“American Idol” pulled out all the stops Thursday for its series finale.
“Perfomances” was the word of the night with many of the reality competition’s alumni returning to take to the stage. Inside the Dolby Theatre, the two-hour broadcast had the feel of a festive funeral, with audience members hyper-aware that they’re attending the show’s final act.
Season 1 winner Kelly Clarkson pre-recorded a medley of some of her biggest hits, because she is near to giving birth to her second child. Country superstar and Season 4 winner Carrie Underwood performed with one of this season’s judges, Keith Urban.
And Urban wasn’t the only judge to get his groove on: Jennifer Lopez used the finale as an opportunity to debut her new single, “Ain’t Your Mama,” before launching into what appeared to be a mini-version of her “All I Have” Las Vegas show.
The show opened with President Barack Obama using the audience votes on “Idol” to point out the need to register to vote.
“Not all of us can sing like Kelly Clarkson but all of our voices matter,” the President said while encouraging folks to head over to Vote.gov to register. “This show reached historic heights not only because Americans watched it, but because you participated in its success.”
That was followed by blasts from the past including host Brian Dunkleman who famously left the show after the first season as well as a bevy of former contestants who performed.
Longtime fans of the show who lucked into tickets sat among past contestants and Hollywood executives and shared their disappointment about the end. In a nod to the show’s importance to the Fox network, 21st Century Fox executive chairman Rupert Murdoch attended the finale with his new bride, Jerry Hall.
The show is ending after 15 seasons, juggernaut ratings (which fell off in recent years), thousands of aspiring superstars and way too many covers of Whitney Houston songs.
On Wednesday night, La’Porsha Renae and Trent Harmon were named as the final contestants for the title of “American Idol.”
Thursday night’s send-off is, without a doubt, a historic moment for television.
“Idol” was a shining star, more popular than any other regularly scheduled American TV series since the turn of the century.
It smothered the competition. It changed the Fox network’s fortunes and spawned countless competitors and ripoffs around the world. In TV, that’s magic.
Even today, “Idol” is a force to be reckoned with. Part one of the finale on Wednesday averaged 10 million viewers, impressive by 2016 standards but still a reminder of how far it’s fallen. A decade ago, “Idol” drew 20 million, 30 million, even 40 million viewers.
Fox set out to try to and recapture some of the magic by bringing back the two biggest stars in the show’s history, Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood, along with several dozen other contestants.
The broadcast was held at the same Hollywood theater where Clarkson was crowned the winner at the end of season 1, in the summer of 2002.
Originally hosted by Dunkleman and Ryan Seacrest, “Idol” went on to become a part of the pop culture zeitgeist. It was a celeb-making machine for many of those connected to it, including Seacrest, who was made the solo host after the first season.
Kieran Healy, the show’s lighting director since the very beginning, said he’s been dreading the finale.
“When Ryan says ‘Dim the lights’ for the last time, I’ll probably be quite choked up,” Healy said.
And he won’t be alone.
Fans around the world took to social media to mourn the end of the “Idol” era.
So why is “Idol” ending now? Because it kept getting more and more expensive to produce while reaching fewer and fewer people. Fox has wagered that retiring the brand makes more sense than trying to keep it going.
People associated with the show admit that the time feels right for a series finale.
And yet some of them are confident this is just a break.
The show’s creator, Simon Fuller, is already plotting a comeback, telling The Hollywood Reporter that the next iteration will feel more “interactive” and have a “youthful glow.”
” ‘Idol’ will certainly be coming back, for sure,” he said.