.....Anyone else remember that cheeky snub on Will's song 'Stronger' from the Friday's Child album?
'you won first place, but you take second best'
'it only makes me stronger, when you say i cant do it,
i work that bit harder when you say its not within my grip,
the barriers i'll break em down,
i'll prove myself,
i'll stick around,
i'll get through all this somehow, nothing's unreachable''.[/QUOTE
]
The very first time I heard Stronger, I thought immediately that Will was "talking" to SC. And Will was as true as his word. Stronger is my favourite on Friday's Child - it has such power.
Just goes to show how Cowell made his millions by stealing other peoples ideas. Nina Myscow, Tony Hatch, Mickey Most,were far more honest and critical than he is .
Sometimes though I dont think Cowell gets his way with Britains Got Talent - I doubt he really wanted George Sampson or Diversity to win (Diversity were excellent IMO but I think Simon wanted SuBo). Pleased Jai won last year though
Spellbound were worthy winners too.
The very first time I heard Stronger, I thought immediately that Will was "talking" to SC. And Will was as true as his word. Stronger is my favourite on Friday's Child - it has such power.
I remember thinking exactly the same about it but Will didn't write Stronger so whether he recorded it because of the lyrics is unknown still.
I think Karen Poole had writing credits on it....could be mistaken after all this time of course.
I really enjoyed the programme last night and actually thought it was quite fairly portrayed. You saw Foxy saying he and Pete wanted Will to win and Simon and Nicki wanting Gareth to win, which was pretty much the way the whole country was. Virtually split down the middle. Much more has been made in the media about Simon's views but they could just as easily have picked up on Foxy's preferences. And to be honest I think Will should be thankful that he had the support of Foxy who after the show ended, had much more influence with the public through his Radio connections, than Simon who's opinions have always been frowned upon by most people.
Its interesting to see the opinions people formed of the lyrics in Stronger with regards Will, because I've always thought the same about the lyrics in the two songs Gareth wrote Face Myself and Something Right, which he wrote when he was out of the public eye for a few years. Reading between the lines on those songs, Gareth was going through a pretty hard time in his own life. If you get the chance to listen to them I'm sure you'll see what I mean. You'll have to search them out on YouTube though as they were not released to the public, just found tucked away by one of Gareth's fans.
Anyway, its all in the past now and I think both sets of fans are quite happy with the way the careers of their favourites are going. They are on totally diverse paths now, but both keeping extremely busy, so its all good.
I remember thinking exactly the same about it but Will didn't write Stronger so whether he recorded it because of the lyrics is unknown still.
I think Karen Poole had writing credits on it....could be mistaken after all this time of course.
LUNAGIRL
Steve Lipson/Karen Poole - just looked. You may very well be right about Will choosing the song because of the lyrics as they are so strong and referred so much to his life at, and just before, that time.
Loved seeing New Faces again and Nina recalling old memories of the show. Opportunity Knocks. Have to say watching clips from these two shows made Popstars, Poprivals and X Factor BGT, a load of untalented nobodies.
I enjoyed this and hoped that this first show was kind of an "overview" of talent shows and the next one will maybe look at the older ones in more detail.
I was a little surprised to hear Simons "we didn't like each other then and nothings changed comment", I would have thought he'd be more professional then that. I can't watch X-Factor anymore, but loved Pop Idol and Popstars.
Mixed feelings about this show. I did enjoy the stories they covered, especially the Pop Idol final which is coming up to its 10th anniversary. No other final has ever captured that sense of occasion. I still get goosepimples when Ant goes all serious about to announce the winner!
It was hardly "The Talent Show Story" though, just some interesting anecdotes about things that happened in talent shows. I'd like some historical context about how new talent was discovered in the 50s and 60s and why the format fell out of favour during the 80s and 90s.
As it is, this has the danger of becoming just a puff piece for Simon Cowell. Even the New Faces segment couldn't resist comparing him to Nina Miskow! He did show his petulance with his comments about Will but I don't think he begrudges him his success. It's more that he can't handle being proved wrong. If he'd known during the series that Will was winning most weeks (6 out of 9, Gareth won the other 3) he'd have soon changed his tune and hailed Will as a genius.
