Perhaps due to the memo I leaked last week making its way around the net, (thanks to Andy Dehnart of MSNBC) American Idol executive producer, Ken Warwick, is holding a press conference at 3 pm ET later today.
In the meantime, Bill Keveney from USA Today managed to speak with Warwick about the changes in store for Season 8:
Thirty-six hopefuls, up from 24, will be chosen for February’s semifinals, and wild-card picks à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ back for the first time since Season 3 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ will let the judges put three singers into the top 12.
Those changes, along with the addition of fourth judge Kara DioGuardi and a second week of the Hollywood round, constitute Season 8 “tweaks” for Fox’s top-rated Idol, executive producer Ken Warwick says. “They’re not mega-changes. They are just little things to keep the whole format fresh and interesting.”
The questions fans had about how the Top 36 format (broken by VFTW weeks ago) will work are answered:
Starting Feb. 17, six male and six female semifinalists perform each week for three weeks, with the top man and woman in viewer votes moving to the finals, along with the next highest vote-getter.
The judges will bring back some semifinalists and pick three to round out the top 12, a practice that gave new life to Clay Aiken and Jennifer Hudson in the past. The final round won’t necessarily start with six men and six women, as it has in recent years.
Other items:
- Warwick confirms that Idol Gives Back is canceled this year. Shouldn’t be a surprise–producers hinted previously they might skip a year.
- Warwick also confirms the auditions will be cut back to 3 weeks, Hollywood week expanded to two weeks. Plus, the group numbers will return.
- Warwick denies being aware that Paula Goodspeed was stalking Paula Abdul when he advanced Goodspeed to the Judges Round.
- Contrary to the memo, Warwick claims that auditions will feature the same ratio of good vs bad auditions as previous seasons “If the judges are mean, the judges are mean,” says Warwick.
These changes aren’t tweaks. TPTB are just retreiving old sh*t from the recycle bin.
Switching back to the pre-Season 4 semi-final format is a horrible idea. The format was changed in the first place, for a good reason.
The revamp at the top of Season 4 organized the semi’s much like the finals, streamlining the process. The new format allowed contestants more time to grow as we saw them perform each week, put more of the decision-making into the viewer’s hands, and in my opinion, helped make the show more popular. Watching the same contestants compete during the 3 weeks of the semi’s built excitement for the Top 12.
Now, a contestant who has one great song in their repertoire will sail into the Top 12, while a talented contestant who needs some time to grow (think David Cook peeps) could be eliminated right off the bat. As it is, who will even remember the contestants who made it through back in week 1 once the finals begin?
I don’t think the judges should be allowed to send the producer’s pet ringers into the Top 12. If this competition is truly a voting competition, then let the people decide.
These so-called tweaks seem a bit desperate. The ratings are down by 7% from last year, it was time for change, but the creative thinkers at Idol appear to have run out of ideas.
That’s called “jumping the shark” peeps.
I guess the producers know who you are and try to silence/go against you a lot?
If it were up to me, you’d have the job as the leading producer.
Another argument against the new format:
In S4-7, because only the bottom 2 got voted off each week, different contestants who appealed to different tastes had a greater chance of remaining (for example 10 out of the 12 in the first week of semifinals). A rock contestant like Chris Daughtry, for instance, wouldn’t have to have broad appeal, but could instead, appeal to a specific demographic as long as that demographic was big enough to carry him through to the next round. Because of this, in Season 4 onwards, we saw many genres represented in the group of 12 finalists.
When you allow only the Top 2 from each group to get through, and you assume that the audience is generally the same for each semi-final episode, you will get the same types of 2 contestants getting spots in the Top 12. Like tina said, we will probably see an increase in impressive, but screaming belters. That gets old after like two weeks.
I hope I’m wrong, but I’m afraid the diversity in musical styles will be lost due to this change, and that American Idol will revert back to its pop-star redundancy.
