- For other uses, see 'Star Search
.
Star Search was a
television show that was produced from 1983
to 1995, hosted by
Ed McMahon, and
created by
Al Masini. A relaunch was
produced in 2002 - 2004.
The show was originally filmed at the old
Earl Carroll Theatre at 6230
Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood
and later at the Disney Hollywood
Studios
in Orlando, Florida.
Rules of original Star Search
On both the T.P.E./
Rysher
Entertainment and
2929
Productions version of the show, contestants competed in
several genres of entertainment. While categories varied slightly
from season to season, the seven basic categories were:
- Male Vocalist
- Female Vocalist
- Junior Vocalist (seasons vary, but has been part of the show
since the beginning)
- Vocal Group
- Spokesmodel
- Comedy
- Dance
Potential contestants audition to be on the show. If selected, they
will compete. In each category, two people compete, a champion and
a challenger. Usually the challenger performs first, while the
champion performs second. In later seasons, the champion performs
first.
All acts are judged by a panel of four judges, each judge can award
an act from one to four stars (later changed to five stars). Once
both acts are complete, Ed reveals the scores, best average wins.
If there is a tie, a studio audience vote breaks the tie in which
the results are revealed at the end of the show.
Any performer must win at least several shows in a row, dependent
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 compete in
that category the following week.
The rules for the Quarter and Semi Final shows are the same as
above, only random draw (or alphabetical order) determines who will
perform first. Note that scores are never revealed in the Quarter
or Semi Finals, and only the winners are announced.
The judges are removed for the Championship show, and the studio
audience votes for the winners. Winners of Male Vocalist, Female
Vocalist, Vocal Group, Comedy, and Dance are awarded $100,000 but
unlike American Idol, 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 winner
Sawyer Brown, first
season male vocalist champion
Sam
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 champion
Linda Eder, second
season junior male vocalist champion
Jimmy Salvemini, whose album was produced by
Luther Vandross, fourth season male
vocalist champion
David Slater, and
first season junior female vocalist runner-up
Tiffany, who despite not winning her
competition (she lost to
Melissa
Moultree) was the first Star Search alumnus to land a number
one hit,
I Think We're Alone
Now, in 1988 - on Star Search she performed as Tiffany Renee.
The winner of the Spokesmodel category is awarded $100,000 and a
contract with a well-known modeling agency. Winner of Junior
Vocalist (should the competition be held in that season) wins
$25,000.
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 that
Sam 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.
Remake
In the wake of
American Idol's success,
Arsenio Hall hosted a new version of
Star
Search, which ran for two years: 2003 and 2004 on CBS, before
ending up in reruns on cable channel
GSN for one
year from 2004 to 2005. This new version was judged by several
people, including
Ben Stein,
Naomi Judd, and McMahon himself. Among the
winners were singer
Tiffany Evans,
comedian
Loni Love and singer
Mark Mejia.
The revival consisted of four series. For the first series, the
categories were Adult and Junior Singer, Comedy, and Modeling. In
series two and three, Modeling was replaced with Dance. In the
final series, the Comedy category was scrapped altogether and only
the singing and dancing categories remained.
For the first three series, two new competitors faced off. The
three house judges, along with the one celebrity judge, gave each
contestant a score on a scale from 1 to 5 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 series
was that three people competed in the semi-final rounds, not two.
After the first two series, a special, "Battle of the Best" show
took place, where the two Adult Singer, Junior Singer, and Comedian
Grand Champions (Modeling was only the first season, and Dance had
only been around for one season) were brought back to face off for
an additional $100,000.
For the fourth and final series, 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 series. The show scrapped
the celebrity judge and had three house judges for the entire
series: Naomi Judd, MC Lyte, and Matti Leshem (who tried to berate
contestants as if he were Simon Cowell).
As in past series, two new contestants competed. With only three
judges, 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 series, 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.
- The Adult Singer group was the only group to record a complete
shutout. The three performers in the beginning were there in the
end as well.
- The free pass was equally important in the other two groups as
well. In both the Dance and Junior Singer categories, not only did
the free pass save the winner from being challenged in an
ever-changing Winner's Circle, but they ended up winning their
group finals (Junior Singer Mark Mejia
and Dancer Jon Cruz).
- Adult Singer and Series 1 champion Jake Simpson was challenged
a record four times during his tenure in the Winner's Circle. He
not only went a perfect 4-0, but he also won his group final. The
only match he lost that entire season was the Winner's Circle
Square-Off Special.
This remake lasted two years before its cancellation in April
2004.
