Nashville Star

Did You Know?

• A Nashville Star-themed gifts and souvenirs shop opened in July 2008 at Nashville International Airport, one month before the show's final episode, and closed after over a decade.
• In 2006, Kenny Rogers appeared as a guest performer live on both American Idol and Nashville Star within two weeks of each other.

Show format

Finalists performed one song per week individually and faced criticism or praise from a panel of three judges. At the end of the show, voting opened to the viewing public, who cast votes by calling a toll-free telephone number or logging on to the show's official website; texting was added as a voting option in 2008. The performer with the fewest votes was eliminated. Because Nashville Star aired only once per week, eliminations were not announced until the following week. Finalists were called in random order to the stage one by one to perform until only two remained. At that point, one was called to perform and the other was eliminated for receiving the fewest votes from the previous week. No votes were tallied on the season finale. Judges offered criticism to sway the voting public but did not participate in preliminary auditions, leaving that task to the show's producers; they did act as mentors to the finalists beginning with the 2008 season. The audition process was not seen on-air on USA Network versions, except for the first season (2003 season), but portions of it were seen in a montage during the premiere of the NBC version. Beginning with the 2008 move to NBC, the judges did assist producers in narrowing the field from 50 to 12. Each season (except for 2005), the judges eliminated finalists based on consensus on the premiere episode without sending the vote to the public; the process continued for a few more episodes during the first two seasons. Unlike American Idol, Nashville Star finalists were usually already involved in the country music industry, including studio musicians, background singers, and independent artists. Finalists were usually songwriters in addition to being singers. In each season, one episode was dedicated to songs written by the finalists. Nashville Star did not have the same age limits as American Idol, and performers in their 30s and 40s were finalists, although most were in their 20s. Nashville Star always featured a live band, led by John Bohlinger.

Controversies

In 2004, Mal Rodgers was eliminated by the judges during one of the early rounds, despite being an obvious fan-favorite. At the taping, the audience loudly booed the decision to eliminate Rodgers, continuing after the show had gone off-air. For 2005, the elimination process was altered, completely removing the judges from the equation. The process was again altered in 2006, allowing judges to remove one finalist (two in 2007, back to one in 2008) on the premiere episode only before fans get the chance to vote. In 2005, finalist Tamika Tyler blamed producers for attempting to influence fans to vote against her, after she was voted off on an early-season episode. Tyler claimed that video clips of a confrontation between her and eventual winner Erika Jo concerning the difference in their ages were doctored and taken out of context. The show's producers refuted the claims; however, in 2006, the focus of the videos shifted from interactions between finalists to a behind-the-scenes look at each finalist preparing for his or her performance. During the fifth episode of the 2007 season, no finalist was eliminated. Host Jewel teased an elimination several times from the beginning of the episode, only to reveal at the very end that the previous week's show experienced 'technical difficulties' and the voting results were discarded. Neither USA Network nor Reveille Productions would comment publicly on the 'technical difficulties.' The winner of season 6 was supposed to perform at the closing ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, which was also shown on NBC in the U.S. However, that performance did not occur; no reason was ever given for the cancellation.

Season 5 (2007)

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