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Access Atlanta > American Idol Buzz > Archives > 2008 > August > 03
Sunday, August 3, 2008
8/4: Nigel Lythgoe leaving “Idol” (UPDATED)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I decided to keep the Jennifer Hudson item up all weekend by its lonesome because on occasion, a blog entry deserves its time in the sun for an extended period. Here’s some fresh news:
TMZ said producer Nigel Lythgoe has decided to step down from the show after seven seasons. Here’s the press statement I got at 3:36 p.m. today:
Contrary to online rumors, producer Nigel Lythgoe is not leaving 19 Entertainment. Lythgoe, recognized as one of the most celebrated and influential TV producers of the last twenty years, is currently negotiating a new deal with 19 to begin a new joint venture with Simon Fuller, with whom he created the Emmy-nominated show “So You Think You Can Dance.”
“I’ve worked with Nigel for over ten years, and he is the best producer I have ever worked with. We are a great team and have shared phenomenal success,” stated Fuller. “Under our stewardship, 19 has grown into a formidable force and we are now looking at developing a number of shows through a new joint venture.”
“Due to the huge success of ‘So You Think You Can Dance,’ my summer will be taken up by travels to South Africa, Australia and Canada to work on local versions of the show,” stated Lythgoe. “I will step back from my day-to-day producing work on ‘American Idol’ and will be devoting my time to a new venture with Simon Fuller. I have very much enjoyed my personal and professional relationship with Simon. He is without doubt, a man of vision, and I look forward to partnering with him on new and exciting challenges in all forms of entertainment.”
Clearly, Lythgoe’s passions are veering toward “So You Think You Can Dance,” in which he also judges. (Fox just renewed that show for a fifth season. No surprise.)
I’m not sure what impact this would have on “Idol” down the road, but he clearly was highly influential in how the show is structured and paced and such. He was much more the public face of the show among the three executive producers, more so than Ken Warwick or Cecile Frot-Coutaz.
Unless the show itself fundamentally shifts, the average viewer won’t care since the three judges and host are not changing. But if things don’t seem quite the same season eight, though, we’ll know why.
-Anyway, MJ found the most random appearance of “Idols” ever— they rang the Nasdaq stock market bell while in New York last week. The Nasdaq dude butchers Ramiele and Syesha’s last names. Then David Cook thanks the various sponsors including Sports Entertainment Enterprises or CKX, which is on the Nasdaq and oversees the “Idol” franchise. “The only person I don’t thank today is our tour manager,” Cook cracked. He speaks at about the 2:45 point. Interested in investing in the stock? Get more info here.. Stock is trading at about $8 a share with a market cap of $800 million. A quick glance at the financials and it appears the company is doing well.
-Random thoughts from the Jennifer Hudson booting. After talking it over with my boss, I realize there were at least five routes I could have taken to deal with the restrictions (see my previous blog entry for details). 1- I could have just said no, I don’t do restrictions. But I’m not that pure of principle. 2- Argue. As we saw, this one didn’t work. 3- Just ask the questions anyway. Jennifer, since she asked not to be asked those questions, might have gotten a wee upset or complained to the PR folks afterwards. 4- Try to ask the question in a roundabout way without asking the question and see if she’d bite. This would come down to creative execution and Jennifer’s willingness to bite. 5- Accept the restrictions, then bitch about them on the blog here. That would be the classic passive aggressive approach.
Also, I am still amused by how Theola Borden, the J Records publicist, went with the passive grammatical structure to lock me out of the interview. Instead of saying, “I’ve decided to cancel your interview,” she used the Voice of God, “Your interview has been cancelled.” It reminded me of Clive Pearse, the host of HGTV’s “Design Star” who intones in that distinctive British lilt every time a contestant is gone: “Your show has been canceled.”
If you’ve never heard Clive’s proclamation, you can hear him utter that phrase at the 1:46 mark of this segment from “Design Star 2007.”:
-If you’re into other reality shows, EW did a nice “whatever happened to..” here.. It features a catchup with Joe Millionaire (who got deeply depressed after the show and is back in construction) and Joe Schmo (A humiliatied Matt Gould drank away a lot of his cash, the moved back to Pittsburgh to get married and work at a logistics company.)
