Pinellas Idol (partially found public access series; early 2000s)
Pinellas Idol is a television series produced for public access in Clearwater, Florida, in the early 2000s. The show was an unofficial spin-off of the singing competition series American Idol.
Background
The show is said to have been produced for public access television in Clearwater, Florida.[1]
In around 2013, a YouTube user known as "Kevin Carpenter" posted a YouTube comment in which they asked where "the other pinellas idol episodes" can be found. They claim that "I was there during filming and I was in the audience during one of the episodes", and that "I know I was in the final cut as well because I saw it air on tv channel 96 back a few years ago."[1]
Premise
Like American Idol, Pinellas Idol is formatted as a singing competition show. The host who appears in the first episode, identified as Kenneth C. Christie, introduces the show's judges as Sylvester Bryant, Bernard Thomas, and AJ Ali. Five acts appear in the first episode—a hip-hop duo known as Bombai, a hip-hop trio "from the New England area" called Group X, rapper and poet Rufat, "Sassy Poet" Sachel Barber, and dancer Travis Williams.[1]
Credits
The credits of the first episode are as follows:
- Producer: Staci Parker
- Director: Justin Hall
- Camera Op 1: Davan Milford
- Camera Op 2: Linda Nixon
- Camera Op 3: Connie Pearson
- Audio Mixer: David Rollins
- Technical Director: Denise L Re
- Set Design: Tammy Taylor
- Lighting: Marty Hoffman
- Floor Director: Staci Parker
- Production Assistant: Lynn Carpenter
- Post-Production: Justin Hall
- Special Thanks: Lisa Inserra and Jeremiah Johnson
Availability
Only the first episode of Pinellas Idol is known to be publicly available. The episode was first uploaded to YouTube under the title "Pinellas Idol - Episode #1" on September 10, 2006, by a user named "Justin -".[1] The same episode was uploaded to YouTube a second time, with the same title and by the same user, on September 25, 2006.[2]
Other information
In the lower third during the credits of the first episode of Pinellas Idol, text reads "Visit idol.4digipics.com".
A Tampa Bay Times article published in 2020 states that Vonabell Hurst (also known as Zai), a singer based in the Tampa Bay, Florida, area, "won local competitions, including Dunedin Idol and Pinellas Idol."[3] It is unknown whether the article is referring to the public access show or some other local competition named "Pinellas Idol".