1st BIB They missed out Carol Leviss. I remember listening to The Carol Leviss Discoveries Show on the radio, and he also toured UK theatres auditioning - but I don't expect there will be any tape available for that. But you never know what might turn up in the remaining episodes!
2nd BIB -Spot on! This is exactly Cowell's problem - it has to be his way or major sulks - his treatment of Will was shameful. :mad:
3rd BIB - er no, Simon had decided on Gareth as the winner from the start and promoted him shamefully. I suspect his hate of Will stemmed from his popularity and being a danger to Cowell's plans.
Sometimes though I dont think Cowell gets his way with Britains Got Talent - I doubt he really wanted George Sampson or Diversity to win (Diversity were excellent IMO but I think Simon wanted SuBo). Pleased Jai won last year though
Spellbound were worthy winners too.
LOL Simon ALWAYS gets his own way! I was amazed that George Sampson won that series, but Cowell gave him tremendous support. There are times when Cowell knows he can exert his power and make someone, anyone, a star, and my feelings are that on this occasion he saw a nice, young reasonably talented lad and decided to make him a star. It also flew in the face of his critics who were saying that he was biased towards singers. George was talented but personally, I didn't think he was the best.
LOL Simon ALWAYS gets his own way! I was amazed that George Sampson won that series, but Cowell gave him tremendous support. There are times when Cowell knows he can exert his power and make someone, anyone, a star, and my feelings are that on this occasion he saw a nice, young reasonably talented lad and decided to make him a star. It also flew in the face of his critics who were saying that he was biased towards singers. George was talented but personally, I didn't think he was the best.
Like you say Daisydee, when it suits! There was a time when he couldn't help getting visibly irritated by anyone under 16, usually calling them "precocious!"
I have a running joke with people, by always saying 'kerching' when I spot the £ signs in SC's eyes as soon as a pretty young lad or lass with a passable voice walks on stage in auditions. I had him sussed from early on when Pop Idol started and he first saw Gareth, I said it first then.
Gareth is talented enough to have had a reasonable career, but I always thought that Will was more talented, and I still do. I've seen him live about 5 times now since Pop Idol and I'll never regret voting for him to win. He was the right choice in my eyes.
I'm surprised that it still rankles Cowell after all this time, but I suppose I shouldn't be.:D
Just watched this on catch up, brought back a lot of memories, and reminded me that no one has matched up to Will on these shows. But I still love them and have tickets to see Matt Cardle in March!
Just watched it - brought back a lot of memories. I've heard that great bit of trivia before that Will Young was the last person on the very last day of auditions. Pop Idol was far superior to the likes of X Factor.
Did anyone spot Natalie Anderson (Emmerdale) in one of the Pop Idol clips? :cool:
Why wouldn't Simon know who was ahead in a show he appeared on?
They didn't announce the voting pattern until quite a while after the show. Anyway Simon was only a judge and had nothing to do with the production for Pop Idol. It was Simon Fuller's creation.
1. No mention of Fame Academy, i know it's BBC but thats just wrong! it should be covered in this story at some point. It's not about ITV talent shows or is it! they always love to promote themselves,or Cowell's too bitter to include them.
Well an episode and a bit in, and it gets mentioned. As Simon's idea for BGT.
This show isn't very good. Typical ITV. Shame Wood has lent her voice to it.
Only thing it's done is remind me how much I dislike Cowell, Morgan , Holden, Fox and that uber cock Pete Waterman.
It's basically a Cowell love in and will rewrite history to make him into some sort of intellectual powerhouse full of cunning moves and insightfulness. He got lucky.
Cowell is so full of botox these days he can hardly move any part of his face. Hilarious that in those old clips from 10/20 years ago he had more wrinkles than he does now.
It's not supposed to be a strict 'historical' look back at every single talent show known to man.
And to be honest, Fame Academy was a bit of a failure, let's be honest. It's no longer on air for a reason.
Last night's show was really interesting.