Excellent point. I actually don’t mind taking some of the power away from the viewers. Viewer votes are how we ended up with people like Kevin Covais and Sanjaya in the Top 12. Utterly ridiculous! Yes, the judges made the mistake of putting them through to the Semis based on semi-decent earlier rounds, but it was their teenybopper and grandma fanbases that let them advance even though the Semis served to show their that they clearly could not cut it at that level. America clearly does not always get it right.
I doubt it since people like Brooke and Jason were incredibly popular among fans and their presence has certainly opened up a lot of doors and appreciation for that type of style on the show. Plus it’s going to be three that advance from each group this time, not just two. The top male, top female, and then the next highest vote getter.
When it all shakes out each season only produced one viable star.
1. Kelly
2. Clay
3. Jennifer Hudson
4. Carrie
5. Chris Daughtry
6. Jordin
season 7 is still to be determined.
Of the first 3 seasons, using the wildcard method, 2 out of the 3 successes were wildcards. Perhaps the producers want to go back to the format that allowed them to “save” a good contestant that would have otherwise been out.
American Idol is a search for a pop star. Maybe the producers want to get back to the original concept.
But in the next 3 seasons, they found those stars without the wildcard. And 2 were the biggest selling artists out of the gate that they’ve ever had.
But again, their biggest sellers haven’t been pure pop. They were Country and Pop/Rock. Even their biggest seller under the old system was and an updated version of Barry Manilow. Why try to find pure pop now? Why would they fight the system that brought them the biggest sellers? Kelly broke big on her SECOND album. Jennifer had been off the show for years. Those coming off the show and directly blowing up were not pop artists.
We ended up with those contestants in the Top 12, because the producers advanced them to the Top 24 in the first place.
While I’ll give you Kevin and Sanjaya (at least Sanjaya was interesting), what about the judges choices of Carmen Rasmusen, Kimberley Caldwell and Leah LaBelle. Those were some pretty dire choices by those supposedly in the “know”. No judges choice has ever gone on to win the show or even be a runner-up.
Here is how they finished:
Season 1:
RJ Helton: (5th)
Season 2:
People’s Choice: Clay Aiken (2nd)
Randy’s Choice: Kimberley Caldwell (7th)
Simon’s Choice: Carmen Rasmusen (6th)
Paula’s Choice: Trenyce (5th)
Season 3:
People’s Choice: Jon Peter Lewis (8th)
Randy’s Choice: Jennifer Hudson (7th)
Simon’s Choice: George Huff (5th)
Paula’s Choice: Leah LaBelle (12th)
A) I don’t think Jennifer Hudson counts. She might have got some good cruise ship gigs from her time on Idol, but she earned her success by routes other than Idol. Idol may have helped a bit, but it did not make her a success, IMO.
B) I don’t think Clay Aiken can be used in this context either. He was the people’s choice and certainly wasn’t a judge favourite. The new format allows the judges to pick, not the people. So, changing to this format wouldn’t have helped him to be picked.
C) Define viable. Studdard, Locke and Gracin certainly have had their successes. All four of those Season 2’s Idols had initial success and then trouble with their latest release. Why is one viable and the other three are not? If one hit CD doesn’t make one viable, then how can we claim that Daughtry/Hudson/Sparks are viable? Isn’t it too soon to say?
Oops.
Irina,
Fantasia is not only a viable star. She is a proven star. She’s WAY outsold Jordin and starred on Broadway in addition to that. Jordin is struggling to even reach platinum. Those singles have sold well, but singles barely even make money.
But see, the most pop of all them is Jordin, and she’s hardly the most successful. I actually think the producers still like diversity… I think what they want is people with more personality, or in Simon’s mind, people who create controversy so the show doesn’t become as boring
I like the idea. We aren’t wedded to 6 girls/6 guys. Now if they decided to make one of the three Wildcards an “America’s choice”, it would be perfect.
Fantasia is just about to begin filming the movie version of the Broadway musical “A Color Purple.”
I saw her on Broadway in the role of Celie–she could very well be a breakout movie star, like Jennifer Hudson, when the movie is finally released. She was fabulous in the role.
Wow. How did I miss that?
I hope it’s awesome.