careers of the winners of the contest. Former co-host Brian Dunkleman referred to the show as "owning" the winning contestants, noting that winners sign contracts to only record with companies owned by the show's producers and to allow related agencies to manage their careers.
Dancing with the Stars is the name of a group of international television series based on the format of the British series Strictly Come Dancing. Not all the international versions share this title. The format is distributed by BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC. Australia was the first country to adapt the BBC show, and versions have also been produced in Brazil, Argentina Chile, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway,Peru, Poland, Portugal, Panama, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine and the USA.
The format has become popular internationally and was the world's most popular television programme across all genres in 2006, reaching the Top 10 in 17 countries. The show pairs a number of celebrities with professional ballroom dancers, who each week compete by performing dances, which are then given scores by a panel of judges. Viewers are given a certain amount of time to place votes on their favorite dancers, either by telephone or (in some of the shows) by the Internet. The couple with the lowest combined score (judges plus viewers) is eliminated and does not go on to the next week. This process continues until there are only two or three couples left, at which point one couple is declared the champion.
Cheryl Burke and Julianne Hough made Dancing With The Stars USA history by becoming the only professional dancers to win two championships, each. Furthermore, they both made Dancing With The Stars USA history by becoming the only professional dancers to win back to back titles. Cheryl Burke won her first Dancing With The Stars Championship with 98 Degrees boy band member Drew Lachey in the second season and won her second championship with NFL star Emmitt Smith in the third season. Julianne won her first championship with, Olympic Speed Skating Gold Medalist Apolo Anton Ohno in the fourth season and her second championship with Indy 500 Champion star Helio Castroneves in the fifth season. Raimondo won his first championship on the Italian version of Dancing With The Stars called Ballando Con Le Stelle with former Miss Italia and Television presenter Cristina Chiabotto in the series' second season. He won a second time with Olympic Long Jump Silver Medalist Fiona May during the third season of the show. In New Zealand, Stefano Olivieri was the first pro dancer to win the series twice in Season 3 with Suzanne Paul and Season 4 with Temepara George.
In the United Kingdom, where the show originated, it is known as Strictly Come Dancing. You can see more information here.
The Bachelorette is a spin-off of the American competitive reality dating game show, The Bachelor. Hosted by Chris Harrison, The Bachelorette is produced by Next Entertainment in association with Warner Horizon Television. Mike Fleiss, David Bohnert and Martin Hilton are the executive producers. In its January 2003 debut on ABC, the first season featured Trista Rehn, the runner-up date from the first season of The Bachelor, offering the opportunity for Rehn to choose a husband among 25 bachelors. The 2004 season of The Bachelorette again took the runner-up from the previous season of The Bachelor. After last airing on February 28, 2005, the series returns to ABC during the spring of 2008, following an absence of three years.
Nashville Star is a reality television program. It airs Mondays on NBC in the United States of America, following five seasons on USA Network. It premiered on March 8, 2003, and its five seasons on USA made it the longest-running competition series on cable television. In Canada, the show aired on CMT through season 5, but moved to E! beginning with season 6. CMT (US) rebroadcasts each episode the following Friday in the United States.
It is similar to American Idol, in that performers must sing to impress both celebrity judges and the public via call-in and/or internet votes. Unlike American Idol, however, the performers are limited to country music. The performers sing country, rock, and pop songs.
Nashville Star is produced by Reveille Productions and originates live (except for each season's premiere episode, which is taped) from the Acuff Theatre at the Opry Entertainment Complex in Nashville, Tennessee. Audience members are required to have tickets, which are distributed free of charge except for a standard handling fee. The competition has historically taken place over the months of March and April, though it moved to January and February for the 2007 season and the summer months in 2008.
In a format nearly identical to the final round of American Idol, finalists perform one song per week individually and face criticism and/or praise from a panel of three judges. At the end of the show, voting opens to the viewing public, who may cast votes by calling a toll-free telephone number or logging on to the show's official website (texting was added as a voting option in 2008). The performer with the fewest number of votes is eliminated.
However, because Nashville Star airs only once per week, eliminations are not announced until the following week. The finalists who have not been eliminated are called in random order to the stage one-by-one to perform until there are only two remaining. At that point, one is called to perform and the other is eliminated for receiving the lowest amount of votes from the previous week. The finalists do not know the order in which they will perform, and have less than one minute to prepare once their names are called. No votes are tallied on the season finale.
Much like American Idol, the judges are present to offer criticism to the finalists in an attempt to sway the voting public. Unlike Idol, however, Nashville Star's judges do not participate in the preliminary auditions (leaving that task to the show's producers), but they do act as mentors to the finalists (beginning with the 2008 season). The audition process was not seen on-air on USA Network versions, except for the first season (2003 season), but portions of it was seen in a montage during the premiere of the NBC version. Beginning with the 2008 move to NBC, the judges did assist producers in narrowing the field from 50 to 12. Each season (except for 2005), the judges have eliminated finalists based on consensus on the premiere episode without sending the vote to the public (the process continued for a few more episodes during the first two seasons).