CAT PAT OG JASS BASS ER ORDENLIG LÆKKER :D
Selected Star Search Winners
Notable competitors on Star Search
- Aaliyah, 1990 (Singer)
- Christina Aguilera, 1990
(Singer)
- Tatyana Ali (Singer; actress on
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air)
- David Archuleta, 2003 (Junior
Vocal Champion)
- Ashley Argota, 2003
- Spensha Baker 2004 (Junior Singer
Finalist)
- Garcelle Beauvais
(Spokesmodel)
- James Bonamy
- Bobbie Brown, 1987 (Spokesmodel,
13-time winner)
- Kimberly Caldwell (5-time
Junior Vocalist winner)
- Cynthia Gouw, 1988 (Spokesmodel
Winner, 3 time Emmy award winning TV anchor/reporter)
- Drew Carey (Comedian)
- Dave Chappelle (Comedian)
- Tim Christofore (1995 Winner)
- Destiny's Child, 1991 (Singers
as Girls Tyme)
- Jon "Do-Knock" Cruz (Member of
Super Cr3w, champions of America's Best Dance Crew
Season 2 )
- Billy Dean
- Diana DeGarmo (Singer)
- Tyce Diorio (So You Think You Can Dance
choreographer)
- Charles Divins (Male Spokesmodel
winner)
- Bill Engvall (Comedian)
- Elisa Fiorillo, 1983 (Female
Vocalist winner)
- Sutton Foster, 1990 (Singer)
- Tommy Gardner, 1991 (Junior
Vocalist Grand Champion)
- Brad Garrett 1984 (Comedian)
- Dana Gould, 1987 (Comedian)
- Ruben Gomez, 1986 (Junior Male
Vocalist), lead singer for Menudo
1987-1990
- Beth Hart, 1993 (Female Vocalist
winner)
- Ty Herndon
- Natalie Horler, 2004 (lead singer
of Cascada; appeared on the German version
of Star Search)
- Kent James, 1993 (as a part of the
music group Kent & the Kommotion)
- Kevin James (Comedian)
- Bill Kaulitz, 2003 (lead singer of
Tokio Hotel; appeared on the German
version of Star Search)
- Q'Orianka Kilcher, 2002
(Singer)
- Martin Lawrence (Comedian)
- Nick Lazzarini, 2003 (as a part
of the dance group Hot Under the Collar)
- Norm Macdonald
(Comedian)
- Jackie Martling (Comedian)
- Julie McCullough, 1987
(Spokesmodel)
- Pat McCurdy (Singer)
- Carlos Mencia, 1991
(Comedian)
- Vic Mignogna, 1993 (Singer)
- Dennis Miller (Comedian)
- Alanis Morissette, 1988
(Singer)
- Machel Montano, 1987
(International performing and recording artist)
- Vickie Natale, 2003 (Female
Vocalist winner)
- Rosie O'Donnell, 1984
(Comedian)
- Todd Berry, 1991 (Singer)
- Ken Ober
- Sophie Tamiko Oda
(Singer)
- Steve Oedekerk (Comedian)
- Ingo Oschmann, 2003 (Comedy
champion)
- Rissi Palmer (Singer)
- Janel Parrish, 2003 (Singer)
- Karina Pasian
- Rashaan Patterson
(Singer)
- Joey Pearson (Singer)
- Anna Maria Perez de
Tagle
- Alisan Porter, 1987 (Teen Dance
category)
- Reva Rice (Singer)
- LeAnn Rimes
- Ray Romano (Comedian)
- Tracey Ross, 1984 (Spokesmodel
winner)
- J. D.
Roth
- Bianca Ryan, 2004 (Singer)
- Adam Sandler (Comedian)
- Sawyer Brown, 1983 (Vocal Group
Champion)
- Lizette Santana, 1994
(Singer)
- Jessica Sierra (Singer)
- Jessica Simpson (Singer)
- Sinbad (Comedian)
- David Slater, 1987 (Male Vocalist
Champion)
- Britney Spears, 1992
(Singer)
- Tracie Spencer, 1987 (Female
Vocalist Champion)
- Sharon Stone, 1984
(Spokesmodel)
- Josh Strickland, 2004
(Singer)
- Marc Summers
- David Raleigh, 1990 (Singer,
songwriter, piano player)
- Támar, 2004 (Singer)
- The Boys, 1986 (Vocal
Group)
- Tiffany, 1985 (Singer, second
place finalist)
- Justin Timberlake, 1991
(Singer, as Justin Randall)
- Lisa Tucker, 2003
(Singer)
- Nadia Turner (Singer)
- Coors Light Twins (Diane Klimaszewski & Elaine Klimaszewski), 1987 (Teen Dance
category)
- Jordis Unga, 2004 (Singer)
- Usher (Singer)
- Phil Vassar, 1987 (Singer)
- Countess Vaughn, 1988 (Junior
Vocalist Champion)
- Joseph Williams
(Toto lead singer from 1986 - 1988)
- Shanice Wilson (Singer)
References
External links