I'd never seen the unaired Britain's Got Talent pilot show before, with Cowell and Morgan with Fearn Britton. It was really funny to see the show looking really cheap, even though it was taped back in 2004. I also thought the footage of Lenny Henry's first ever tv appearance on New Faces (which had never been aired since 1973 and is footage only recently found) was really interesting too.
You could also see how Cowell has modelled himself on someone like Tony Hatch as a judge.
Really enjoying this show. It's alright people saying it is a Cowell love-in, but you simply cannot ignore the fact that he has largely been the driving force behind the talent show renaissance in both the U.S. and the U.K. in the last 10 years. He's a major part of tv history now.
It's not supposed to be a strict 'historical' look back at every single talent show known to man.
Nope just giving lots o the history of the ITV talent shows
And to be honest, Fame Academy was a bit of a failure, let's be honest. It's no longer on air for a reason.
And the reson they keep avoiding the successful Opportunity Knocks hosted by Bob Monkhouse and Les Dawson which combined ran for four years
Last night's show was really interesting.
I'd never seen the unaired Britain's Got Talent pilot show before, with Cowell and Morgan with Fearn Britton. It was really funny to see the show looking really cheap, even though it was taped back in 2004. I also thought the footage of Lenny Henry's first ever tv appearance on New Faces (which had never been aired since 1973 and is footage only recently found) was really interesting too.
You could also see how Cowell has modelled himself on someone like Tony Hatch as a judge.
Really enjoying this show. It's alright people saying it is a Cowell love-in, but you simply cannot ignore the fact that he has largely been the driving force behind the talent show renaissance in both the U.S. and the U.K. in the last 10 years. He's a major part of tv history now.
It's also interesting how they so far ar failing to say how few long term successful acts Cowel has discovered compared to say Opportunity Knocks and New Faces.
This series is Ok but it is very Simon Cowell heavy. 30 years on the likes of Lenny Henry, Pam Ayres, Bonnie Langford, Frank Carson, Su Pollard, Paul Daniels, Booby Crush and others are still going. I wonder if the same will be said of Cowell's amazing talented finds in 25-30 years time?
Nope just giving lots o the history of the ITV talent shows
It's also interesting how they so far ar failing to say how few long term successful acts Cowel has discovered compared to say Opportunity Knocks and New Faces.
This series is Ok but it is very Simon Cowell heavy. 30 years on the likes of Lenny Henry, Pam Ayres, Bonnie Langford, Frank Carson, Su Pollard, Paul Daniels, Booby Crush and others are still going. I wonder if the same will be said of Cowell's amazing talented finds in 25-30 years time?
^^^
This!
I thought the New Faces part of last night's episode was fascinating. Far more so than the part where they talked about crap talent show auditionees and the part where everyone waxed lyrical about Simon Cowell.
Next week looks promising with its focus on Opportunity Knocks (which had postal voting...I wonder if people bought job lots of postcards so they could multi-vote?:D ) and the smarmy Hughie Green (who makes Simon Cowell look honest and genuine!:D).
I hope we get to see some other talent shows being covered in the series e.g. Fame Academy and the BBC Casting shows, which broke new ground with their searches for West End Leads. Simon Cowell was involved with the one ITV attempt at a Casting show (for a Danny and Sandy in Grease) - I wonder if that one will get a mention?
Comments
Spellbound were worthy winners too.
Its interesting to see the opinions people formed of the lyrics in Stronger with regards Will, because I've always thought the same about the lyrics in the two songs Gareth wrote Face Myself and Something Right, which he wrote when he was out of the public eye for a few years. Reading between the lines on those songs, Gareth was going through a pretty hard time in his own life. If you get the chance to listen to them I'm sure you'll see what I mean. You'll have to search them out on YouTube though as they were not released to the public, just found tucked away by one of Gareth's fans.
Anyway, its all in the past now and I think both sets of fans are quite happy with the way the careers of their favourites are going. They are on totally diverse paths now, but both keeping extremely busy, so its all good.
I was a little surprised to hear Simons "we didn't like each other then and nothings changed comment", I would have thought he'd be more professional then that. I can't watch X-Factor anymore, but loved Pop Idol and Popstars.
