HOW SHY WAS TEEN TV SENSATION REALLY?

A teenaged opera singer who was described by the TMZ website as “Susan Boyle 2.0” may have been repackaged — or may have repackaged himself — to achieve the maximum effect on Saturday’s telecast of Britain’s Got Talent. Seventeen-year-old Jonathan Antoine wandered onto the stage looking much like an obese Tiny Tim, except for a […]

COWELL: 2011 “WAS THE YEAR MY EGO WAS PUT IN CHECK”

Simon Cowell has told the British tabloid The Sun that his overwhelming success with American Idol in the U.S. and Britain’s Got Talent and The X Factor in the U.K. in 2010, left him “a bit too cocky.” When he decided to launch an American version of The X Factor, he predicted that it would […]

FOX DROPS RESULTS SHOW FROM SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE

Fox may have concluded that it is overloaded with talent shows. On Monday, Nigel Lythgoe, the producer/judge on So You Think You Can Dance revealed that Fox had canceled the separate weekly results show, making it necessary for him to combine the separate performance and results episodes. “I’m certainly not mad at Fox — they […]

REPORT: COWELL TO RETURN TO U.K. TALENT SHOW

Simon Cowell, who left the British version of America’s Got Talent (Britain’s Got Talent) to focus his energy on the launch of The X Factor in the U.S., will return to the show next year, the London Daily Mirror reported today (Wednesday), citing a source at ITV, the commercial broadcaster. Ratings for both BGT and […]

GOOGLE EXEC URGES U.K. CONTENT MAKERS TO EXPLOIT INTERNET

The head of Google’s operations in the U.K. and Ireland has urged the British entertainment industry to take advantage of the international fascination with Internet technology. Writing in the Guardian newspaper, Matt Brittin commented that, thanks to the Internet, British talent can be “discovered” virtually instantaneously thanks to people all over the world sending messages […]

SIMON COWELL PULLING OUT OF U.K. TALENT SHOWS, TOO

Not only is Simon Cowell leaving American Idol, but he’s also likely to depart Britain’s Got Talent and the British version of The X-Factor, two of the highest rated shows in the U.K., which generate tens of millions of pounds for commercial broadcaster ITV. In an interview posted on BBC Radio’s Newsbeat page, Cowell said, […]

IN U.K., TV HOLDS ITS OWN AGAINST THE WEB

Television viewing in the U.K. continues to rise despite competition from the Internet and home media, according to British broadcast regulator OFCOM. In a research paper published today (Thursday), OFCOM said TV viewing has expanded some 3 percent during the past year and now accounts for an average of 3 hours and 45 minutes per […]

LOWLY NBC HAS NO. 1 HIT ON TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY

Thanks to NBC’s annual summer hit, America’s Got Talent, the network’s ratings soared on Tuesday and Wednesday night, with a two-hour edition on Tuesday averaging 12.29 million viewers and beating the competition in every half-hour, among both the key adult-18-49 demographic and total viewers. Moreover, it appeared that the show had found the counterpart to […]

NEW SEASON OF “BRITAIN’S GOT TALENT” KICKS OFF WITH A BANG

One year after Britain’s Got Talent made its season debut with 10.3 million viewers tuning in to see the astonishing performance of Scotch singer Susan Boyle, the ITV show’s fourth season kicked off Saturday with a record 10.6 million viewers, representing 44 percent of the country’s entire TV audience. It peaked with 12.2 million, a […]