Ryan Seacrest, Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowel make the cover of Entertainment Weekly this week in anticipation of the new Season of American Idol.
There’s a lengthy article posted online at EW.com. The piece features interviews with them and producers Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick.
The first part of the interview describes some typical scenes during one day of the Hollywood Rounds back in November–the judges complain that the boys are particularly terrible that day (that’s not what I’ve been hearing). Contestants are described as nervous, quirky and typically bad. Like last year, TPTB claim that at this point, there isn’t an obvious front-runner.
Not declaring a favorite at the beginning, as Simon did in previous seasons, worked well for the show last year.
At the start of the Top 24 competition, the producers seemed to favor Ace Young, Lisa Tucker and Paris Bennett. Later on, Chris Daughtry and Kellie Pickler appeared to have TPTB in their corner.
Ace, Lisa and Paris lost steam quickly. Chris Daughtry was “shockingly” voted off in 4th place. And Kellie’s lack of vocal chops did her in by mid-finals. In the end, it was underdog Elliott Yamin, Katharine McPhee (who advanced after early audience favorites like Mandisa and Paris lost their footing) and the grey-haired dark-horse Taylor Hicks who took the top 3 spots. That unpredictability made for some mighty good Tee Vee.
Here are some highlights from the article:
- ”With Simon getting it wrong regarding Taylor, it’s ammunition for the contestants,” says exec producer Nigel Lythgoe. ”If Simon says ‘I don’t like you,’ now they say, ‘I don’t give a s—. You didn’t like Taylor last year.”’
- The producers continue to insist that the talent in Seattle, Washington was abysmal. I guess it won’t be the premier audition city. Or maybe it will, for the snark factor.
- Olivia Newton-John, Jewel and songwriter Carol Bayer-Sager were guest judges during the auditions. Simon in particular, was not pleased, “It’s rather like having a dinner party for four people you know very well…and then somebody says there’s a fifth person you don’t know. One year, we’re going to say to [the producers], ‘We’d like someone to work with you for a while. We don’t think you’re doing a good enough job.”’
- Ken Warwick admits that things were “awkward” with Sager, and that she “could have had most of critiques edited out.” He said, “Lovely lady…but how can I put this nicely? She didn’t add much.”
- The producers are planning a national songwriting contest to pick the ”coronation singles” for the Final Two contestants. However, this plan has yet to be approved by Fox.
- Here’s what Simon had to say about Taylor’s song, ”Do I Make You Proud”: “That song was horrific”.
- The producers are working on getting some big-name talent to guest star on the Wednesday results show. One stipulation, according to Nigel Lythgoe, is that they be willing to work with the kids. Who’s at the top of the wish list? Sir Paul McCartney, of course. Randy Jackson threatens to ”call in a favor” and get Mariah Carey (who he has produced) to guest on the show.
- Apparently Simon Cowell is crankier than usual. Oh that’s a bulletin. That declaration, just the beginning of more spin to come, I’m sure.
thanks griz
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NoNo. Mariah Carey AND Paula Abdul. Double the agony. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, the guys on EW’s cover are integral to the entertainment value of the show. I hope they keep it together for one more season.
I, too, am just looking for some good Tee Vee. Particularly something-anything-to break the topic logjam of the past week and a half.
I would love it if a drug-free Whitney Houston was a special guest for the show.
I’m with you on that, sadly I’ll be running a few days behind. I get to see the show on Friday evenings.
I remember reading that Mariah was desperate to appear last season and they couldn’t find a space for her.
I love the way Randy “twisted” it to make it like AI will be twisting Mariah’s arm to be on the show rather than the other way around
:wink_wp: 
On Larry King, Mariah said that she doesn’t really even watch the show, so I’m not sure about what you are saying. She said that she watches it at times but only to see Randy.
Im happy to hear that at least Simon knows how gawd awful bad Taylor’s song was and Kats was even worse. Thats ridiculous.
I am saving reading this article for when my magazine arrives. Thanks for the head’s up, MJ.
I am ready for Idol 6, not so much to break the topic logjam, as RSF says, but to break the boring endless repeats logjam on TV right now.
dingo: Im happy to hear that at least Simon knows how gawd awful bad Taylor’s song was and Kats was even worse.
Funny thing is, is that Simon gave Randy heck for calling “My Destiny” a crappy song after Kat sang it. I guess that now they don’t have to sell it anymore, he can be honest.