1st BIB They missed out Carol Leviss. I remember listening to The Carol Leviss Discoveries Show on the radio, and he also toured UK theatres auditioning - but I don't expect there will be any tape available for that. But you never know what might turn up in the remaining episodes!
2nd BIB -Spot on! This is exactly Cowell's problem - it has to be his way or major sulks - his treatment of Will was shameful. :mad:
3rd BIB - er no, Simon had decided on Gareth as the winner from the start and promoted him shamefully. I suspect his hate of Will stemmed from his popularity and being a danger to Cowell's plans.
LOL Simon ALWAYS gets his own way! I was amazed that George Sampson won that series, but Cowell gave him tremendous support. There are times when Cowell knows he can exert his power and make someone, anyone, a star, and my feelings are that on this occasion he saw a nice, young reasonably talented lad and decided to make him a star. It also flew in the face of his critics who were saying that he was biased towards singers. George was talented but personally, I didn't think he was the best.
Like you say Daisydee, when it suits! There was a time when he couldn't help getting visibly irritated by anyone under 16, usually calling them "precocious!"
Gareth is talented enough to have had a reasonable career, but I always thought that Will was more talented, and I still do. I've seen him live about 5 times now since Pop Idol and I'll never regret voting for him to win. He was the right choice in my eyes.
I'm surprised that it still rankles Cowell after all this time, but I suppose I shouldn't be.:D
Did anyone spot Natalie Anderson (Emmerdale) in one of the Pop Idol clips? :cool:
They didn't announce the voting pattern until quite a while after the show. Anyway Simon was only a judge and had nothing to do with the production for Pop Idol. It was Simon Fuller's creation.
Well an episode and a bit in, and it gets mentioned. As Simon's idea for BGT.
Only thing it's done is remind me how much I dislike Cowell, Morgan , Holden, Fox and that uber cock Pete Waterman.
It's basically a Cowell love in and will rewrite history to make him into some sort of intellectual powerhouse full of cunning moves and insightfulness. He got lucky.
And to be honest, Fame Academy was a bit of a failure, let's be honest. It's no longer on air for a reason.
Last night's show was really interesting.
I'd never seen the unaired Britain's Got Talent pilot show before, with Cowell and Morgan with Fearn Britton. It was really funny to see the show looking really cheap, even though it was taped back in 2004. I also thought the footage of Lenny Henry's first ever tv appearance on New Faces (which had never been aired since 1973 and is footage only recently found) was really interesting too.
You could also see how Cowell has modelled himself on someone like Tony Hatch as a judge.
Really enjoying this show. It's alright people saying it is a Cowell love-in, but you simply cannot ignore the fact that he has largely been the driving force behind the talent show renaissance in both the U.S. and the U.K. in the last 10 years. He's a major part of tv history now.
Nope just giving lots o the history of the ITV talent shows
And the reson they keep avoiding the successful Opportunity Knocks hosted by Bob Monkhouse and Les Dawson which combined ran for four years
It's also interesting how they so far ar failing to say how few long term successful acts Cowel has discovered compared to say Opportunity Knocks and New Faces.
This series is Ok but it is very Simon Cowell heavy. 30 years on the likes of Lenny Henry, Pam Ayres, Bonnie Langford, Frank Carson, Su Pollard, Paul Daniels, Booby Crush and others are still going. I wonder if the same will be said of Cowell's amazing talented finds in 25-30 years time?
^^^
This!
I thought the New Faces part of last night's episode was fascinating. Far more so than the part where they talked about crap talent show auditionees and the part where everyone waxed lyrical about Simon Cowell.
Next week looks promising with its focus on Opportunity Knocks (which had postal voting...I wonder if people bought job lots of postcards so they could multi-vote?:D ) and the smarmy Hughie Green (who makes Simon Cowell look honest and genuine!:D).
I hope we get to see some other talent shows being covered in the series e.g. Fame Academy and the BBC Casting shows, which broke new ground with their searches for West End Leads. Simon Cowell was involved with the one ITV attempt at a Casting show (for a Danny and Sandy in Grease) - I wonder if that one will get a mention?