Here’s the American Idol Season 8 Schedule from American Idol.com.
- Jan 13 & 14 – 2 hour audition episodes each night
- Jan 20 & 21 – Auditions
- Jan 27 & 28 – Auditions
- Thur, Jan 29 – Final Audition Episode
- Feb 3 & 4 -   Hollywood Week
- Feb 10 & 11 – Hollywood Week
- Feb 17 & 18 – Top 36 Semi-Final Round
- Feb 24 & 25 -Top 36 Semi-Final Round
- Mar 3 & 4 -Â Â Â Top 36 Semi-Final Round
- Thur, Mar 5 – Wildcard Show
- Tues, Mar 10 – Top 12 Round begins
ETA: The Audition rounds have been shortened by only one episode, with the last Audition episode scheduled for a Thursday.
The only other Thursday episode is the “Wildcard” show. Contestants, chosen by the producers, will have the opportunity to perform again in front of the judges, who will choose 3 contestants to round out the Top 12.
Unlike the “Wildcard” round of the first 3 seasons, there will be no “America’s Choice” pick. (Clay Aiken and Jon Peter Lewis were both voted though by viewers).
Yippee. An entire episode devoted to the judges putting the producer’s ringers through to the Top 12. I predict low ratings for a performance episode that doesn’t allow viewer participation.
I hope some of the questions I have are answered at the press conference scheduled for later today. For instance, will there be a “chair” episode this year, where the Top 50 are assembled and each is called down to sit in front of the judges and learn their fate?
Update: I just learned that there will be a chair episode this year…
Correction, MJ..
There are 2 Thursday episodes this season.
The first one is on January 29th, the last audition episode.
The second on is on March 5th, when the wildcard round episode will air, and the Top 12 will be announced.
I believe that Jennifer Hudson was also an America’s Choice pick for the Wild Card.
No. Randy picked her.
I think you’re absolutely right, mj. I HATE the fact that the judges will pick all the Wildcards because it makes it even easier for them to manipulate the direction the competition takes. S4-7 left it in the hands of the people, and aside from a few questionable finalists, I would say that America got the Top 12 right in the last couple of seasons.
Can’t say the same thing for S1-3.
One thing I wonder is how the judges will spin their picks this time. Because before each judge got to pick one contestant but now, there’s 4 judges and only 3 picks. Will they show the judges’ deliberations? Whatever spin it is ITA mj that this’ll be about making sure the producers’ faves get through over any backlash based on being plants.
I think I can understand the reasoning for bringing back this format. With the other format it’s true that you see some people growing through a few rounds and making the finals that way. But the downside to that from the producer perspective IMO is that a lot of the growth happened early and the finals felt stale to anyone who wasn’t OMG over one of the contestants already (like me the last couple of seasons). Now there’s more of a chance of a peak performance later in the season. The producers might think this format will play better to the general TV audience. The audiences will still be getting to know the contestants in the finals so they won’t already be bored and there’ll be more momentum for the better performers later in the season.
How this plays also depends on how they handle the themes. If the semifinals are themeless and the finals have themes then there’ll be less of a chance for the contestants to carve out their niches. There’ll be less of a chance anyway because they’ll have maximum 2 performances before the finals instead of 3. That’s bad and good. Bad because I’m always more interested in when the contestants pick their own songs than songs restricted by themes and lists. Good because I might not get as impatient with the themes if it isn’t as obvious what the contestant would rather be singing
The biggest drawback to going back to the old format is that the effect of audition/Hollywood round exposure will be even more significant and will last deeper into the finals.
Thanks for the correction.