Nashville Star
Nashville Star is an American reality television singing competition program that aired for six seasons, from 2003 to 2008. Its first five seasons aired on USA Network, while the last season aired on NBC.[1] Its five seasons on USA made it the longest-running competition series on cable television at the time.[2] In Canada, the show aired on CMT through season 5, but moved to E! beginning with season 6. CMT in the United States reaired each episode in season 6.
Nashville Star
Ben Silverman
Howard Owens
Jeff Boggs
George Verschoor
Mark Koops
Nancy O'Dell (2003-2004)
LeAnn Rimes (2005)
Cledus T. Judd (2005)
Wynonna (2006)
Cowboy Troy (2006-2007)
Jewel (2007)
Billy Ray Cyrus (2008)
Katie Cook (2008)
Robert K. Oermann (2003)
Tracy Gershon (2003-2004)
Charlie Robison (2003)
Billy Greenwood (2004)
The Warren Brothers (2004)
Phil Vassar (2005-2006)
Anastasia Brown (2005-2007)
Bret Michaels (2005)
Randy Owen (2007)
Blake Shelton (2007)
John Rich (2008)
Jewel (2008)
Jeffrey Steele (2008)
United States
52
Ben Silverman
Jeff Boggs
H.T. Owens
George Verschoor
Varies (most episodes 60 minutes)
USA Network (2003-2007)
NBC (2008)
March 8, 2003 –
August 4, 2008
It was similar to American Idol, in that performers had to sing to impress both celebrity judges and the public via call-in and/or internet votes. Unlike American Idol, however, the performers were limited to country music. This restriction was relaxed for Season 6, allowing for the finalists to choose from many genres of music, but the songs were arranged to maintain a country sound.
The show is credited with jump-starting the careers of singers Buddy Jewell, Miranda Lambert, Chris Young, and Kacey Musgraves among others. A Nashville Star-themed gifts and souvenirs shop featuring local items and city souvenirs opened in July 2008 at Nashville International Airport, one month before the show's final episode, and closed after over a decade.[3][4]
Show format[edit]
Comparisons to American Idol[edit]
In a format nearly identical to the final round of American Idol, finalists performed one song per week individually and face criticism and/or praise from a panel of three judges. At the end of the show, voting opened to the viewing public, who 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 votes was eliminated.
However, because Nashville Star aired only once per week, eliminations were 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 was called to perform and the other was eliminated for receiving the fewest votes from the previous week. The finalists did not know the order in which they would perform and had less than one minute to prepare once their names were called. No votes are tallied on the season finale.
Much like American Idol, the judges were present to offer criticism to the finalists in an attempt to sway the voting public. Unlike Idol, however, Nashville Star's judges did not participate in the preliminary auditions (leaving that task to the show's producers), but they did 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 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).
Whereas American Idol generally elevated people off the street to stardom, Nashville Star finalists were 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 were usually songwriters, in addition to being singers. In each season, one episode was dedicated to songs written by the finalists. Nashville Star did not have the same age limits as American Idol, and performers in their 30s and 40s were finalists, although most were in their 20s.
Nashville Star always featured a live band, led by John Bohlinger.
Criticisms[edit]
Nashville Star was criticized from its inception as being an American Idol ripoff, but the show outlived many critics' initial predictions of failure.[5]
Fifth-season judge Blake Shelton told the New York Times, "I think it's disastrous that there hasn't been a winner to go on to be a consistent star in Nashville. In order for the show to have credibility and for it to take another step, we need a Carrie Underwood to come out of it."[6] Despite this, the show was a ratings hit for USA Network, and was moved to broadcast network television after five seasons.
Controversies[edit]
In 2004, Mal Rodgers was eliminated by the judges during one of the early rounds, despite being an obvious fan-favorite (at this time, two finalists were eliminated each episode: one by the judges, one by fan-vote). At the taping, the audience loudly booed the decision to eliminate Rodgers, continuing after the show had gone off-air. For 2005, the elimination process was altered, completely removing the judges from the equation. The process was again altered in 2006, allowing judges to remove one finalist (two in 2007, back to one in 2008) on the premiere episode only before fans get the chance to vote.[7]
In 2005, finalist Tamika Tyler blamed producers for attempting to influence fans to vote against her, after she was voted off on an early-season episode. Tyler claims that video clips of a confrontation between her and eventual winner Erika Jo concerning the difference in their ages were doctored and taken out of context as they were presented on the show.[8] The show's producers would refute the claims; however, in 2006, the focus of the videos shifted from interactions between finalists to a behind-the-scenes look at each finalist preparing for his or her performance.
During the fifth episode of the 2007 season, no finalist was eliminated. However, host Jewel teased an elimination several times from the beginning of the episode, only to reveal at the very end that the previous week's show experienced "technical difficulties" and the voting results were discarded. Neither USA Network nor Reveille Productions, would comment publicly on the "technical difficulties".[9] Had the show eliminated a finalist that week, the finale episode would have only featured two performers, instead of the usual three.
As stated below and on this page, the winner of season 6 was supposed to perform at the closing ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, which was also shown on NBC in the U.S. However, that performance did not occur; no reason was ever given for the cancellation.
Wynonna was the host of the series and Cowboy Troy was co-host. Two Foot Fred hosts "Small Talk" segment.
Phil Vassar and Anastasia Brown returned as regular judges, with a third seat occupied by guest judges, which included:
The standings for 2006 were:
The 2006 winner was 20-year-old Chris Young. Nashville Star began its fourth season on March 14, 2006, with a slightly altered set, two new hosts in Wynonna & Cowboy Troy, and only two regular judges. A guest judge occupied the third seat each week. The format remained unaltered, though the length of the season was reduced by one week, and one finalist was eliminated on the season premiere (by judges' decision) to compensate. Two Foot Fred's "Small Talk" segment also made its debut in 2006. The season ended on May 2, 2006, with Young—from nearby Murfreesboro, Tennessee—crowned champion. His self-titled debut album was released on October 3, 2006 and debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard country chart, although its singles both missed Top 40. Young charted in the Top 40 for the first time in 2008 with "Voices", and reached number one in 2009 with "Gettin' You Home (The Black Dress Song)" and "The Man I Want to Be". "Voices" was then re-released in 2010 and also went on to reach number one. Young also received a Grammy nomination in 2016 for "Think of You" with The Voice contestant Cassadee Pope. Sixth-place finisher Kristen McNamara was a top 36 finalist on the eighth season of American Idol, but was not voted into the Top 13. Fourth-place finisher Matt Mason would go on to win the first season of CMT's Next Superstar.