Can Netflix Make Star Search Happen?

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Shortly after the hit show Queer Eye premiered in February 2018, Netflix programmers met at their Hollywood offices to plan how to dominate the reality TV landscape. I was present as a reporter working on a story about Netflix’s rapid growth, and the meeting buzzed with excitement about numerous unscripted projects spanning all sorts of genres. While most of these ideas became shows within a year or two, one goal proved difficult: creating a live talent competition similar to American Idol or The Voice. Now, after eight years, Netflix is finally about to launch one.

Netflix is launching a new live competition series called Star Search tonight. Unlike previous talent shows the streamer has tried, like last year’s Building the Band, Star Search will air live each week, allowing viewers to vote for their favorite contestants in real-time. New episodes will be broadcast live on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET, and audiences can vote using their TV remotes or the Netflix app on their phones.

Netflix’s new show, Star Search, aligns with their recent expansion into live events like boxing, football, and WWE, but Jeff Gaspin, VP of Unscripted Series, emphasizes it’s not just about adding live content. He explains that Star Search, and a broader move towards traditional reality TV, is part of a long-term strategy Netflix has been developing since the House of Cards era. Gaspin describes it as a gradual process, taking 10 to 30 years to fully evolve. Having already found success with reality formats like docuseries and dating shows, Netflix is now targeting the last major area still dominated by traditional networks like ABC and NBC. Gaspin joined Netflix two years ago with the goal of offering not just cable-style reality, but the kind of programming people used to get from broadcast television. He believes there’s a strong audience for this type of content, and Netflix wants to deliver it.

To satiate that hunger for broadcast-style reality programming, Gaspin and his team decided to serve up the video equivalent of comfort food. As most Americans over the age of 45 know, Star Search was originally a syndicated series that, every weekend between 1982 and 1995, had Ed McMahon emceeing a hunt for the best unknown singers, dancers, actors, bands, and even models (or, as the show called them, “spokesmodels”). Netflix’s promos for Star Search have played up the fact that many of the contestants from the original went on to find success, from Brad Garrett and Ray Romano to Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears. “There’s a built-in familiarity and a nostalgia factor,” Gaspin says. “Netflix has a lot of content, and it takes a lot to get noticed given how much else there is. So I liked having familiar IP as a starting point.”

I really believe in Star Search and why it’s coming back! Honestly, Gaspin gave it the green light because he thought the format was just better than other talent shows out there. See, I worked with him at NBCUniversal on America’s Got Talent, and Star Search is different. On AGT, you get all sorts of acts competing against each other, which is fun, but it always made judging tough. People would ask, ‘How do you compare a singer to an aerialist?’ With Star Search, it’s different – singers compete against singers, dancers against dancers, and so on. That makes so much more sense! Plus, it means we’ll have multiple winners each season, which is fantastic!

Gaspin notes that each season of the show allows for unexpected wins, as past champions continually have to prove themselves. He compares it to Jeopardy!, explaining, “The winner one week faces a new competitor the next.” He recalls watching Sam Harris win throughout an entire season, saying it was thrilling to see if he could maintain his success each week, creating a personal challenge within the overall competition.

Gaspin was sure about the show’s potential, but he waited to approve Star Search until Netflix had the technology for real-time audience voting. He wanted viewers to act as the fourth judge during the performances, not just afterward – something traditional TV shows hadn’t done. Unlike shows that tallied votes at the end of an episode, Star Search needed instant feedback. Gaspin challenged his team to create a system allowing millions of people to vote using only their remotes, and they delivered within 24 hours, spending the last year perfecting the feature.

Netflix believes this new technology will allow many more viewers to participate in deciding the outcomes of reality shows, essentially giving them more control. According to one source, shows like America’s Got Talent typically saw only 2-3% of viewers actually vote. With this new system, voting is much easier—viewers can simply use their remote while watching on TV or tap on the screen while using a mobile device. There’s no need to download a separate app, which makes voting incredibly accessible and was the key factor in greenlighting the project.

Netflix’s new show, Star Search, is unique not just because it’s interactive, but also because of how it will be released. Over five weeks, two 75-minute live episodes will air twice a week, culminating in a live finale. While Netflix has previously released some reality shows over a similar timeframe, combining this with a single-episode release strategy is a departure from its usual approach. However, Netflix isn’t yet ready to fully adopt a traditional TV-style schedule that would stretch the show over several months. According to a representative, this is because Netflix has a constant stream of new content, and a longer run could get lost in the shuffle. Five weeks felt like a good balance—a way to support the show’s format while still considering how viewers typically use the service.

Netflix is heavily promoting its new show, Star Search, with frequent announcements on the platform and paid ads on other streaming services like Tubi. The show itself features a variety of talents, and the host and judges reflect that—Anthony Anderson will host, while Jelly Roll, Chrissy Teigen, and Sarah Michelle Gellar will judge. This is a significant effort for Netflix, which continues to explore new types of programming, even looking ahead to 2026.

Netflix is testing whether its audience is interested in reality competition shows similar to traditional television broadcasts. They’re specifically trying to figure out if Star Search is the right format for this type of content, or if a show like Building the Band – which attempted to form a successful pop group, similar to The X-Factor – would be a better fit. Building the Band followed a typical Netflix competition structure: all episodes were filmed in advance, judges determined the winner, and the ten episodes were released gradually over two weeks last summer. While the show initially created some online discussion, particularly about the individual bands, it didn’t become a huge hit right away. According to Netflix’s own data from the latter half of 2025, the show averaged around 7 million viewers throughout its run.

Gaspin emphasizes that he doesn’t consider either Star Search or Building the Band to be tests, though he admits he’s evaluating the performance of Star Search before committing to a second season of either show. He explains, “I’m trying to figure out how we can best serve our audience and offer them something unique that isn’t already available on other streaming services. They might find similar content elsewhere, but they won’t find it on Netflix. The key question is whether it’s worth offering on Netflix in the first place, and that’s what I’m focused on.”

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2026-01-21 01:57