Rating: 
Summary: More Like American "Idle"
Review: Don't the producers fo this DVD know that you can fit A LOT of footage on a disc? What we have here can not even be described as a "greatest hits" version of the Fox talent search. I am not asking to see every moment of every show (though that would be nice), but one can not help but notice what is NOT on this DVD at times. First, the positives than a short list of some of the more glaring omissions/negatives:PROS: 1) The sometimes stunning transformations of the players, some serious makeovers with Kelly particularly "cleaning" up well; 2) Kelly's touching performance of "A Moment Like This" after being named the American Idol; 3) Justin's performance of the same song during the finals and realizing just how much Kelly "made it her own"; 4) Tamyra's knockout performance of "A House Is Not A Home"; 5) Fun outtakes from those otherwise cheesy Ford Focus plugs; 6) Highlights of judge and performer comebacks from the tryouts (including the still-bleeped, but still-hilarious, "Ta-mee-ka" tirade). CONS: 1) We have multiple selections from finalists Kelly and Justin, but why leave out their signature performances of "Respect" and "Get Here"? 2) Only one solo from Tamyra - though she faired better than RJ, AJ, E-Jay, and Jim who do not even show up on the DVD with a solo performance; 3) We see the finalists trying out for the show and their joy in "going to Hollywood" - but not the audition performance that earned them the trip; 4) The omnipresence of Seacrest and Dunkleman... ugh, NOT the stars of the show. With the fairly low price of this DVD and on the heels of the sub-par "Greatest Hits" CD released earlier this year, I guess we should not have expected that much. The post-Idol marketing machine appears to be all about getting a product out the door as quickly as possible. I do not discourage American Idol fanatics from buying this DVD, but just gently warn that it is selected highlights and is sure to be lacking at least one of your "greatest" moments from the show.
Rating: 
Summary: Not as good as it could have been, but worthy of collecting.
Review: Okay, it doesn't seem like anyone who has actually seen the DVD has reviewed it here yet, so I thought that I'd be the first. What it contains: A one hour synopsis of the show, starting with a seven minute recap of the audition process that was already aired as part of the finale (and unfortunately, without much footage of the final 30 being narrowed down to 10). Then comes a summary of each night of performances, each one ending with the elimination and the goodbye video for the eliminated person. Only a few performances are shown, but at least they're shown in full. They are: Ryan Starr - "If You Really Love Me", Justin Guarini - "For Once in My Life", "Let's Stay Together" and "A Moment Like This" Kelly Clarkson - "Natural Woman", "Without You" (the good one from the results show), "Before Your Love" and "A Moment Like This" (from right after she won) Christina Christian - "Ain't No Sunshine" Tamyra Gray - "A House is Not a Home" Nikki McKibbon - "Mary Jane" and "Black Velvet" Group Sings - "California Dreamin", "Joy to the World" and "That's What Friends are For" So there are some curious omissions, such as a performance by RJ Helton (who finished 5th, higher than Christina and Ryan) and Kelly's "Stuff Like That There" from Big Band night which was arguably the audience's favorite performance from the entire show. Also, the audio quality for some of the performances is poor in that it's lower than it should be. But overall, the main section of the DVD is great to have even if you taped the shows, since the visual quality is so much better. The extras, which I won't descibe here due to space, are the best part of the DVD, especially the "Uncensored" blooper reel and the look back at the auditioning experiences of the Final Ten (which contains great interviews and some previously unseen footage, but unfortunately lacks any clips of actual auditioning). They're also almost as long as the main feature of the DVD itself, so they really double the content of the DVD. A warning to Justin fans: This edition of the DVD does not contain the bonus disc, which has "A Day in the Life of Justin", a 16 minute feature that includes some really great footage (some filmed by Justin himself) of the preparation for the 80's/90's show with the final four.
Rating:
Summary: There's a lot missing...
Review: For anyone who sat through all the hours of the show, I imagine you'll be both pleased while utterly disappointed. The DVD highlights the audition phases and earlier performances from SOME of the finalists, which may well bring back fond memories. However, do not expect much from the judges. After the performances, which are hacked to pieces by editors trying to shorten a DVD, you'll miss seeing, hearing, and remembering the judges reactions. I don't think it can be explained why so much was left out, surely there should have been performances; if not all, then one from each. I enjoyed the "never-before-seen-footage," but the actual show segments were disappointing to say the least.
Rating:
Summary: I love this DVD but it should have more
Review: I thought that I was buying the WHOLE season of American Idol when it was on some of the best performances, but the good thing is that there is alot of behind the sence stuff.
Rating: 
Summary: AMAZING!!! A MUST-SEE!!!!
