SuperStar (Arabic TV series)

SuperStar (Arabic TV series)
SuperStar was an Arabic television show based on the popular British show Pop Idol created by Simon Fuller's 19 Entertainment & developed by Fremantle Media. The show unites the Arab community by democratically choosing the next singing sensation. The show is broadcast worldwide on Future TV, a Lebanese television station. It is also the first Idol franchise to feature contestants from multiple countries.
The show was a huge success. Ali Jaber, the executive manager of Future TV, was quoted as saying "This (program) is the most successful for an Arab television. There isn't a television program that moved the Arab world like that."
However, SuperStar was eclipsed by rival show Star Academy on LBC in the Middle East, in terms of popularity and ratings, after only its first season. It has been surpassed by Star Academy as the number one Arab show, and did not move the Arab world the way it did during the first season.
Future TV subsequently lost the Idol licence to the MBC network, which in 2011 relaunched the programme as Arab Idol on MBC 1.
Summary
SuperStar 1 (2003)
The first ever Arab SuperStar was held between 23 June 2003 and 18 August 2003.
The series was won by the Jordanian Diana Karazon
Participants and date of elimination:
Diana Karazon - Jordan - Winner
Rouwaida Attieh - Syria - 18 August 2003
Melhem Zein - Lebanon - 11 August 2003
Saoud Abou Sultan UAE - 4 August 2003
Wael Mansour - Egypt - 28 July 2003
Shadi Aswad - Syria - 21 July 2003
Merhi Serhal - Lebanon - 14 July 2003
Mohammad Lafi - Palestine - 7 July 2003
Nancy Zabalawi - Syria - 30 June 2003
Saber Hawari - Algeria - 30 June 2003
Saad Jamal Al-Dine - Lebanon - 23 June 2003
Haitham Saeed - Egypt - 23 June 2003
Diana Karazon in World Idol
Diana Karazon participated alongside 10 other Idol winners from other countries in the mini-event World Idol held in London. Diana placed equal in 9th place among the 11 contestants equal with the German SuperStar Alexander Klaws on 45 points. The event was won by the Norwegian Idol Kurt Nilsen.
Diana Karazon performed the first radio single from her CD Super Star El Arab - Ensani Ma Binsak.
Diana Karazon received the following scores respectively:
United Kingdom awarded 4 points
Belgium awarded 1 point
Australia awarded 4 points
United States awarded 8 points
Arab world awarded 12 points (default award)
Poland awarded 1 point
Netherlands awarded 1 point
Canada awarded 5 points
Germany awarded 6 points
Norway awarded 2 points
South Africa awarded 1 point
SuperStar 2 (2004)
The second series was held 31 May and 23 August 2004.
Three new audition cities were announced - Tunisia, Bahrain & Paris, France while Algiers was dropped. Tonia Moreeb decided to quit after receiving bad comments about her judging skills in the previous season. She was replaced with music critic/agent Fadia Tanab. An amazing 83 contestants had advanced to the semi-finals of Super Star 2, 81 ended up performing before 2 contestants each week would advance to become part of the Top 14 contestants. This series also offered a Wildcard show where it was revealed by the CEO of Future TV - Ali Jaber, that the Top 14 would become a Top 17 & that the Top 5 vote getters in the Wildcards would advance.
Ayman Alatar from Janzour, Libya won the title of Super Star on 23 August 2004, beating runner up Palestinian Ammar Hassan with a weighting of 54% to 46%.
It was revealed later that Ayman had missed the audition in Cairo, Egypt by one day & had one last chance to audition in Damascus, Syria.
Participants and special guests
Participants, their countries and date of elimination
Ayman Alatar - Libya - Winner
Ammar Hassan - Palestine - 23 August 2004
Hadi Aswad - Syria - 16 August 2004
Ranim Qteit - Egypt - 9 August 2004
Brigitte Yaghi - Lebanon - 2 August 2004
Mohannad Mshallah - Syria - 26 July 2004
Houssam Madanieh - Syria - 19 July 2004
Abir Nameh - Lebanon - 12 July 2004
Abd El Rahman Mohamed - Saudi Arabia - 12 July 2004
Houssam Chami - Lebanon - 28 June 2004
Mohamed Daoud - Kuwait - 21 June 2004
Waad Al Bahri - Syria - 14 June 2004
Mustafa Shwiekh - Egypt - 14 June 2004
Raneen El Sha'ar - Lebanon - 7 June 2004
Zahi Saffeyeh - Lebanon - 7 June 2004
Rania Shaban - UAE - 31 May 2004
Yasmine El Husaini - Egypt - 31 May 2004
Special guests:
Wadih El Safi
Diana Karazon
Rouwaida Attieh
Melhem Zein
Saoud Abou Sultan
Asalah Nasri
Nawal El Kuwaiti
Sherine
Diana Haddad
Washeq El Kaman
Nancy Ajram
Moeen Charif
Assi El Helani
Mari Al Ehram
SuperStar 3 (2005–2006)
The telecast of SuperStar 3 was delayed after the assassination of Future TV founder & Lebanese Prime Minister - Rafik Hariri, as the TV station went into mourning.
