Canadian Idol

Canadian spin-off the British series Pop Idol, which debuted on the CTV channel in 2003, one year after the launch of American Idol. Ran for six years until after the 2008 season, when The Powers That Be announced the show would be taking a hiatus due to the current economic crisis. Needless to say, some fans were a bit upset...


 * Ambiguously Gay - some contestants more than others...
 * Christmas Songs - season one winner Ryan Malcolm appeared in the American Idol Christmas special, and season six winner Theo Tams has recorded three such tracks for charity.
 * Commercial Break Cliffhanger - subverted for one season finale.
 * Compassionate Critic - judges Jake Gold, and to a somewhat less compassionate extent, Zack Werner.
 * Crowning Moment of Awesome - some consider Jacob Hoggard's cover of "Space Oddity" the best moment on any Idol show ever.
 * Also from Season 2, Canadian Railroad Trilogy.
 * Elimination Houdini - closely followed by the...
 * Elimination Statement
 * Estrogen Brigade - most fans are female, contestants with the biggest support are mostly male.
 * Executive Meddling - rumors abound that some semi-finalist contestants were eliminated even if they didn't have the lowest number of votes.
 * Fan Community Nicknames - often generated on the official message board.
 * Filler
 * Film At Eleven - The early episodes, with their "coming up next" clips before each commercial.
 * Heterosexual Life Partners - host Ben Mulroney and co-host Jon Dore, until Dore left after 2005 to resume his stand-up career.
 * Hopeless Auditionees
 * Ho Yay - usually in the form of deep man-to-man hugs after a Shocking Elimination.
 * Idol Singer
 * In-Joke - "Fingerprints, no. Hookers? Yes!" - basically, any line Jacob Hoggard came up with.
 * Last-Note Nightmare - it's happened. Oh, has it happened.
 * Manipulative Editing
 * Noodle Incident - The naked-with-a-beachball story.
 * One-Hit Wonder - sadly the fate of some "winners".
 * Out with a Bang - after Mookie Morris' post-elimination performance, he pulled a first in Idol history by smashing his guitar.
 * Product Placement - while the Americans make music videos for Ford, the Canadians plugged L'Oreal, Pantene, and Kraft products during their Slice of Life skits.
 * Progressive Rock - the genre a majority of contestants have performed as opposed to traditional Idol pop.
 * Reality Show Genre Blindness - many an auditioner.
 * Reality TV Show Mansion - the house during the sixth season was even featured on MTV Cribs.
 * Rule 34 - and how.
 * Shocking Elimination - Billy Klippert in season one, Kaleb Simmonds and Jacob Hoggard in season two, Josh Palmer in season three, Rob James in season four, Greg Neufeld in season five, Mookie Morris and Drew Wright in season six...and that's just among the top tens.
 * Sibling Team - season six's Oliver and Sebastian Piggot, at least until the third semi-finalist eliminations.
 * Studio Audience
 * Take That - after Jacob Hoggard's elimination (which is speculated he may have wanted), he's spent his post-Idol career biting the hand that fed him, particularly in his band's videos.
 * Talent Show
 * The Remake - just like every other show with "Insert Nationality Here" Idol in its title.
 * The Runner Up Takes It All
 * The Scrappy - every season gets a contestant or two subject to much Hatedom, usually if they're Attention Whores.
 * The Woobie - younger or more innocent-looking contestants tend to get this in Fanfic.
 * Token Minority - judge Farley Flex, and every season will have one or two black or Asian contestants.
 * Trans-Atlantic Equivalent
 * Viewer Gender Confusion - second season winner Kalan Porter's cherubic looks confused many a non-watcher.