Review: I have enjoyed it so far. Alot of people thought it was cheap(As in not good),but I payed $1.75 for mine BRAND NEW from Amazon,so how much should one expect from a brand new DVD that cheap??. It has some AWESOME footage,not only of the show,but it also takes you behind the scenes. It shows you the Cast in the 6 million dollar mansion they got to stay in. It also shows some of the worst auditions (For example,this one guy came in wearing NOTHING but his underwear and sung a song about a man in his underwear....Then there's this other guy who didn't know the words to the song HE wrote himself,so he had to read them off a piece of paper),and 2 ladies who didn't want to take no for an answer. There's also footage of Kelly's Audition in Dallas,Texas..including her switching places with judge Randy Jackson. In addition,it shows the judge narrowing it down from 45 hopefulls to the 30 who would be seen on the premiere. Of course,it also has footage from EACH show. It has footage of the contestants singing together(They sung "That's What Friends Are For","California Dreamin",and "Joy To The World"),and singing individually. This is a MUST-SEE for anyone who missed the first season,when Kelly won,or who just want to see some of the BEST backstage footage EVER. You'll laugh,you'll cry,and best of all-you'll get to know our American Idol-Kelly Clarkson.
Rating: 
Summary: Missing all the best stuff....
Review: I am a big Idol fan who was very disappointed with the DVD. Considering this is a two disk set -- lots of storage space -- there is next to nothing on either disk. The best part of the show are the performances and judges' critiques. We get far too few perfomances and NO judges critiques at all. Who cares about who the producers of American Idol are (incredibly one of the "extras!" on the second DVD). We want the performances. We want to relive Kelly's improvement and emergance at the top. We want to relive all the nasty comments Nicki received towards the end. Instead we're stuck with lackluster group performances (did anyone really need to hear California Dreaming again?) and finalist reactions to "you're going to Hollywood" at the auditions, but not the try-out performances that led up to those words. Finally, there are NO performances from Big Band night, which most Idol fans agree was the most interesting night of the competition -- and the night where Kelly finally broke away from the pack.
Rating: 
Summary: Reality based shows are really stupid...
Review: This show, part of the game show/soap opera/reality trend first started on MTV and has grown like a bad seed full of weeds, across the major networks (CBS,ABC, and NBC), and is now going to the other cable networks as A&E and Bravo already have reality based TV shows in the works. It's a really sad trend because it shows the lengths that people will go to become famous. Even if they have to ruin their crediaibility and their lives to do it. It's sad and I want no part of it, there for I don;t watch network or cable TV anymore.
Rating:
Summary: Not highly impressed!
Review: I consider myself to be an avid fan of American Idol. I came across the first season by accident, when I was sitting at home on a Tuesday night, and happened to turn on the tv to FOX. Ryan Star was singing at the time. When I heard that they came out with a DVD on American Idol, I assumed that it would be the ENTIRE SEASON. I was mistaken! Out of the 10 top finalists, you only get to view 5 out of the 10 do at least one solo performance. Kelly and Justin do 3-4, Niki does 2, Tamyra does one, and Christina Richin does 1. The DVD did a lot of recaps and behind the scenes, but still it wasn't enough to be worth while. It's ovious that American Idol is a hit, and the producers should think highly of doing a COMPLETE SEASON set of BOTH the FIRST & SECOND season!!
Rating:
Summary: Should have been a Season 2 disc.
Review: Now I like American Idol as much as the next person, but i have to say, when I look back at season 1 I see how untalented most of them were. What this disc is, is a feature program featuring the entire season pushed into about an hour. Hence the first problem. You dont even see 4 of the 10 finalists perform. The performances you do get to see are Ryan Starr, 2 from Justin, 2 from Nikkie, 4 from Kelly, and the ultimate American Idol performance, past, present, & future, Tamyra Grey singing A House Is Not A Home. Some extras include a lot of wacky auditions, the Pasadena experience, and a tour the idols home. The second disk is pointless. Its mostly a bunch of producers talking about the show, not to mention an embarasingly stupid segment with Justin Guarini. They need to get rid of this cheap stuff, and come out with a full season dvd package. Fox would be making some money then.
Rating:
Summary: Not worth your time
Review: I'm reluctant to give this DVD 2 stars, but I will only because of the extra features. But do I recomend that you buy this for your collection? NO! Actually I'm hoping that you quit reading this review and look for something else on amazon.com. First off they should have definately put the WHOLE show on this disk (or 2 or however many it took). I think that would have been a success. But alas, they didn't. I'll leave this short and sweet. My advice: Do not buy this DVD because you will be wasting your time.
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