American Bandstand/American Idol

I have to agree. While there were some performers on the show who had not yet hit superstar status (such as Madonna) they all had record contracts of some kind and were already on the billboard charts in some fashion. Then there is the fact that Bandstand was not a competition like American Idol.

However, the only similarity is that Bandstand and Idol are 2 of the rare, rare shows on network tv that focus on music and have live performers.