Simon Cowell is Leaving Idol

Paula Abdul, we could handle. But Simon Cowell?!

American Idol could be one season away from jumping the shark as evidence continues to mount that the show’s signature barb slinger is preparing to bail.

Cowell’s own brother, Tony, is the latest harbinger of doom for Fox’s singing contest, announcing in his podcast, The Cowell Factor, that his little sibling is as good as gone.

“A press statement is being prepared which will confirm what everybody expected: Simon will leave Idolat the end of 2010 to concentrate on bringing the American version of X Factor to U.S. TV in 2011,” Tony says in this week’s installment.

The X Factor is Simon Cowell’s hit U.K. series that, like Idol, uses viewer votes to find new singing talent, most notably Leona Lewis. It even led to a legal battle between Cowell and Idol producer Simon Fullerthat was eventually settled.

Full Story.

Social media-powered show to hit Web

Simon Fuller's New Reality Show Online

VatorNews – Social media-powered show to hit Web.

This sort of project was bound to happen – a show that will make use of the real-time Web and social media, completely bypassing television but incorporating the traditional narrative and storytelling style we have grown so accustomed to consuming on traditional TV.

If I Can Dream was thought up by the Simon Fuller, who created the hit television show American Idol.  It will be supported by Pepsi and Ford.  The show will follow the lives of five aspiring actors and musicians who will set out to try and make it in Hollywood.  Sounds like a typical story we’re familiar with, but where it differs will be in its use of social media and the real-time Web. (Read more…)