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| Star Search | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Interactiverealitygame show |
| Created by | Al Masini |
| Written by | Sam Riddle Al Masini Phil Kellard Tom Shatz Jerrod Cardwell Scott C. Voss |
| Directed by | Tony Charmoli Tim Kiley Greg V. Fera Glenn Weiss |
| Presented by | Ed McMahon (1983–1995) Martha Quinn (1994–95) Arsenio Hall (2003–04) |
| Narrated by | Sam Riddle (1983–1994) Beau Weaver (1994–95) |
| Theme music composer | Joey Carbone andCarol Connors (1983–1994) |
| Opening theme | Theme FromStar Search ("You Can Be A Star") |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 13 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Al Masini Bob Banner Gay Rosenthal Andrew J. Golder Todd Wagner Dan Funk Mark Cuban |
| Producers | Sam Riddle Michele Butin Donna Michelle Anderson |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Production companies | Bob Banner Associates (1983–1988) Metromedia Television (1983–1986) Television Program Enterprises (1983–1993) Rysher TPE (1993–94) Rysher Entertainment (1994) 2929 Productions (2003–2004) A.Gold.er Productions (2003–2004) CBS Productions (2003–2004) |
| Original release | |
| Network | Syndication |
| Release | September 10, 1983 (1983-09-10) – May 20, 1995 (1995-05-20) |
| Network | CBS |
| Release | January 8, 2003 (2003-01-08) – March 13, 2004 (2004-03-13) |
Star Search (later known asEd McMahon's Star Search) is an American television show that was produced by T.P.E./Rysher Entertainment from 1983 to 1995, hosted byEd McMahon, and created byAl Masini. A relaunch was produced by2929 Productions from 2003 to 2004. On both versions of the show, contestants competed in several genres of entertainment. The show was originally filmed at theEarl Carroll Theatre at 6230 Sunset Blvd. inHollywood;[1] it was later filmed at theDisney-MGM Studios in Orlando, Florida.
While categories varied slightly from season to season, the ten basic categories[2] during the 1983–1995 version were:
Eight categories were contested per show. Potential contestants auditioned to be on the show. In each category, two selected contestants would compete, a champion and a challenger. The challenger would usually perform first, while the champion performed second. In later seasons, the champion performed first.
All acts were judged by a panel of four judges, and each judge could award an act from one to four stars (later changed to five stars). Once both acts were complete, Ed would reveal the scores, and the best average won. If there was a tie, a studio audience vote broke the tie, in which case the results were revealed at the end of the show.
Any performer must win at least several shows in a row, depending on the number of shows left in the season, to earn an entry into the next round of the competition; usually this was three or four wins in a row. In later seasons, three-match winners were automatically retired. In this case, two new performers would compete in that category the following week.
In most seasons, two semifinal shows took place, one in the fall, the other in the spring, prior to the championship show. Each semifinal used seven judges. No scoring was used, and the judges' votes weren't revealed, but the acts that won their semifinals would then compete in the championship show.
On the championship show, winners of Male Vocalist, Female Vocalist, Vocal Group, Comedy, and Dance, were awarded $100,000 but no record contract was guaranteed. Many Star Search winners from the early seasons secured recording contracts within a few weeks of the end of the competition—first season vocal group winnerSawyer Brown, first season male vocalist championSam Harris and second season male vocalist champion Durell Coleman were the first three, and were later followed by second season vocal group winner Limited Warranty, third season female vocalist championLinda Eder, second season junior male vocalist champion Jimmy Salvemini, whose album was produced byLuther Vandross, fourth season male vocalist championDavid Slater, and third season junior female vocalist runner-upTiffany. Despite not winning her competition (she lost to Melissa Moultrie), Tiffany, performing as 'Tiffany Renee,' was the firstStar Search alumna to land a #1 hit, with her cover of the Top 5Tommy James and the Shondells hit "I Think We're Alone Now" —actually improving on the original single's chart performance.[3] The winner of the Spokesmodel category was awarded $100,000 and a contract with a well-known modeling agency. The first Spokesmodel winner wasTracey Ross, who later became a leading actress on the soap operaPassions. Winners of Junior Vocalist, Junior Dance, Teen Vocalist, and Teen Dance win $10,000.
In early seasons, before the three match limit rule was adopted, the grand champions were determined by how long a champion held their title. While it is believed thatSam Harris holds the record for longest championship, at 14 weeks in Season 1, Harris was actually defeated by singer Beau Williams on Harris' 14th attempt. This record is actually held by singer Durell Coleman (1985), who won the $100,000 on Season 2 with 15 wins and no defeats.
In the 1992–93 season, a daily version of the show aired but was cancelled midseason.
In the 1993–1994 season, the title was changed to "Ed McMahon's Star Search."
FormerMTV veejayMartha Quinn joined the series as co-host for the 1994–95 season, judging the musical groups competition.[4][5]
Star Search was typically syndicated onFox Television Stations (before October 1986,Metromedia, Inc.), stations owned by theGaylord Broadcasting Co., stations owned byTaft Broadcasting, and stations owned byCox Communications.
