Rising Star (U.S. TV series)

Format

In contrast to other singing competition TV shows which feature a cast of celebrity judges, Rising Star features a cast of celebrity experts and considers the viewers at home the judges. During each performance, the audience at home was able to decide in real time whether or not a contestant was sent through to the next round by using a mobile voting app.

While the viewers at home are considered the “judges”, the expert panelists (Brad Paisley, Kesha, and Ludacris) also influence the vote. For the first six shows, a yes vote from one of the judges added 7% to the performers total. In the round of 13 it was announced that their yes vote would add 5%. In the quarterfinals the expert's yes vote was lowered to a 3% add. In the semifinals, the expert's yes vote was lowered to a 1% add. In the finale, the expert's yes vote only counts as a home judge vote.

Auditions

Each performance begins with the contestant singing behind a screen (“The Wall”). Once the contestant reaches 70% of "Yes" votes, the wall was raised and the contestant goes to the next round of the competition. Alongside the viewers' vote, three of the panelists (excluding the host) have 7% of the vote each, which will be added should they vote "Yes".

Duels

Contestants who make it through the auditions are paired by the judges to face off in a duel (in the event of an odd number of contestants making it through, the contestant who had the highest number of East Coast and West Coast votes but did not make it through the auditions was given a slot in the duels). The first contestant to sing, chosen by a coin toss before the show, sings with the wall up and sets the benchmark for the second contestant. The second contestant sings with the wall down. If the second contestant betters the first contestant's vote total, the wall rises and the second contestant was through to the next round while the first contestant is eliminated; if the second contestant fails to raise the wall, the second contestant is eliminated and the first contestant was through. Also, the losing contestant with the highest number of West Coast votes in each episode was given a save and was through the next round.

The Round of Thirteen

After the duel rounds end, 13 of the contestants that survived perform. The first 7 contestants perform with the wall up, after which the contestant with the lowest vote total was placed in the hot seat. The subsequent contestants perform with the wall down, and they have to better the vote total of the contestant in the hot seat to raise the wall. If they succeed in doing so, the contestant in the hot seat was eliminated, the contestant with the next lowest vote total was placed in the hot seat, and the performing contestant was provisionally qualified; otherwise, the performing contestant was eliminated if they fail to raise the wall. This continues until the six contestants with the lowest number of votes are eliminated. In addition, the eliminated contestant with the highest number of West Coast votes in each episode was given a save and was through the next round. In this stage, each panelist's vote counts as 5%.

Quarterfinals & Semifinals

The quarterfinals and semifinals follow the same format as the Round of Thirteen, except with a few changes to the weightage of the panelists' votes and number of contestants. In the quarterfinals, eight contestants battle for six spots (including the West Coast save), and each panelist's vote counts as 3%. In the semifinals, six contestants battle for four spots (including the West Coast save), and each panelist's vote counts as 1%.

Finale

During the finale, contestants are paired into a duel. The first contestant sings with the wall up and sets the benchmarks for the second contestant. The second contestant sings with the wall down. If the second contestant gets the higher percentage of votes, then the wall rises and the second contestant moves onto the next round of duels. However, if the second contestant's percentage was lower than the first contestant's, the wall stays down and the contestant was eliminated. In the second round, the two contestants that moved on will duel against each other with their second song. The same process applies for this round, except the running vote total was not revealed and both contestants sing with the wall up. The contestant with the higher vote percentage becomes the winner of Rising Star. The experts' yes vote counts as a home vote as they vote with their phones; their choices are not revealed to both the performers and the audience. The West Coast cannot vote during the finale.

Time zones

Due to the effects of time zones on North American broadcasting, the show aired at 9 p.m Eastern, 8 p.m. Central, and 7 p.m. Mountain Time Zones. To accommodate the Mountain Time Zone (which usually does not carry any live programming with the Eastern and Central time zones and airs it on an hour delay), ABC rotated the usual 7 p.m. MT program, Wipeout to air at 8 p.m. MT instead out of Rising Star. Additionally, the network's affiliates in the Caribbean Sea region, including Aguadilla, Puerto Rico's WPRU-LP and WSVI in the United States Virgin Islands broadcast the series live, despite being an hour ahead in the Atlantic Time Zone (as they both take ABC's Eastern feed an hour ahead).

In the state of Arizona, which does not observe Daylight Saving Time, the program aired live at 6 p.m. local time. For Pacific and Alaskan time zone viewers, a dedicated feed was provided to show real-time voting particular to these viewers and a comparison to how the earlier time zones voted. In an instance where a contestant who didn't pass based on viewers from the Eastern, Central, and Mountain Time Zones, yet ends up faring better with the Pacific and Alaskan time zones, the contestant would pass. In addition, a "West Coast save" was given to the losing contestant with the highest number of West Coast votes in the post-audition rounds, except for the finale.

As Alaska is one hour before the Pacific Time Zone, and programming normally airs similar to Central and Mountain time, Alaskans was able to participate live as well. However, residents of Hawaii were unable to participate since Hawaii time is two hours behind Pacific Time. Likewise, viewers in the other western insular islands such as American Samoa, Guam and Northern Mariana Islands had no means to participate whatsoever, as network programming on the affiliates of those islands is usually delayed by a day as it would be early morning if it did air live.

During West Coast broadcasts, live cut-ins to show reactions of contestants who passed only with West Coast viewers were displayed. There was no revocation of "pass" status if West Coast viewers rejected a contestant during the initial audition rounds. ABC stated that the chances of the West Coast differing substantially from other viewers was statistically small; however, in weeks 8 and 9 of the competition, West Coast votes differed enough from East Coast votes that contestants Maneepat Myra Molloy and Audrey Kate Geiger were saved over other contestants who had higher totals on the East Coast.

For CTV viewers in Canada, broadcasts originally followed the ABC model through all time zones, but switched partway through the season so all CTV stations across Canada aired the show live with the Eastern feed.

Series overview

The winners shown in Bold.

Season 1 (2014)

This season's host was Josh Groban. The panel of experts consists of Brad Paisley, Kesha and Ludacris.

Week One

June 22, 2014

Week Two

June 29, 2014

Week Three

July 6, 2014

The Duels

July 13–27, 2014

The Round of Thirteen - Week Seven

August 3, 2014

The Experts' votes count as 5%.

Quarterfinals - Week Eight

August 10, 2014

The Experts' votes count as 3%.

Semifinals - Week Nine

August 17, 2014

The Experts' votes count as 1%.

Finals - Week Ten

August 24, 2014

The experts voted on their phones, making theirs count as equal to a home judge's vote, as well as keeping their votes secret from the performers and the audience. The West Coast was not allowed to vote for the finals.

Elimination table

Note: percentages listed as East Coast / West Coast Blue numbers indicate the highest voting percentage for each week. Red numbers indicate the lowest voting percentage of each week.      The performer was eliminated that week.      The performer was initially eliminated but was later saved by the West Coast's vote.      The performer was initially eliminated but was saved by having the highest combined East and West Coast percentages (due to an odd number of performers qualifying).      The performer won Rising Star.      The performer was the runner-up.      The performer placed third.      The performer placed fourth.

U.S. Nielsen ratings

Season Averages: 1.1 demo and 4.08 million viewers