Unlike "American Idol", Nashville Star has always featured a live band, lead by John Bohlinger. Bohlinger has been with the show all six seasons. Idol added a live band after critics praised Nashville Star's band on season one.
Whereas American Idol generally elevates people off the street to stardom, Nashville Star finalists are usually already somehow involved in the country music industry, but may not have attained a record deal on a major label. Past finalists have included studio musicians, background singers, and independent artists. Finalists are usually songwriters, in addition to being singers. In each season, one episode is dedicated to songs written by the finalists. Nashville Star does not have the same age limits as American Idol, and performers in their 30s and 40s have been finalists, although most have been in their 20s.
The winner of Nashville Star receives a recording contract (through Sony Music in Seasons 1 & 2, Universal South Records in Season 3, RCA Label Group in Season 4, and Warner Bros. Music in Seasons 5 & 6), a performance on the Grand Ole Opry, and a pickup truck (Chevrolet from 2005-2007, Toyota in 2008). The 2008 season will also award the winner a performance at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. The top 4 finalists each season have been involved in "The Nashville Star Tour", where they perform together on a tour of small venues for a few months following the season.
So You Think You Can Dance is an American dance reality show and competition that is broadcast on the Fox Network in the U.S. and Japan, on CTV and MuchMusic in Canada, on Living in United Kingdom and Ireland, on Network Ten in Australia, on AXN in India, on MBC 4 in the Middle East, on TVN in Poland, and on KTN in Kenya.
The series premiered on July 20, 2005 and has a similar premise to the American Idol series of singing competitions, with nationwide auditions leading to the discovery of the next big star. The show was created by Idol's Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe and is produced by 19 Entertainment and Dick Clark Productions. A mixture of contestants are chosen for the show, ranging from unknown street dancers to winners of national championships. All contestants have to work their way through a rigorous audition process, and, over the course of the show, are assigned different dance styles and partners each week to test their versatility.
It was the #1 rated show in summer 2006 for adults aged 18-49, and in July 2007, while the fourth season is over, it was renewed for a fifth season. The first season was hosted by Lauren Sánchez; the show is currently hosted by former British children's television personality, Cat Deeley. In August 2006, it was also announced that there are now spinoff versions of the show in New Zealand, Turkey, Israel, Canada, Germany, Greece, Poland, Malaysia, Norway, and Australia, with several other countries in the works.
So You Think You Can Dance holds auditions in major cities across the U.S., looking for the top dancers in each city. All types of dance backgrounds are encouraged to audition. Salsa, ballroom, hip hop, street dancing, contemporary, jazz, ballet and many other types of dancers can be seen auditioning for a chance to win the grand prize—which, in the past, has included a new Hybrid SUV, $100,000 in cash, and a dancing role in Celine Dion's Las Vegas show—of US$250,000 and the title of "America's favorite dancer." In its four seasons, the winners have been Nick Lazzarini, Benji Schwimmer, Sabra Johnson and Joshua Allen.
Dancers audition for a ticket to Vegas. During season one, the 50 top dancers were assigned to groups, each of which spent time working with five different choreographers for a week, at the end of which the choreographers chose the top 16. Every season after the first has been of a format where the competitors at the Vegas callbacks dance choreography in front of the judges who pick the top 20 based on their performances.
After the first season, the format changed from dancers switching partners every week to one where the top 20 keep the same partner until the show has reached ten finalists. Between the top 20 and the top ten, viewers vote based on the couple, rather than the individual. Once the show has reached ten dancers, the dancers randomly pick their partner's name from a hat as well as their style(s) of dance. As well, during the top ten finals, each dancer does a solo, and the viewers have an opportunity to vote on competitors individually, rather than in pairs.
When the season finale comes around, everyone dances with everyone. Both guys dance with each other, both girls dance with each other, and both girls dance with both guys. In the results show of the season finale, the judges pick their favourite dance of the season and the dancers re-enact it; (obviously not a dance that that judge choreographed). There are special guest-star performers, and surprise appearances.
Ratings for So You Think You Can Dance in Season 1 made it the #1 summer show for the summer of 2005. However, when NBC's America's Got Talent premiered in the summer of 2006, it took key demographics away, and America's Got Talent became the #1 summer show in the summer of 2007. In the summer of 2008, Talent held on to the title and broadened its lead, while FOX started competing with CBS's Million Dollar Password on Thursdays and even drama reruns on CBS on Wednesdays. However, So You Think You Can Dance still remains one of the most watched reality television shows in the United States.
