American Idol

Season 19 M-Net (*101) 19:30 Reality

Until 2020, having a live audience in studio was the norm for reality talent shows like American Idol (2002-now). But then COVID-19 struck and not only put a halt on filming, it forced shows to re-think filming in a world under attack by a viral pandemic. “We were unable to do live auditions, which is actually a blessing,” says pop star judge Katy Perry (2020 album Smile). “We’ve opened up the auditions to the entire country and we’ve been receiving virtual auditions since August 2020.”

It’s not just the audition phase that has been affected by COVID – Katy and her co-judges Lionel Richie (2012 pop album Tuskegee) and Luke Bryan (2020 country album Born Here Live Here Die Here), along with long-time host Ryan Seacrest are forced to social distance, which Katy says is weird, “Because we are so far apart. We’re needing to shout to communicate. It’s the new norm, but at least we’re not separated in our own little perspex cubicles,” adds the singer who guest judged on cooking show MasterChef Australia (2009-now) in season 12 (2020). The show has added extra safety precautions to filming, with the crew being sanitised multiple times during each day. “We’re allowed on set for a lot less time than in previous seasons and we’re taken care of – our production team have made sure that we are safe at all times,” adds Katy.

As for the quality of judging wannabe singers on video, that has added to the appeal of the show, adds the judge. “Our tech guys and sound specialists got together to make custom-designed Zoom video-conferencing software. It’s a change for live auditions, but we’ve levelled the playing field,” says Katy.