I wonder what Simon’s opinion was of the song Taylor rejected?
mj: The producers continue to insist that the talent in Seattle, Washington was abysmal. I guess it won’t be the premier audition city. Or maybe it will, for the snark factor.
I thought the convential wisdom was that Birmingham would be the premier city. Didn’t they do something there that they normally do at the city where they premier the show? I forget what it was.
Im happy to hear that at least Simon knows how gawd awful bad Taylor’s song was and Kats was even worse. Thats ridiculous.
Well, put yourself in the position of these 2 contestants — WHAT WAS THE ALTERNATIVE ?
If I were Taylor for instance, I’d probably choose one of my own compositions to sing. But will that be allowed ? ( that was a rhetorical question ). In fact Taylor actively FOUGHT TPTB when he was given worse songs to sing and had to choose what seemed like THE LEAST AWFUL of the lot ( I even heard stories that Nick Lachey would be contributing one of them ).
Given this situation, DIMYP doesn’t look bad at all and is in fact being slowly accepted by the populace at large ( I hear from the Official Soul Patrol forum that it’s gaining popularity in of all places — The Philippines ( purplesmile where are you ? Can you verify this ? ). Note that the awful song Simon just mentioned IS STILL CHARTING even as we speak….obviously it might have touch some emotion somewhere.
The problem with coronation songs is they’re LIMITED and MUST HAVE A THEME ( in short — I’M GRATEFUL I WON ). It’s bound to be awful anyway you look at it.
AS A TEST, RATE THE FOLLOWING FROM 1 to 5 IN THE AWFULNESS SCALE ( 5 most awful and 1 least awful ) :
A MOMENT LIKE THIS
FLYING WITHOUT WINGS
THIS IS THE NIGHT
I BELIEVE
INSIDE YOUR HEAVEN
DO I MAKE YOU PROUD
MY DESTINY
Anyone care to rate them ?
This year, I hear there is an alternate contest that will be held — THE IDOL SONGWRITING CONTEST where talented SONG WRITERS ( pro or amateur ) submit songs for consideration for the Idol winner to sing. Can anyone confirm this ?
It’s a good idea ( to borrow from Gray — Democracy In Action ).
The only drawback is — the theme of the song will AGAIN be limited to the CORONATION THEME.
Imagine for a moment JUST TO FEEL THAT WAY as the coronation song… Now that would be DA BOMB !
Since no one wants to take my “awfulness” scale poll, let me tell you how I feel…
I BELIEVE was the best coronation song. It doesn’t have all the “sweet, Ms. America, I’m on Top of the World and I See Rainbows Above the Cloud” feel to it. It has ATTITUDE and PANACHE.
MY DESTINY was the worst. The melody was bad, the lyrics had all the cliches written all over them and the whole song was FORGETTABLE. Poor Kat had to put up with it. It’s no wonder she promoted SOTR as her single and secretly shelved that song ( good for her ).
What’s your opinion ?
ETA, The fact that I BELIEVE was the best coronation song DID LITTLE for Fantasia. It was still the lowest selling coronation song of all Idol WINNERS.
For me “I Believe” was the best coronation song, plus the fact that Fantasia sang it. She added something to it. But to tell the truth, I was also pleased even with Diana’s version of the song.
Mariah to guest on the show? Wow. That would be something. I like that. First off, she needs to clear her songs first. I’m pretty sure a lot of em would wanna sing it. But that does not mean they’d justice to it.
RE: Randy Jackson.
People tend to make fun of the DAWG for his limited vocabulary. However remember — he was the one who introduced the term “pitchy” to the national audience.
People underestimate Randy’s ability to judge talent, but the man, being a musician himself knows what he’s talking about.
Two things for your consideration :
1) It was Randy Jackson ( and of course Paula ) who actively fought Simon for Taylor Hicks to go to Hollywood when Simon said the man can’t be “commercial” and should be singing “backgrounds, not in the spotlight”.
2) It was Randy in Season 3 who chose the now celebrated and potential GOLDEN GLOBE and OSCAR winner, Jennifer Hudson as his wildcard pick when she was criticized by Simon for her “weight” and all other image problems.
I tell ya, the man has an ear for music. Give the DAWG his due.
why oh why do TPTB make the finalists sing such cheesy songs?
I like the show and I absolutely LOVE Taylor, but it was a joke to make him sing that song.