The Idol Effect: Other Movies and TV Shows Inspired By ‘American Idol’

This 2006 movie was basically an Idol sendup, with Hugh Grant in the Simon Cowell role and Mandy Moore playing a less countryfied Carrie Underwood. It was a box office flop, but the plot - including a Muslim contestant who gets unfair criticism because of his background and a hookup between a contestant and a judge - holds up well.

Simon Cowell showed he wasn't a one hit wonder when he created X Factor, another singing competition show. The format was different from Idol, with judges mentoring individual contestants and having a say in the voting process. After producing stars like Leona Lewis, the show will be making its American debut this fall - with Cowell in a judge's chair.

What happens if you want to be on TV but you can't sing? Cowell created Britain's Got Talent to showcase other kinds of talents, like breakdancing and ventriloquism. However, singers are still hugely popular on the show, with contestants Paul Potts and Susan Boyle becoming stars. There's also an American edition of the show.

Hoping to steal some of The X Factor's thunder, NBC created The Voice, a singing competition show with four famous musicians as judges. Christina Aguilera, Blake Shelton, Adam Levine, and Cee-Lo Green chose the initial contestants purely based on voices and without looking at any of the performers.

Before American Idol, there was Pop Idol - the show's original incarnation in the UK. Since then, editions of the show have sprung up everywhere from Australia to Finland. But the attempt to do a version of the show in Afghanistan was so fascinating that it warranted its own documentary.

Nashville Star was conceived as American Idol specifically for country musicians. So far its biggest success story is Miranda Lambert, who is now married to The Voice judge Blake Shelton.

An Idol spinoff, American Juniors featured kids and young teenagers. Despite a barrage of celebrity guest judges like Jordan Knight and Nick Carter, the show failed to catch fire and was cancelled after one season.

Kara DioGuardi is a successful songwriter, but she fizzled as a judge on American Idol. She's a much better fit cohosting Platinum Hit, a competition show for songwriters, with Jewel.