The Mole is a reality television game show which was originally created in 1999 by Woestijnvis and broadcast on VRT in Flanders, Belgium, and won the Golden Rose of Montreux in 2000. It was conceived by Michiel Devlieger, Bart de Pauw, Tom Lenaerts and others, and the format was later licensed in 40 countries.
Players in The Mole must work together to complete various physical and mental challenges to build up a significant cash prize for the winner. One of them, however, is "the Mole," a double agent hired by the producers to sabotage the efforts of the group. The Mole must be careful to avoid drawing suspicion. Using journals, players must track vast amounts of minutiae about the person(s) they suspect of being the Mole, such as seating positions, clothing colors, minor discussion topics, and so on. The quiz at the end of each episode tests players' knowledge of the Mole, and determines by lowest score (or slowest time, in the event of a tie) who is eliminated from the game.
Each installment of The Mole involves a number of contestants, averaging around twelve. During each episode, the contestants participate in a number of challenges, each assigned a monetary value. If the contestants, as a team, complete the challenge, that money is added to the final prize for the game. However, one of these contestants has been selected by production to be the Mole; his or her job is to try to prevent the other players from winning challenges without revealing himself to others. The Mole may be told ahead of time of how to do this or what challenges to expect, while at other times the Mole must decide whether to intervene or not.
At the end of each episode, the contestants take a quiz regarding the identity of the Mole and his or her involvement in the previous activities. The player who scores the lowest on this quiz, or was slowest to answer in case of a tie, is eliminated from the game. The winner of the game is the one that answers the most questions correctly on the final quiz given when there are only three players remaining (including the Mole), and is awarded the total amount of money won over the course of the game.
While success in the challenges is important in order to build up potential winnings, it is also critical to stay in the game by scoring better than opponents on the quiz, usually by attempting to draw their suspicions of the Mole's identity toward oneself. Since the Mole must use subterfuge to misdirect attention from his/her attempts to derail the team, disingenuous attempts to emulate the Mole must be subtle, while still noticeable and suspicious.
Like other reality shows, The Mole features challenges in which the players received money that was added to a group pot which only one person could win. However, unlike challenges in other reality shows, the ones seen on The Mole offered players ways to disrupt the game, as well as ways of disguising their betrayal. Below are some of the more popular recurring challenges seen throughout the series:
* Tandem Skydiving - Usually the introductory challenge in inaugural seasons, each player must jump from an airplane to win money toward the group pot. If any player refuses, the prize money is forfeited. (USA - Season 1, Australia - Season 1, UK - Season 1)
VARIATION: The majority of the players have the additional task of memorizing number combinations prior to each jump, while two others (who are not asked to jump) must predict who will or will not jump. (Australia - Season 4)
* Hostage Rescue - The producers abduct a player at night and then hold them hostage. The remaining players must find and free the hostage within a certain amount of time. The hostage is generally kept locked up in a castle or prison of a nearby city. The remaining players must split into groups and use different modes of transportation (car, boat, helicopter) to find the hostage. Within each mode of transportation is a hidden key, which, when combined with the other keys, can unlock the doors that imprison the hostage. (USA - Season 1, UK - Season 1, Netherlands - Season 3, Australia - all seasons)
* Library Game - Players are taken to a library, where they are given a series of clues. The clues point to specific books on the shelves which contain a ticket to ride a horse-drawn carriage. If they can find the book and take the ticket to a specific stop on the ride, they can board the carriage at that point. If all players get on board and finish the ride the challenge is won. (USA - Season 1, Belgium - Season 2, Netherlands - Season 2)
* Fortress Test - Players are taken to an abandoned fort and told they must defend it from trained aggressors. The target is a glass bowl, illuminated by two spotlights on the roof. The aggressor's objective is to either disable both spotlights or move the glass bowl out of the light. To succeed, the players must keep the bowl illuminated from sunset to sunrise, or shoot and hit all the aggressors, preventing further attacks. (USA - Season 1, UK - Season 2, Australia - Season 2)
* GPS Game - In variations of the game, contestants are given a Global Positioning System unit, and must simply utilize it to find a final destination. The UK version had the Mole sabotage the other contestants' units. The US version gave the contestants two options at the final destination: add the prize money to the pot or examine the Mole's dossier. In the Dutch version, the talking GPS gave strange directions, such as "Drive to Swiss" while the show was filmed in Mexico. (UK - Season 1, Belgium - Season 1, USA - Season 2, Netherlands - Season
* Riddle Challenge - Logic puzzles have been used extensively across all editions of The Mole, in several variations, usually splitting the players into teams.