SuperStar 3 was the longest Idol production ever with auditions beginning in Cairo on 10 November 2004, with the program culminating on 6 February 2006.
Rania Kurdi did not want to renew her hosting position for Season 3, as a result Heba Sisi was hired for Season 3, but due to the lengthy hiatus over the Hariri murder, her contract prematurely ended before the semi-finals had begun, leaving Ayman to host solo for the rest of the season.
Auditions took place in the following cities:
Beirut, Lebanon
Damascus, Syria
Tunis, Tunisia
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Cairo, Egypt
Amman, Jordan
Sydney, Australia
Participants and special guests
94 contestants advanced to the theatre round in Beirut. 6 from America, 4 from Australia, 21 from Lebanon, 8 from Egypt, 5 from Jordan, 9 from Syria, 32 from Tunisia & 5 from UAE.
Participants, their countries of origin and date of elimination:
Ibrahim El Hakami - Saudi Arabia - Winner
Shahd Barmada - Syria - 6 February 2006
Ayman Lseeq - Tunisia - 30 January 2006
Ahmed El Faleh - Iraq - 23 January 2006
Asma Othmani - Tunisia - 23 January 2006
Nancy Nasrallah - Lebanon - 9 January 2006
Haitham El Shoumali - Palestine - 2 January 2006
Ibrahim Abd El Adheem - Libya - 26 December 2005
Asma Ben Ahmed - Tunisia - 19 December 2005
Hatem Adar - Morocco - 19 December 2005
Samar Andeel - Egypt - 5 December 2005
Yusra Hamzawi - Tunisia - 28 November 2005
The special guests were:
Once again this season, special musical guests have been invited to the show to offer their support & critiques.
Ayman El Aatar
Ammar Hassan
Hadi Aswad
Ranim Qteit
Tony Hana
Abdallah Al Rowaished
Walid Toufic
Marwan Khoury
Nabil Shaeil
Lotfi Boushnaq
Julia Boutros
Nancy Ajram
The new semi final format from Denmark & America was similarly adopted this season whereby the Top 21 (10 male & 11 female) were placed in male & female groups with 5 contestants advancing to the Top 12.
The semi finalists of Super Star 3 are:
Samar Andeel (Egypt), Aida El Rahbani (Lebanon), Nancy Nasrallah (Lebanon), Rashel El Rasi (Lebanon), Hasna Zlagh (Morocco), Shahd Barmada (Syria), Asma Ben Ahmed (Tunisia), Asma Othmani (Tunisia), Fouzia El Betri (Tunisia), Olfa El Barhoumi (Tunisia), Yusra Hamzawi (Tunisia), Mohamed El Abd (Egypt), Mohamed Jamal (Egypt), Ahmed El Faleh (Iraq), Youssef Kazar (Iraq), Ibrahim Abd El Adheem (Libya), Hatem Adar (Morocco), Haitham El Shoumali (Palestine), Ibrahim El Hakami (Saudi Arabia), Anis Ltaief (Tunisia), Ayman Lseeq (Tunisia)
As of 12 December 2005, the competition of Super Star has been delayed due to the assassination of Lebanese senator Gebran Tueni, the results show scheduled to air on Monday 12 December 2005 will be included with the results due on Monday 19 December 2005.
On 15 January 2006, the competition was once again postponed due to the passing of another key political figure, Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. The performance show was recorded on Tuesday & aired on Thursday 19 January. The votes from this round will be combined with the performance show on 22 January with the elimination of 2 contestants.
On the evening of Monday 6 February 2006, Ibrahim El Hakami from Saudi Arabia became the 3rd Super Star over Shahd Barmada with a 53% to 47% weighting. Along with the title of Super Star, Ibrahim also won a Ford Focus.
Finals elimination chart
SuperStar 4 (2007)
Season 4 of SuperStar was officially confirmed of the season 3 Grand Final.
