Simon Robert Fuller is a British entrepreneur, artist manager, and film and television producer. He is the creator of the Idols TV format, including the UK series Pop Idol and the US series American Idol.
Simon Phillip Cowell is an English television personality, entrepreneur, and record executive. He has judged on the British television talent competition shows Pop Idol (2001–2003), The X Factor UK and Britain's Got Talent (2007–present), and the American television talent competition shows American Idol (2002–2010), The X Factor US (2011–2013) and America's Got Talent (2016–present). Cowell founded the British entertainment company Syco in 2005, as well as its now-defunct predecessor, Syco Music in 2002.
Pop Idol is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer in the UK based on viewer voting and participation. Two series were broadcast, one in 2001–2002 and a second in 2003. An immense success when it launched in 2001, Maggie Brown in The Guardian wrote, "the show became a seminal reality/entertainment format once on air that autumn". Series judge Simon Cowell became a major public figure in entertainment, and the show produced instant No. 1 chart hits, including for the first series winner Will Young, whose single "Evergreen" was the fastest-selling debut in UK chart history and the best-selling song of 2002. Pop Idol was subsequently put on an indefinite hiatus after Simon Cowell announced the launch of The X Factor in the UK in April 2004.
Hear'Say were a British pop group. They were created through the ITV reality TV show Popstars in February 2001, the first UK series of the international Popstars franchise. The group, who were signed to Polydor Records, originally consisted of Danny Foster, Myleene Klass, Kym Marsh, Suzanne Shaw, and Noel Sullivan.
Popstars Live was an Australian music talent show television program similar to Australian Idol that aired on the Seven Network in early 2004. It was an evolution of the original Popstars TV show which aired between 2000 and 2002 on Seven. The show spawned a single and album that made the ARIA charts in April that year.
Idol is a reality television singing competition format created by British television producer Simon Fuller and developed by Fremantle. The format began in 2001 with the British television series Pop Idol; its first adaptation was the South African series Idols in 2002. It has since become the world's most widely watched television franchise, as well as one of the most successful entertainment formats, adapted in over 56 regions around the world, with its various versions broadcast to 150 countries with a worldwide audience of roughly 3.2 billion people. The franchise has generated more than $2.5 billion in revenue.
New Zealand Idol, also known as NZ Idol, was the New Zealand version of the Idol series originated as the hit British TV series Pop Idol. New Zealand first saw the Idol format when TV2 aired American Idol 2, which garnered impressive ratings. After Australian Idol also received good ratings in New Zealand, TVNZ decided to order the first season of NZ Idol, which was broadcast on TV2. After the third season in 2006, TVNZ made a decision not to fund or broadcast a fourth season, thus placing New Zealand Idol on indefinite hiatus, with no plans to run a fourth season.
Star Academy is a Dutch developed reality television talent show TV format that first aired in The Netherlands as Star Maker.
TrueBliss were a New Zealand pop girl group formed in April 1999. The band were formed on the popular television show Popstars, which aired on TVNZ's TV2 channel for nine weeks in the search for a new girl group. TrueBliss were the first ever group to be formed under the Popstars franchise, before the concept was sold to broadcasters in Australia, continental Europe, United Kingdom and the United States.
Idols Danmark or is the Danish version of the British music competition Pop Idol (2001–2003) created by Simon Fuller. After Pop Idol became a great success in England in 2001, the Danish pay-channel TV3 announced in 2003, that they would launch a Danish version of Idols. Idols premiered on Danish television in September 2003 with Tomas Villum Jensen and Uffe Holm presenting the show. The premiere of Idols 2003 was watched by over 450,000 people and 188,000 people in average watched the first season. The judges in the first season were Thomas Blachman, Kjeld Wennick, Henriette Blix and Carsten Kroeyer. Idols returned once again in 2004, but the second season was not as successful as its predecessor, Idols 2004 is known as the shortest Idols season in the world, with production lasting no more than 3 months. It is also seen as one of the most unsuccessful seasons of all time, Thomas Blachman returned as the only remaining judge from the first season, along with the new judges Susanne Kier and Anders Hansen. Idols in Denmark was subsequently put on an indefinite hiatus after the second season.
Simon Lythgoe is a British film and television producer. Shows he has produced include Meet Me Next Christmas , American Idol, Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings, So You Think You Can Dance. He was born in England and educated at Felsted School, St. Alban's College and National Film School in Beaconsfield, England. He is the son of theatre director Bonnie Lythgoe and television executive Nigel Lythgoe.
Carly Binding is a New Zealand pop singer-songwriter, and former member of the girl group TrueBliss.
Dominic Joseph Bowden is a New Zealand television personality, host and voice actor. He is best known as the host of New Zealand reality series including New Zealand Idol, Dancing with the Stars New Zealand and The X Factor New Zealand. When based in Los Angeles, he hosted the American reality music competition show, The Next Great American Band and as a Hollywood reporter for the Erin Simpson show. Bowden has been called "New Zealand's Ryan Seacrest."
The X Factor is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for Pop Idol (2001–2003), and has been adapted in various countries. The "X Factor" of the title refers to the undefinable "something" that makes for star quality.
Got Talent is a British talent show TV format conceived and owned by Simon Cowell's SYCOtv company. It has spawned spin-offs in over 69 countries, in what is now referred to as the 'Got Talent' format, similar to that described by Fremantle of the Idol and The X Factor formats. Unlike those shows, Got Talent showcases other artistic disciplines as well as singers.
Popstars is an Irish reality television series, broadcast and produced by RTÉ One, which ran from 2001 to 2002. The programme is based on the original New Zealand series and is part of the international Popstars franchise. The series follows members of the public auditioning to be part of a new band, with the age limit being 18 years old.
19 Entertainment is a producer of entertainment properties for television with a focus on music owned by Sony Pictures Television through its nonfiction division. Founded by Simon Fuller in London in 1985, the company co-produced Pop Idol in the United Kingdom with Thames Television in 2001. The Idol series has since become one of the most successful entertainment formats, sold to more than seventy countries around the world, including American Idol in the United States. 19 Entertainment is also responsible for the production of So You Think You Can Dance.
Popstars is a reality music competition series that was broadcast on ITV in early 2001. It was the first UK series of the international Popstars franchise, and was billed as a documentary on the formation of a modern pop group. The programme began with audition rounds of aspiring singers performing covers of classic songs before a panel of judges. The best performers were selected to come to London for further rounds of auditions. Over the weeks, the judges eliminated various singers from the auditions until just a few singers were left in contention. In the final weeks, five contestants were chosen by the judges to form the new pop group Hear'Say. The programme then showed the group recording and promoting their first single, documenting their first ventures into the music industry.
Pakistan Idol was a Pakistani reality singing competition that was a part of the Idols franchise created by Simon Fuller and owned by 19 Entertainment and FremantleMedia. It was the 50th adaptation of the familiar reality competition format introduced in the British series Pop Idol in 2001. It is developed for the Pakistani entertainment market by Geo TV.
Popstars is a New Zealand reality documentary television show. The first edition aired on TVNZ in 1999 and showed the establishment of a five-piece girl group, TrueBliss. The series was the origin of the Popstars reality TV series format, which went on to be sold to over 50 countries. A reboot of Popstars screened in 2021, making the New Zealand format the only one remaining in the franchise to keep ongoing to this day.