VARIATION 1: The contestants are split into two groups and taken on a tour. The first group is led to a room, where they must answer a series of riddles to earn money. They are then led to another room and can watch the other team try to solve the same riddles, only each riddle the other team answers successfully costs them money they just won. The first team must send one of their own to try and stop the other team from solving the riddles before all money is lost. (USA - Season 1, BEL - Season 2, NL - Season 2)
VARIATION 2: The contestants are split into two groups and must solve the same set of riddles. Both teams must complete the riddles within a shared time limit, but incorrect answers will cost them additional time. (UK - Season 1, Australia - Season 1, Belgium - Season 1)
* Language Barrier Challenge - A common theme in The Mole, since players are frequently taken overseas. They attempt to complete challenges in cities and towns where they do not speak the language, and must find a way to communicate with the locals to gather information. For example, in a challenge from the US version, players are given two watches. One of the watches is genuine, while the other is a fake. However, players can't tell the two watches apart. From speaking with the local watch appraisers, they decide which watch to destroy. When time has run out, they go to a firing range, where a marksman fires a bullet through the watch they deem to be fake. If the fake is destroyed, they win money, but if the real watch is destroyed, they must pay for it with money from the pot. (USA - Season 1: Cartier Test, Laundry Game, Season 2: Pizza Test, Season 5: When Pigs Fly, Dress Code, Three To Tango)
* Three Questions - The "Three Questions" test has become a tradition in the US versions in the finale episode, before the reunion. By this point in the game, only three people are left; the exact amount required for this challenge. All players first fill out identical surveys where each question has two different answers to choose from. The answers are the names of the two other players. Later, the host leads one person to hide somewhere in the town. The other two must find their fellow player based on how they believe their teammate answered three questions taken from the survey. Selecting which route to take usually follows this premise: If Player X answered the question with Player Y, go left; otherwise, if the answer is believed to be Player Z, go right. Since no routes overlap, each question has to be answered correctly in order to win money. (USA - Season 1, 2, 3, Australia - Season 2, Netherlands - Season 4)
* Deaf, Mute, Blind - One player is blindfolded and must navigate their way through a building with the assistance of two other teams. In the standard variation of this challenge, the mute team is able to see what the blind player cannot through his or her camera-mounted headset. However, as the team name suggests, they can't communicate verbally with anyone. Instead, they must pantomime directions to the deaf team through a different camera. The deaf team is able to speak to the blind player, but can't hear anything that anyone says. (UK - Season 2)
* The Blueberry Game - A cake is be presented to the players during dinner. All but one piece has a blueberry topping. The player who eats the slice of cake without the blueberry is visited at night by the host, who offers that player an exemption. They must then convince a certain number of players to break the rules and visit them at night. This game tends to hurt players emotionally, since they are often very trustful of their deceivers.
The quiz is the primary device of eliminating contestants across all series. Traditionally between ten and twenty questions, the quiz asks the players to identify the Mole and several pieces of information regarding the Mole, including the Mole's activity in challenges, biographical profile, their fashion and/or culinary choices during the show, etc. The player scoring lowest on the quiz (and taking the longest time to do so, in the event of tied scores) is eliminated from the game. The US version saw a format change from twenty questions to ten questions from Season 2 on, usually with all questions available to the public. Season 5 of the Australian series had contestants answer five questions about the Mole (not filmed), plus a further five questions for the live eliminations. On two separate occasions, the live elimination computer quiz system malfunctioned and didn't record some contestants' responses. The rules stated that if this were to happen the elimination would be based on the five questions answered before the live show.
Depending on the edition, players have occasionally had the chance to alter their scores, and thus their chances of surviving the elimination. In Season 1 of the UK edition, players were given chips to replace incorrect answers on their quiz in one of the challenges. In the latest editions of The Mole in the Netherlands, players can earn "jokers" to be used at any point in the series to erase incorrect answers. In 2008 the show in the Netherlands introduced "topito's", a 1/8 piece of a full circle ("Topo"). If a player has a full topo of the same color or with 8 different colors, the player will get a free pass for the next test. Only the first full and correct topo will be rewarded with a free pass for the next test.
In most editions of The Mole, however, players are usually given the chance at "exemptions" or "free passes". Should a player earn an exemption, he or she is not required to take the quiz and thus safe from elimination. Traditionally, an exemption must be earned by preventing the team from winning their challenges. Seasons 2 and 5 of The Mole in the US saw the most prevalent use of exemptions, with nearly one every episode, and multiple exemptions on occasion.
A standard elimination checks each player's status on whether he or she will continue to the following episode. In most formats, a computer shows a green screen to signify they are continuing or a red screen to show they have earned the lowest score. Poland used red and green feathers, and some versions have used an eye instead.
Many editions have seen special eliminations. A player, for example, may be given a second chance in the game, should they redeem themselves in a challenge. In one edition, the remaining players had a chance to stop the elimination, if they surrendered their prize money up to that point. There have been several editions where either no players or multiple players were eliminated. Buy-out offers, or "bribes," may also be presented during executions, in which a player may take a guaranteed monetary offer in exchange for voluntarily opting out of the game.
