the buzz log
Idol Talk: The Godmother
While Oprah is busy boosting book sales and pushing presidential candidates, Ellen Degeneres has become the "American Idol" godmother. This week, she welcomed waif Josiah Leming, whose cut during Hollywood Week inspired Daughtry-like outrage among show fans.
Searches for "ellen degeneres" popped up another 35% on the day of the program, and related lookups for "josiah leming on ellen" (+1,344%), "josiah leming" (+518%) and "josiah leming american idol" (+483%) surged for the woebegone underdog.
Ellen had ties to the Fox competition last season, serving as satellite host on the shoe-horned "Idol Gives Back" telethon. Besides showing Ryan Seacrest how proper hosting's done, she dug around in the spare change tray in her car and came up with a $100K donation. The fairy godmother instincts re-emerged Tuesday when she gifted Josiah with $8,000 worth of musical instruments.
Did the largesse inspire Top 24 contestant Colton Berry to invoke her name during boys' singing night? Colton, largely overlooked by "Idol" cameras, took his first opportunity to introduce himself to America by calling himself Degeneres' twin.
Nice try, but being Ellen's adopted pet inspires nine times more searches than being her teen-boy doppelganger. Not that Colton should give up getting in the godmother's good graces. After all, searchers don't call her "ellen degenerous" for nothing.
Filed under: TV, Reality TV, American Idol, Music, Television
Idol Talk: Hometown Pride
"American Idol" is back on the straight-singing express, and viewers may be in the mood to forgive last season's celebrity detour. Since the show's season premiere, searches on the talent contest have been equal to, if not higher than, what they were this time last year.
Each Top 24 hopeful has developed an online following. That's markedly different from season 6, when people were still enamored with the rejects. True, ousted Josiah Leming and Reynaldo Lapuz are still the most popular Season 7 contestants thus far: They each attract more buzz than former "Star Search" winner David Archuleta (who currently leads the Top 24 crop). But still.
The slideshow here ranks the contestants according to Buzz, but there may be another way to rank the newest darlings: hometown pride. The southern states tend to be traditional "Idol" Buzz territory, and this year's no exception, with Oklahoma leading the show's searches. Southern favoritism could portend well for Alaina Whitaker (Oklahoma), Alexandrea Lushington (Georgia), Colton David Berry (Virginia), as well as a handful of Texans (both Jasons) and the Hoosier contingent.
Ah, but beware the mendacity of such hope. Ultimately talent and likeability may trump parochialism in the final stretch, as Arizona native Jordin Sparks showed by breaking the southern stranglehold. Will voters help repeat history? We'll find out in the coming weeks. In the meantime, weigh in with your own "Idol" analysis.
Filed under: Reality TV, American Idol, Music, Television
Idol Talk: American Reject
Shockers, leaks, and ringers—and "American Idol" hasn't even started the electoral process yet. This season's abbreviated Hollywood round cut down on both the drama and the onscreen bonding moments.
Next week, Fox viewers become voters, but some may already be disappointed with their choices. Amid the rush to find the "american idol 2008 top 24" (+942%), some like Carly Smithson and Michael Johns (who have had record deals) weren't surprises. The lachrymose Josiah Leming was another story: The early-on Search favorite impressed with his song choices, spurring searches "grace kelly lyrics" (+136%) and Brit artist Mika (aka Mica Penniman). Alas, the homeless hopeful got dumped. The shocking dismissal ricocheted him into the top 2,500 searches that day, ironically giving him the highest Buzz profile of the chosen 24.
As for the remaining talent pool, Ryan Seacrest harped all week about how strong the competitors were this time. "Idol" remains behind in ratings compared to last season, but buzz may be more forgiving: Unlike this same time last year, many individual singers are already sparking online interest. Stay tuned to see which contestants take the lead in Search.
Filed under: Reality TV, American Idol, Music, Television
Idol Talk: A Dance Spin
Record producer and "American Idol" judge Randy Jackson is taking aim at TV production. His latest project, "America's Best Dance Crew," moves classic dance battles off the streets and onto MTV beginning February 7.
A host (Mario Lopez) and a trio of judges (Lil Mama, JC Chasez, Shane Sparks) still rule and voting still matters, but the competition doesn't have that "Idol" middle-America vibe. Instead, a hip hop undercurrent powers the synchronized dance moves of 5- to 7-member crews, who boast names like BreakSk8, Fysh n Chicks, and Kaba Modern. The moves may be street, but the diversity cuts across region, race, and gender. Pre-premiere enthusiasm measured put the show in the top 60,000 searches, thanks to interest from a broad age range (13-44).
While TV observers warn of a footloose burnout, that hasn't been the case online: In the past 30 days, searches for ABC's latest reality competition "Dance Wars" stepped up nearly 450%. Auditions for FOX's "So You Think You Can Dance" might explain an 11% spike even when the show's between seasons.
Incidentally, the Thursday premiere of "Dance Crew" coincided with the Lunar New Year, which has been sparking Search movement for “lion dance,” the acrobatic tradition with kung-fu overtones. Say, Jackson, doesn’t that give you an idea…?
Filed under: Reality TV, Television, Dance
A Tale of Two TV Shows
Hollywood is known as the dream factory. Yeah, some factory. It produces the same product over and over. Witness "Lipstick Jungle" and "Cashmere Mafia," two eerily similar shows coming soon to a flat screen near you.
"Lipstick" stars Brooke Shields. "Cashmere" is headed by Lucy Liu. And that's where the differences end. Both shows take place in Manhattan. Both revolve around a group of glamorous career women. And both have peeps from HBO's "Sex and the City" involved in production. These folks treat their ideas the way frugal drivers treat their cars: Drive 'em into the ground.
We'd like to tell you that searchers are protesting this appalling lack of originality, but that would be a lie. Both shows are on among our top 8,000 queries and should climb even higher in coming weeks. Hollywood may lack imagination, but, lucky for them, audiences don't seem to mind.
Filed under: Television
top movers
| Rank | Subject | 1-Day Move |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ford 400 | Breakout! |
| 2 | Indonesia Ferry | Breakout! |
| 3 | Jordan Chandler | 3481% |
| 4 | Evan Chandler | 2322% |
| 5 | American Music Awards | 1841% |
| 6 | John F. Kennedy | 1529% |
| 7 | Turkey Stuffing Recipes | 1361% |
| 8 | Liam Hemsworth | 1172% |
| 9 | Lou Dobbs | 1142% |
| 10 | Hendrick Motorsports | 888% |
top leaders
| Rank | Subject | Move | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Black Friday | +340 | 1290 |
| 2 | NFL | +489 | 670 |
| 3 | Jennifer Lopez | +451 | 515 |
| 4 | New Moon | -67 | 250 |
| 5 | American Music Awards | +236 | 249 |
| 6 | UFC | -36 | 239 |
| 7 | Miley Cyrus | +66 | 169 |
| 8 | Hulu | -11 | 154 |
what's the buzz?
A subject's buzz score is the percentage of Yahoo! users searching for that subject on a given day, multiplied by a constant to make the number easier to read. Weekly leaders are the subjects with the greatest average buzz score for a given week.
For more detailed information, visit our FAQ.