ABC has announced that The One: Making a Music Star, its previously announced adaptation of Operacisn Triunfo, the smash-hit Spanish reality singing competition that first premiered around the same time as Britain's Pop Idol, the UK hit that proceeded Fox's American Idol, will debut Tuesday, July 18 at 9PM ET/PT with a special two-hour premiere.
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Created by reality TV powerhouse Endemol (the Anglo-Dutch production company responsible for numerous reality shows including Big Brother, Fear Factor, and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition), Operacisn Triunfo has aired dozens of editions in other countries (including British and French editions which aired under the Fame Academy and Star Academy titles) for several years. While it's taken five years for an American network to decide to broadcast an American edition of Operacisn Triunfo, the show's original Spanish edition actually premiered back in Fall 2001.
Unlike Idol, which focuses mainly on the on-stage singing performances of its contestants, The One -- like all other Operacisn Triunfo adaptations -- will focus just as much on the behind-the-scenes activities of its contestants. When they aren't performing, all of the show's contestants will cut off from the outside world and attend a fully functioning boarding school-like music academy in which Big Brother-like hidden cameras will continuous record their activities. The music academy will offer vocal coaching, choreography/dance lessons, image consulting, fitness experts, media training and celebrity mentors.
Each week, The One's contestants (similar to CBS's Rock Star, the show will begin with the show's eleven initial finalists already selected and no coverage of the audition process) will perform live on the show's Tuesday performance shows and learn their fate on the show's Wednesday results shows. After ten weeks, a winner will be crowned and receive a recording contract with Interscope/Geffen/A&M Label Group.
In addition to including a focus on the competition's behind-the-scenes activities (an approach that failed for Rock Star last summer, but ABC still feels, if presented properly, will interest viewers), The One will also differ from Idol -- and most other reality talent competitions -- in one other key way. Unlike Idol, while The One will allow home viewers to vote for which singers they don't want to see eliminated from the competition, the show won't allow home viewer voting to completely determine which contestant will be eliminated from each week's competition round.
Instead -- and in an change from the potentially disastrous Big Brother 1-like voting elimination format ABC initially announced for the show -- American viewers will simply determine each week's bottom three vote-getters. Then, after each week's bottom three are revealed, The One's three "experts" (its term for the music professionals who in addition to training the contestants, will also serve as the show's judges) and the remaining non-bottom three contestants will get to save two of the bottom three contestants from elimination.
Kara DioGuardi, Andre Harrell, Mark Hudson will serve as The One's "experts." DioGuardi is a record producer, songwriter and singer who has produced and written for artists such as Christina Aguilera, Marc Anthony, Kelly Clarkson, Celine Dion, Jewel, Enrique Iglesias, Lindsay Lohan, Ricky Martin, The Pussycat Dolls, Santana and more. Harrell is a former Motown Records president, Uptown Records founder, and entertainment entrepreneur who has helped launch the careers of such acclaimed artists as Jessica Alba, Halle Berry, Mary J. Blige, Jodeci, Heavy D and the Boyz, 98 Degrees and mentored Sean "Puffy" Combs. Hudson is a songwriter, vocal director, musician and record producer who has produced some of the biggest acts in the music business, including Celine Dion, Ozzy Osbourne and the legendary Ringo Starr.
George Stroumboulopoulos, a veteran music expert and Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) television star, will serve as The One's host.
