Nigel Lythgoe Quotations

Since we launched the original 'Pop Idol' in England, I've remained close with Simon Fuller. Working as executive producer on 'American idol' for its first seven years not only was an inspirational journey into the heart of American pop culture, it opened my eyes to the untapped potential of the incredibly dynamic young people in this world.

In my lifetime, I've discovered a great many incredibly talented individuals. Some have achieved stardom. Simultaneously, I've seen many dreams shattered, egos destroyed and lives changed forever. The end destination may well be fame and fortune, but the road to stardom is littered with broken hearts.

With dancing, so much is about sexuality and sensuality and without life experience it becomes much more of a performance, rather than a living, breathing entity from the soul.

'The Hobbit' by J. R. R. Tolkien was the first book I enjoyed. I was 14 and when I finished I started it again.

Certain formats should never be forgotten, 'Blind Date' for instance, because 'Britain's Got Talent' is really 'New Faces' or 'The Gong Show,' whilst we're basically 'Opportunity Knocks.'

I don't go into my dentist and say, 'Are you gay?' I don't say to contestants on 'So You Think You Can Dance,' 'Are you gay?' What does it got to do with me? What does it got to do with anybody?

'American Idol' became a juggernaut of epic proportions, but to me it was always like home.

It takes two to make a relationship, but only one to screw it up.

Dancing is my passion. I started as a dancer.

Hip-hop is a way of life. It isn't a genre in truth in 'American Idol.'

I put the heart attack down to 66 cigarettes a day.

I think British audiences are accustomed to the 'boo' factor and pantomimes.

I trained in every form of dance - started as a tap dancer when I was a kid, then contemporary, ballet, ballroom, everything. Russian, Swedish.

There's no question 'Amazing Race' is a beautifully produced show.

We've had nothing but support from everybody in the dance world for a National Dance Day.

I nearly died with the peritonitis, but not the heart attack. The heart attack was like bad indigestion and two weeks later I was back in shouting at people. I was shouting at people during the heart attack. I had it for three days without realising what it was.

So many people report to be contemporary dancers, and they're not. They are sort of jazz dancers that feel like they're throwing a bit of classical in there. I mean, a true contemporary dancer has got ballet as their base and classical ballet, and that is their base. And then they choose to extemporize on that and go into a contemporary world.

We put too much on contemporary dancers. A lot of them cannot change styles; a lot of them can't do anything else other than run around the stage reaching and stretching in anguish to somebody off camera that I never understand who it is. But it's the teenage angst they have to live with.

The dance community suddenly came alive with programs like 'So You Think You Can Dance,' 'America's Best Dance Crew' and 'Dancing With The Stars.'

If you don't know the right people or have the right connections, you may never be discovered. With 'Opening Act,' we are democratizing a notoriously impossible process, pulling back the curtains on a consistently fascinating industry, and affording aspiring artists the chance of a lifetime.

Adam Shankman has got such love and passion for dance.

And what is a stage dad, or a stage mom? It's someone who's protective. That's all.

I saw 'The Godfather' in London when it came out in 1972 and loved it. I've seen it probably 20 times - I always find something new.

Nicki Minaj I think is one of the best judges I've ever worked with.

There can always be an 'Idol' without anybody. I believe that Seacrest is probably the best host in the business.

This program or programs like it are great platforms for a career, but they don't guarantee any career. Their music, at the end of the day, and where they take their music and the quality of their songs is going to do that.

Since I've been in the U.S. I've lost the back of my heart, 15 ft. of intestine and my marriage - and God, I miss my intestine.

Pop music was invented in America, but the way the radio stations have gone for one type of music these days, it's so disparate now, it's very difficult for kids to get an overall feel of American music.

Jon Scoffield was an incredible director and producer at ATV. I met him when I was 30 and he made great things happen in my career. He's still alive, but we're no longer in touch.

I take everything like that with a pinch of salt. I've been in the business too long. I truly don't know. I know Prince had a party last night (after the Golden Globes) and I believe Paula might have been there.

I think rap in the street when they have rap competitions is thrilling because these kids are making it up and having a go at each other. They've got something to say. This is about getting their frustrations out.

We're casting a show here where we want unique people to take back to Hollywood,

This whole thing about, 'Take it easy, you had a heart attack, you might die,' I don't have time to take it easy. I might go at any point now. So, I want to get as much done as I can!

To be quite frank with you, we have to move on.

We had people dumping on each other, which I've never seen before.

I've never heard kids blame other kids to their faces on-stage. I've never heard people give the judges a mouthful and say 'I'm quitting the show.' Everybody has more attitude this season. I've never seen people as willing to (be harsh to) others as this crowd. Before, we've said to them 'You want to win. You want to get rid of other people' and they've said 'No, we all love each other.' Well, not this crowd... Thank God there weren't any sharp instruments.

I've never heard kids blame other kids on stage to their faces before, and that has occurred this season. I have never heard people quit on stage in front of everybody and give the judges a mouthful, and say 'I'm quitting the show because of what you have said or what you have done,' and that has occurred... I have never seen people willing to s*** on other people as much as this crowd.

The success of William Hung was based on his honesty. He really thought he was good and could get better. We try to weed out the people who are just trying to be bad.

I've never believed that 'Idol' as a franchise is beholden to any individual because everybody said it would die the minute Simon Cowell left, and it hasn't.

Everybody I've ever seen live sings out of tune, even the greatest singers in the world. And of course if you make a single nowadays, they'll autotune it anyway.

Tap dancers find it very difficult to do anything other than tap if that is all they have been trained in because, again, it's a whole different ballgame that you're constantly working on - bent legs, loose ankles - which you cannot afford to do when you're doing jumps or anything else.

I need boy dancers to be strong, masculine!

If we wanted to, say, clear a song by the Eagles, we would have to ask the publisher, the person who holds the rights, the songwriter and each one of the Eagles. And if one of them says no, we can't sing the song.

In my day everything wasn't so PC.

That makes entertaining television. That is the circus of American Idol . We go for the very, very best and the very, very worst. It's the boring people that we don't want to see on television.

I don't think rap really fits in to 'American Idol' in the sense that I believe rap is an art form in itself more akin to poetry, more akin to drama, if you will.

The minute you take away somebody the public's voting for, you're screwing with the program. There's no logic to it.

Since I've been in the U.S. I've lost the back of my heart, 15 ft. of intestine and my marriage - and God, I miss my intestine.

This is more than a talent show. We're watching dreams come true. Of course, dreams can turn into nightmares, especially when they wind up on national television.