Canadian Idol Top 10 Return in Live, Two-Hour Season Finale This Thursday on CTV
— Kalan Porter and Theresa Sokyrka compete one last time tomorrow night —
Toronto, Ontario (September 14, 2004) – It’s the biggest show yet. After thousands of auditions, months of eliminations and tens of millions of votes, television’s most-watched program concludes in dramatic style Thursday night on CTV. In a live, two-hour spectacular, either Kalan Porter or Theresa Sokyrka will be crowned as the next Canadian Idol. Airing live Thursday, Sept. 16 at 8 p.m. ET (tape delayed in British Columbia and Alberta), the season finale features the return of the Canadian Idol Top 10, the debut of a brand new song by Canadian Idol winner Ryan Malcolm, and the results of tomorrow night’s massive vote to determine the winner of the competition.
With almost three million viewers, last Thursday’s results show was the most-watched episode ever for Canadian Idol, save for last year’s finale. BBM reports that over 2.9 million viewers (2 ) tuned in to see Jacob Hoggard eliminated from the competition.*
On tomorrow night’s final performance show, airing Wednesday, Sept. 15 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CTV, the remaining two finalists will duke it out one last time in competition. Porter and Sokyrka will both sing three songs each: a new song of their own choosing; their favourite song already performed in the competition; and “Awake in a Dream,” a brand new ballad written exclusively for the winner of the competition.
Following the show, Canadians from across the country will take to the phones for what is expected to be the largest mass telephone voting event in Canadian history. Already 28.5 million votes have been logged in the competition, surpassing last year’s total by 40 per cent with millions more expected tomorrow night.
On Thursday night’s results show, Porter and Sokyrka will be reunited with the remaining Top 10 Canadian Idol finalists who return to the stage for several group numbers. Among the highlights of Thursday’s show:
– Canadian Idol will go live several times to the hometowns of Porter and Sokyrka. CTV’s Barb Higgins will report live from Medicine Hat while CTV’s Jeff Rogstad will report live from Saskatoon. Four thousand people are expected to crowd into the Medicine Hat Arena to cheer on Porter while up to 10,000 are expected at Saskatoon’s Credit Union Centre to show support for Sokyrka.
– Porter and Sokyrka will perform a duet together – Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colours” – as well as two solos: “Born to be Wild” (Porter) and “Cruisin'” (Sokyrka).
– The Top 10 will perform several group numbers: “Share the Land” by the Guess Who; a brand new medley of Canadian hits featuring songs by Shania Twain, Nelly Furtado, Blue Rodeo, Gordon Lightfoot and The Band; and a brand
new medley of rock and British Invasion hits, including songs by Elvis Presley, Squeeze, Dusty Springfield, Queen / David Bowie and Eurythmics /
Aretha Franklin.
– The Top 8, minus Porter and Sokyrka, will perform a “Greatest Moments” medley – a reprise of songs they performed in competition.
Ryan Malcolm returns to the stage that crowned him the first Canadian Idol winner. Backed by a live, four-piece band, Malcolm will perform his brand new song “Falling” from his upcoming sophomore album.
After the results are announced by host Ben Mulroney, the winner will once again sing “Awake in a Dream.” Written by R. Gayle, C. Perry & A. Alexander, “Awake in a Dream” will be released to radio stations moments after the new Idol is crowned. The single will be released commercially in October by BMG Canada Inc. Last year’s single, Ryan Malcolm’s “Something More,” sold more copies in its first week than any other artist did in any other week for the entire year. It remained at the top of Canada’s Singles Chart for 13 straight weeks and was on the chart for over seven months.
At a media conference following the show, the winner will sign a recording contract with BMG Canada Inc. Next week, the winner will begin recording their debut album, which will be released by BMG in November.
Canadian Idol is produced in association with CTV by Insight Productions, along with Atlantic Canada-based Rink Rat Productions and Alberta-based Aquila Productions. John Brunton and Barbara Bowlby are Executive Producers. Ed Robinson is Senior Vice-President, Comedy, Variety and Talk, CTV Inc. Rick Lewchuk is Senior Vice-President, Program Planning and Promotion, CTV Inc. Susanne Boyce is CTV President of Programming and Chair of the Media Group.
L’Oreal Paris is a major broadcast sponsor of Canadian Idol. L’Oreal Paris is a division of L’Oreal Canada, the leader in the Canadian cosmetics market. A wholly owned subsidiary of L’Oreal Group, the world’s leading cosmetics company, L’Oreal offers its customers a wide range of choices with its diverse portfolio of brands and encompasses all aspects of beauty.
FremantleMedia, formerly known as Pearson Television, is one of the largest international producers of entertainment programmes in the world, producing more than 260 programmes in over 40 territories a year. FremantleMedia’s international distribution division distributes more than 19,000 hours of programmes to 150 countries worldwide. FremantleMedia is the con10t business production arm of the RTL Group, Europe’s largest television and radio broadcast company, with interest in 23 television channels and 22 radio stations in nine European countries. RTL Group is part of Bertelsmann AG, an integrated media and entertainment company that commands leading positions in the world’s major media markets. For further information please see
FremantleMedia’s website www.fremantlemedia.com
CTV, Canada’s largest private broadcaster, offers a wide range of quality news, sports, information, and entertainment programming. It boasts the number-one national newscast, CTV News With Lloyd Robertson, and is the number-one choice for prime-time viewing. CTV owns 21 conventional television stations across Canada and has interests in 14 specialty channels, including the number-one Canadian specialty channel, TSN. CTV is owned by Bell Globemedia, Canada’s premier multi-media company. More
information about CTV may be found on the company Web site at www.ctv.ca.
Visit the Canadian Idol Web site at www.idol.ctv.ca
*Source: All audience numbers quoted reflect national average-minute
audiences as provided by BBM.
