Archive for February, 2007

Published by Jeff Jarvis February 22nd, 2007 96 Comments

Anya - ti o4en` krasivaya devushka!!! O4en`~!!!

Liza breaks down the individual performances and asks the important questions:

Are some of the Idol contestants turning into the cast of Lost?
Is Sanjaya really his sister?

Play along with Liza as she introduces her favorite game: What will Simon Say? And check out her Idol Thoughts about Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell.

From not-so-Idol-like photos of Antonella Barba to highlights of Lakisha’s show-stopping performance, it’s all here on this week’s episode of Idol Critic.

Hollywood week! Idol Critic’s debut

Published by Jeff Jarvis February 14th, 2007 51 Comments

Welcome to the debut of Idol Critic, the show that gives you the water-cooler buzz about America’s favorite show. Liza Persky, child of television, gives you a review of the show the ~~morning~~ day after.

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I created the show with my partner, Peter Hauck. And to make it, we brought in Mary C. Matthews and Liza Persky, the producer and star behind one of my favorite internet series, 39SecondSingle. I’m rooting for Liza to stay single so she has nothing better to do midweek that sit on the couch and watch Idol.

We rushed this up so be nice about the temporary design at our site. It’s my fault. We’ll have more features coming soon.

What would make us most happy is if you make your own reviews of the reviews of Idol. Put them up on Blip or YouTube and tag them “idolcritic” and we’ll find them.

Make sure to come back next week for episode 2!

LATER: The New York Times reports on the unbeatable ratings juggernaut that American Idol is proving to be:

Kelly Kahl, the chief scheduler for CBS, summed up the “Idol” factor this way: “This is a big monolith sitting out there. It’s the ultimate schoolyard bully.”

If any of Fox’s rivals had hopes that this year might signal some hint that the monster — NBC favors the term Death Star — would finally betray some sign of weakness, those hopes were dispelled in just a week. Most television shows, no matter how successful, fall off sometime after their second or third season, but against all expectations, and most of the historic record of network television, “American Idol” has come back for its sixth season bigger and stronger than ever.

Last year at this time, five weeks into its season, “American Idol” was roaring along as television’s most-watched show, with an average of 31.7 million viewers (up substantially from its fourth season, when it averaged 28.3 million viewers over the same five weeks).

Improbably, this season the show has done even better, averaging 33.5 million viewers over its first five weeks. For perspective, at this point “Idol” could lose half its audience and still rank among the top 10 shows on television. And no one dares predict when this phenomenon will fade.

“Idol” is creating ever more powerful shock waves. A growing number of television executives have begun to regard “American Idol” as a programming force unlike any seen before. Jeff Zucker, the new chief executive of NBC Universal, said, “I think ‘Idol’ is the most impactful show in the history of television.”

Yes, even bigger than Anna Nicole.

Contact Idol Critic

Published by jakejarvis+exploding February 11th, 2007 3 Comments

About us

Published by jakejarvis+exploding February 10th, 2007 16 Comments

Idol Critic is a the proud creation of Exploding Video Productions.

Liza Persky was born and raised in Los Angeles and knew from a very young age that TV and pop culture were going to play a big role in her life. Before Paris and Nicole were shopping at Kitson, Liza was spending her days trying to accomplish her life’s goal: To meet all six of “Charlie’s Angels.” Once that was done nothing could stop her. After graduating from Emerson College in Boston, Liza set her sites on New York City. Her first job was as the assistant to the head of development at Comedy Central, where she learned the first, and most important rule of television: It’s all about the food. After two years of mastering the art of ordering lunch for 10 cranky writers, she left and started her career as a talk-show producer: first at VH1, producing celebrities and writing comedy desk pieces and sketches for RuPaul, and then going big time as a senior producer for “The Rosie O’Donnell Show.” There she won four Emmys and the privilege of saying things like, “How am I going to get David Hasselhoff to do the Twinkie eating contest,” with absolutely no irony. From there she went on to produce for other shows, including: “The Ricki Lake Show,” “The Wayne Brady Show,” “Living it up with Ali and Jack,” and “The Tony Danza Show.” She’s currently developing several television and broadband projects, all with a pop-culture and entertainment edge. She also watches about 10 hours of TV a day, which is probably why she’s still single.

Mary C. Matthews is a writer/producer/editor with a background in comedy writing for television and the web. She has written & produced for Buena Vista Television, American Movie Classics, FUSE and maintains original online series 39 Second Single, Sunday Night Dinners and Video Pancakes. With producing partner, Liza Persky, Mary launched Pound Productions for the development and production of original programming for television and the web.

Jeff Jarvis is the studio mogul behind Exploding Video Productions, which so far has two shows: Idol Critic and PrezVid, tracking the 2008 election through the eyes of YouTube. He blogs at Buzzmachine.com and is a columnist for Media Guardian. He was creator and founding editor of Entertainment Weekly, TV critic for TV Guide and People.

Peter Hauck, former movie editor of Entertainment Weekly and senior vice president of Advance Internet, is the president of Exploding Video.