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In the wake ofAmerican Idol's success,Arsenio Hall hosted a new version ofStar Search, which ran from 2003 to 2004 on CBS. It would be rerun onGSN from 2004 to 2005. This new version was judged by four panelists, includingBen Stein,Naomi Judd,Ahmet Zappa and a rotating celebrity panelist (which in at least one case was McMahon himself). Among the winners were singerTiffany Evans, comedian John Roy and singer Mark Mejia.
The revival consisted of four seasons. For the first season, the categories were Adult and Junior Singer, Comedy, and Modeling. In seasons two and three, Modeling was replaced with Dance. In the final season, the Comedy category was scrapped altogether and only the singing and dancing categories remained.
For the first three seasons, two new competitors faced off. The three house judges, along with the one celebrity judge, gave each contestant a score on a scale from one to five stars, making a maximum studio score 20 stars. During each commercial break, the home audience went to www.cbs.com/star to rate the competitors who just performed. Each performer could earn up to another 20 stars from the home audience. In the climactic moment before the score from the home audience was revealed, Hall would often say, "Hit me with the digits!"
When the scores were tallied, the higher scoring performer won. If the score was tied, then Hall would read off each performer's score rounded to the nearest hundredth (the at-home score was initially rounded down to the nearest star, unless there was a tie). That performer would then go on to the next round of competition. The only real exception to this format during the first three seasons was that three people competed in the semi-final rounds, not two. After the first three seasons, a special, "Battle of the Best" show took place, where the three Adult Singer, Junior Singer, Comedian, and two Young Dancer Grand Champions (Modeling was only the first season, and Dance had only been around for two seasons) were brought back to face off for an additional $100,000.
For the fourth and final season, three contestants in Adult Singer, Junior Singer, and Dance were brought back to initially compete (Comedy was dropped, jokingly because Naomi gave many comics only one star). The three brought back in each category were not necessarily the Grand Champions of their season. The show scrapped the celebrity judge and had three house judges for the entire series:Naomi Judd,MC Lyte, andMatti Leshem (who tried to berate contestants asSimon Cowell was doing at the time onAmerican Idol).
As in past seasons, two new contestants competed. With only three judges, a score of 15 stars was possible, and ties were broken by a majority vote between the three. This is where the former contestants came in. Initially, in each category, these three performers made up the "Winner's Circle". The winning challenger then had the chance to challenge one of the three performers in his or her respective winner's circle. The winner's circle performer then had to beat or tie the bar set by the challenger; ties were automatically given to the Winner's Circle performer. If they couldn't beat the score, they were out of the competition, and the challenger took his or her place in the Winner's Circle.
Halfway through the program, the three performers in each Winner's Circle competed against each other in a special show. The winner in each category not only received a trip home, but a free pass to the final show. From then on, there were only two people who could be challenged in each Winner's Circle. In the final show, the three people in each Winner's Circle competed against each other for $100,000. This, along with the Free Pass show, were the only two shows which re-adopted the at-home voting concept.
At the same time, aspin-off calledStar Search – Das Duell der Stars von Morgen was produced and aired in Germany, but with less success than the more popular showDeutschland sucht den Superstar, the German version of theIdol franchise.
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| Year | Female Vocalist | Male Vocalist | Junior Vocalist | Vocal Group | Spokesmodel | Comedy | Dance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983–84 | Monica Pege | Sam Harris | Sawyer Brown | Tracey Ross | Brad Garrett | Mark & Laura Sellers | |
| 1984 | Shanice | ||||||
| 1985 | Catte Adams | Durell Coleman | Limited Warranty | Barbara Baan | John Kassir | The Williams Brothers | |
| 1986 | Peggi Blu[6] | Kenny James[6] | Tracie Spencer | Tchukon | Devin DeVasquez | Jenny Jones | Christopher and Snowy |
| 1987 | Cheryl Barnes | David Slater | Alisan Porter | The Kingpins | Theresa Ring | Mark McCollum | Eddie and Lisa |
| 1988 | Linda Eder | Victor Elijah Cook | Countess Vaughn | Cynthia Gouw | Al Lubel | The Boys Club | |
| 1989 | Dave Demay | Heather Medway | |||||
| 1990 | Angela Teek | Lisa Gentile (as Lisa Lambert) | Mad About Plaid | Debbie James | Michael Colyar | ||
| 1991 | Anita Whitaker | John Minnis | Moment of Silence | Symba Smith | Taylor Mason | New World | |
| 1992 | Britt Savage | Billy Porter | Blake McIver Ewing | Andrea Leithe | Felicia Michaels | Boys Back East | |
| 1993 | Beth Hart | Kelli Williams | Sandy Flynn | Vince Champ | |||
| 1994 | Greg Rowles[7] | Jim Tavaré | |||||
| 1995 | Colleen Ford | Mona Wyatt | |||||
| 2003 | Vickie Natale | Jake Simpson | Tiffany Evans | John Roy | Loni Love |
Steve Oedekerk appeared with Ed McMahon on a 1989 episode ofFull House, where characterJoey Gladstone scores a perfect 4 stars, tying Oedekerk, but loses the chance to continue after an audience vote breaks the tie.
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