''Star Search'' was an American
television show
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed betw ...
that was produced by T.P.E./
Rysher Entertainment from 1983 to 1995, hosted by
Ed McMahon
Edward Leo Peter McMahon Jr. (March 6, 1923 – June 23, 2009) was an American announcer, game show host, comedian, actor, singer, and combat aviator. McMahon and Johnny Carson began their association in their first TV series, the ABC game sh ...
, and created by
Al Masini
Alfred Michael Masini (January 5, 1930 – November 29, 2010) was an American television producer.
Life and career Early life and education
Al Masini was born in Jersey City, New Jersey. Raised by his widowed mother, Masini started working afte ...
. A relaunch was produced by
2929 Productions from 2003 to 2004. On both versions of the show, contestants competed in several genres of entertainment. The show was originally filmed at the
Earl Carroll Theatre
The Earl Carroll Theatre was a Broadway theatre at 753 Seventh Avenue near 50th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Built by impresario Earl Carroll and designed by architect George Keister, it opened on Feb ...
at 6230 Sunset Blvd. in
Hollywood and later at the
Disney-MGM Studios
Disney's Hollywood Studios is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division. Based on a concept by ...
in Orlando, Florida.
1983–1995 version
While categories varied slightly from season to season, the ten basic categories during the 1983–1995 version were:
* Female singer
* Male singer
* Junior singer (Second half of the season)
* Teen singer (First half of the season)
* Group vocal
* Dance
* Junior dance (First half of the season)
* Teen dance (Second half of the season)
* Spokesmodel
* Comedy
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 winner
Sawyer Brown
Sawyer Brown is an American country music band. It was founded in 1981 in Apopka, Florida, by Mark Miller (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Gregg "Hobie" Hubbard (keyboards, vocals), Bobby Randall (lead guitar, vocals), Joe "Curly" Smyth (drums), and ...
, first season male vocalist champion
Sam Harris
Samuel Benjamin Harris (born April 9, 1967) is an American philosopher, neuroscientist, author, and podcast host. His work touches on a range of topics, including rationality, religion, ethics, free will, neuroscience, meditation, psychedelics ...
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
Linda Eder (; born February 3, 1961) is an American singer and actress. She made her Broadway debut in the musical '' Jekyll & Hyde'', originating the role of Lucy Harris, for which she was nominated for the Drama Desk Award. Eder has performe ...
, second season junior male vocalist champion Jimmy Salvemini, whose album was produced by
Luther Vandross, fourth season male vocalist champion
David Slater
David Slater (born November 22, 1962) is an American singer and songwriter.
Career
Slater was the male vocalist champion on TV's ''Star Search'' in 1987. Slater then signed a recording contract with Capitol Records and launched a country mus ...
, and third season junior female vocalist runner-up
Tiffany. Despite not winning her competition (she lost to Melissa Moultrie), Tiffany, performing as 'Tiffany Renee,' was the first ''Star Search'' alumna to land a #1 hit, with her cover of the Top 5
Tommy James and the Shondells
Tommy James and the Shondells are an American pop rock/psychedelic rock band, formed in Niles, Michigan, in 1964. They had two No. 1 singles in the U.S. – " Hanky Panky" (July 1966, their only RIAA Certified Gold record) and "Crimson and Clo ...
hit "
I Think We're Alone Now
"I Think We're Alone Now" is a song written and composed by Ritchie Cordell that was first recorded by Tommy James and the Shondells. It was a major hit for group, reaching number 4 on the US Hot 100 in April 1967. It finished at No. 12 on '' B ...
" —actually improving on the original single's chart performance. The winner of the Spokesmodel category was awarded $100,000 and a contract with a well-known modeling agency. The first Spokesmodel winner was
Tracey Ross
Linda Tracey Ross (born February 27, 1959) is an American television actress, known for her role as Eve Russell on the NBC daytime soap opera, ''Passions'' (1999–2008).
Life and career
Ross was born in Brooklyn, New York, and attended Dwight ...
, who later became a leading actress on the soap opera ''
Passions
''Passions'' is an American television soap opera that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1999, to September 7, 2007, and on DirecTV's The 101 Network from September 17, 2007, to August 7, 2008. Created by screenwriter James E. Reilly and ...
''. 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 that
Sam Harris
Samuel Benjamin Harris (born April 9, 1967) is an American philosopher, neuroscientist, author, and podcast host. His work touches on a range of topics, including rationality, religion, ethics, free will, neuroscience, meditation, psychedelics ...
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 mid-season.
Former
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
veejay
Martha Quinn
Martha Conrad Quinn (born May 11, 1959) is an American actress and Radio personality, radio and television personality, best known as one of the original video jockeys on MTV (along with Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter (VJ), Alan Hunter ...
joined the series as co-host for the 1994–95 season, judging the musical groups competition.
''Star Search'' was typically syndicated on
Fox Television Stations
Fox Television Stations, LLC (FTS; alternately Fox Television Stations Group, LLC), is a group of television stations located within the United States, which are owned-and-operated by the Fox Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of the Fox Co ...