On 10 April 2006, the following audition cities were revealed on the official Future TV website:
Beirut, Lebanon
Cairo, Egypt
Amman, Jordan
Tunis, Tunisia
Kuwait City, Kuwait
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Los Angeles, USA
Detroit, USA
(São Paulo, Brazil was to be included but scrapped at the last minute)
Auditions took place during September 2006 and the new season premiered on Future TV in late January 2007, one week after the premier of the sixth season of American Idol. The performance show airs on Sunday night with the results show on Monday night.
Participants and special guests
Participants, their countries of origin and date of elimination
Marwan Ali - Tunisia - Winner
Saad Lamjarred - Morocco - 4 June 2007
Yusra Mahnoush - Tunisia - 28 May 2007
Ahmad Hussein - Lebanon - 14 May 2007
Rihab Saleh - Egypt - 7 May 2007
Ibrahim Ashri - Egypt - 30 April 2007
Fadi Abd El Khaliq - Lebanon - 23 April 2007
Nesma Kurdi - Egypt - 23 April 2007
Youssef Bara - Syria - 9 April 2007
Mustafa Said - Egypt - 2 April 2007
Rawda Bin Abdallah - Tunisia - 26 March 2007
Elian Ba'ini - Lebanon - 19 March 2007
Nada Omar - Egypt - 19 March 2007
Special Guests:
Mayada El Hennawy
Ibrahim El Hakami
Wadih El Safi
Brigitte Yaghi
Hani Shaker
Melhem Zein
Sabah Fakhry
Carole Samaha
Ehab Tawfik
Assi El Helani
Finals elimination chart
On 26 March Rehab Saleh was originally eliminated but brought back by the judges and again eliminated on 7 May.
SuperStar 5 (2008)
Auditions took place in the following cities:
Beqaa Valley, Lebanon
Tripoli, Lebanon
Cairo, Egypt
Amman, Jordan
Tunis, Tunisia
Baghdad, Iraq
Kuwait City, Kuwait
Manama, Bahrain
Casablanca, Morocco
Season 5 kicked off with the first episode on 24 February 2008. There were 3 big changes:
New female judge replacing Fadia who judged the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th season
Wael Mansour (former contestant from SuperStar 2003) & Majdala Khatar now replace Ayman Qaissouni who hosted the first 4 seasons.
Results are no longer given on Mondays, they are on Thursdays giving people 5 days to vote
This year's Top 20 featured 9 females and 11 males. The Top 9 females performed on 6 April and Top 11 males performed on 13 April. 10 were chosen, and 9 of the remaining 10 came back for a Last Chance show on 20 April. One of the girls chose to drop out of the competition but did not state a reason. The Top 12 was completed on 24 April.
Future Television was forced into closing on 9 May, during the 2008 Lebanon conflict. After moving its broadcasting headquarters, the station was back on the air on 13 May at 4:30 p.m (Lebanese Local Time)
Participants and special guests
Names of contestants, their countries of origin and date of elimination:
Elie Bitar - Lebanon - Winner
Abdel Majid Ibrahim Saudi Arabia - 24 July 2008
Mourad El Souiti - Palestine - 17 July 2008
Asma El Jabri - Morocco - 10 July 2008
Diana Sharaneq - Lebanon - 10 July 2008
Dounia Lotfi - Morocco - 26 June 2008
Aidross El Aidross - Saudi Arabia - 19 June 2008
Housam Tershishi - Lebanon - 12 June 2008
Omayma Taleb - Tunisia - 5 June 2008
Anoushka Mousa - Egypt - 29 May 2008
Mohamad El Jafeel - Lebanon - 8 May 2008
Abbas Ali - Iraq - 1 May 2008
Special Guests:
Top 11: Layla Ghoufran
Top 10: Jad Nakhle
Top 9: Hisham Abbas
Top 8: Rouwaida Attieh
Top 7: Nabil Shaeil
Top 6: Walid Toufic
Top 5:Majid Al Mohandis
Top 4:Abdel Rabb Idris
Top 3: Moeen Charif
Top 2: Ragheb Alama
Finals elimination chart
On 3 July Diana Sharaneq was originally eliminated but brought back by the judges and again eliminated the next week.
References
External links
SuperStar Official website
Lebanese television series
Television series by Fremantle (company)
2003 Lebanese television series debuts
2008 Lebanese television series endings
2000s Lebanese television series
Non-British television series based on British television series
Future TV original programming