(before October 1986,
Metromedia, Inc.), stations owned by the
Gaylord Broadcasting Co., stations owned by
Taft Broadcasting
The Taft Broadcasting Company (also known as Taft Television and Radio Company, Incorporated) was an American media conglomerate based in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The company was rooted in the family of William Howard Taft, the 27th President of the Un ...
, and stations owned by
Cox Communications
Cox Communications, Inc. (also known as Cox Cable and formerly Cox Broadcasting Corporation, Dimension Cable Services and Times-Mirror Cable) is an American digital cable television provider, telecommunications and home automation services. It i ...
.
2003–2004 version
In the wake of ''
American Idol
''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...
''s success,
Arsenio Hall
Arsenio Hall (born February 12, 1956) is an American comedian, actor and talk show host. He hosted the late-night talk show, ''The Arsenio Hall Show'', from 1989 until 1994, and again from 2013 to 2014.
He has appeared in ''Martial Law'', '' Com ...
hosted a new version of ''Star Search'', which ran from 2003 to 2004 on CBS. It would be rerun on
GSN from 2004 to 2005. This new version was judged by four panelists, including
Ben Stein,
Naomi Judd
Naomi Judd (born Diana Ellen Judd; January 11, 1946 – April 30, 2022) was an American singer and actress. In 1980, she and her daughter Wynonna (born Christina Claire) formed the duo known as The Judds, which became a very successful country ...
,
Ahmet Zappa
Ahmet Emuukha Rodan Zappa (born May 15, 1974) is an American musician and writer, and trustee of the Zappa Family Trust.
Early life
Ahmet Zappa was born in Los Angeles, California, the third of four children born to musician Frank Zappa and b ...
and a rotating celebrity panelist (which in at least one case was McMahon himself). Among the winners were singer
Tiffany Evans
Tiffany Evans (born August 4, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Evans rose to fame in 2003 as a contestant on ''Star Search'' (hosted by Arsenio Hall), she became the first contestant in ''Star Search'' history to earn a perfe ...
, 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
Naomi Judd (born Diana Ellen Judd; January 11, 1946 – April 30, 2022) was an American singer and actress. In 1980, she and her daughter Wynonna (born Christina Claire) formed the duo known as The Judds, which became a very successful country ...
,
MC Lyte
Lana Michele Moorer (born October 11, 1970), better known by her stage name MC Lyte, is an American rapper, DJ, actress and entrepreneur. Considered one of the pioneers of female rap, Lyte first gained fame in the late 1980s, becoming the first ...
, and Matti Leshem (who tried to berate contestants as
Simon Cowell
Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality, entrepreneur and record executive. He is the creator of ''The X Factor'' and ''Got Talent'' franchises which have been sold around the world. He has judged on t ...
was doing at the time on ''
American Idol
''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...
'').
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.
* 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 season 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.
At the same time, a
spin-off called ''Star Search – Das Duell der Stars von Morgen'' was produced and aired in Germany, but with less success than the more popular show ''
Deutschland sucht den Superstar
''Deutschland sucht den Superstar'' (''DSDS''; "Germany is looking for the Superstar") is a German reality talent show. Part of the ''Idol'' franchise, it was created by British media mogul Simon Fuller as a spin-off from the British show ''P ...
'', the German version of the ''
Idol
Idol or Idols may refer to:
Religion and philosophy
* Cult image, a neutral term for a man-made object that is worshipped or venerated for the deity, spirit or demon that it embodies or represents
* Murti, a point of focus for devotion or medit ...
'' franchise.
Notable competitors
Competition winners
Other performers
In popular culture
Steve Oedekerk appeared with Ed McMahon on a 1989 episode of ''
Full House
''Full House'' is an American television sitcom created by Jeff Franklin for ABC. The show is about widowed father Danny Tanner who enlists his brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis and childhood best friend Joey Gladstone to help raise his three dau ...
'', where character
Joey Gladstone
The American television sitcom ''Full House'' ran for eight seasons on ABC from September 22, 1987, to May 23, 1995. Its sequel series '' Fuller House'' followed 21 years later, airing on Netflix, beginning February 26, 2016; the two parts of ...
scores a perfect 4 stars, tying Oedekerk, but loses the chance to continue after an audience vote breaks the tie.
References
External links
''Star Search'' at the National Film and Sound Archive of AustraliaOfficial Website (CBS Version, via Internet Archive)*
{{Operation Prime Time
1980s American reality television series
1990s American reality television series
2000s American reality television series
CBS original programming
First-run syndicated television programs in the United States
Singing talent shows
Music competitions in the United States
Talent shows
Television series by Metromedia
American television series revived after cancellation
Television series by CBS Studios
1983 American television series debuts
2003 American television series debuts
1995 American television series endings
2004 American television series endings
English-language television shows
Television series created by Al Masini
Operation Prime Time