Some Thoughts on the Big Changes Ahead for American Idol
I have a few more thoughts on Ken Warwick’s Monday press conference regarding American Idol’s big schedule and format changes.
In the meantime, get ready, ’cause I’m hearing Simon Cowell will be speaking to reporters today, at 1 PM ET.
I took a look at the ratings for Season 5, Season 6 and Season 7, and it’s true that the numbers begin to sag around the Top 9. This is the producers reasoning for reverting back to the old semi-final format. They believe viewers stop watching because they’re bored with the contestants.
Have TPTB ever considered that maybe some folks tune out when their favorites are eliminated? Or that viewers might become bored with the song choices or the lame-ass mentors? It’ll be interesting to see how the new format affects the ratings this season.
If the ratings do rise, I’ll attribute part of the success to David Cook and David Archuleta, whose current chart successes are making AI seem like a viable star-maker once again.
Warwick says allowing the judges to handpick three of the Top 12 in a “wildcard” round will give good singers a better chance to advance.
Thank you Kirsten, who charted all the wildcard picks Season 1-3. Check it out. Some of the picks, like George Huff and Jennifer Hudson were great. Others, like Carmen Rasmusen and Leah Labelle? Uhm, not so great. History, is not on your side on that one, Ken.
Warwick also says, “If something goes horrendously awry, the judges could fix it on the wild card show.” May I translate? If the producer’s favorites aren’t advanced to the finals by the public, the judges can fit it.
I’m not looking forward to the extra “reality” the producers are promising to dish up. Turning American Idol into another lame reality show with manufactured conflict is not going to pull in the viewers, nor keep their attention. If I wanted to watch that kind of crap, I’d tune into The Bachelor, or watch Ryan Seacrest’s Mama’s Boys.
Advance talented kids with compelling personalities, showcase them properly–keep the focus on the kids and give them decent material to sing, for instance–and you’ll have a show.
Lastly, the latest Paula Abdul drama. Warwick says Paula’s job is not in jeopardy, the show needs her, and she ain’t going nowhere. I believe that. I also believe that the producers knew Paula Goodspeed as nothing more than a Paula superfan.
Paula Abdul doth protest too much, I believe, and if her current negotiations with management go her way–and all signs point to go–expect Paula to never mention Goodspeed again. In fact, look for her to backtrack a bit. Cynical, I know, but I bet I’m right.
One more thing. Idol Gives Back was canceled because the ratings sucked, and the special proved to be lousy Emmy bait (the show hasn’t won yet.). I know, really cynical…
What do you think?
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33 Responses to “Some Thoughts on the Big Changes Ahead for American Idol”
Ain’t that the truth! There’s always somethin to bitch about.
Well he and Cook are both on the radio a lot. This is the first time that both of the Top 2 are having a lot of success, and Idol wants to and should milk it for all its worth. I hope to see them both back performing sometime during Season 8 and at the Finale.
Both of these statements I agree with. Like I said above, there are not too many contestants who can make the themes work for them as well as Cook did. And that doesn’t mean they’re any less talented. It really depends on what type of singer they are and how much experience they have with song arrangements. We cannot hold them all to the same standard of re-arranging songs to fit a certain style just because the reigning Idol did it so successfully. They could run the risk of ruining the integrity of the song then too if they tried. Think Eight Days A Week – BLECH! It’s like they’re damned if they do, damned if they don’t unless they are one hell of a songwriter and composer.
I realize that giving them too much freedom can backfire, but I would err on the side of more freedom than one-artist theme restrictions and stuff like that. No more Broadway, no more Neal Diamond. Motown is fine. Billy Joel would be fun again. But something more modern too would be nice from time to time.
The problem I have with the new format is that only the top 3, is it? will progress each week in the semi finals. I haven’t had a chance to get to know any of the kids in the early rounds well enough to power vote for ANYONE. I didn’t start to vote for David Cook until Little Sparrow week. He just consistently won me over week after week until I felt compelled to pick up the phone and vote. Dial Idol showed that he was in the back of the pack for the first few weeks, and so in this new format, wouldn’t have made it through to top 12.
How can they expect us to know enough about these kids’ potential so early in the competition to make an informed judgment on who to advance? I think that idea is just all kinds of wrong. Perhaps this is a way tptb think they can force us to start voting early because the stakes are raised so high initially. Yes, the stakes are higher in the semis but I still don’t know any of them well enough to care. It just seems a very back asswards way to run things, not that anyone is asking me. Heh.
Well they better learn to make one hell of an impression first time out because that may be all they have. It will be the same way as it was before they changed it in Season 4. I guess I don’t have really have that big of an issue with it. I can see why they are doing it. Higher stakes creates more drama and therefore more interesting TV. I understand the David Cook references, but no one knows for sure what would’ve happened had he only been given one shot to impress. Or perhaps he would’ve been a wildcard selection had he not made the first cut. And having a more open selection of music for semifinals will help too. I think that alone is what held a lot of the kids back in the beginning.
Hopefully, they’re working on their songs already. They will indeed have to jump out of the gate quickly.
My .02 cents in regards to how well David Cook would have done with the new format of only top 3 of 3 groups of 12 progressing to the semi’s (and using the assumption that the hamsters have freedom of song choice), I believe D.C. would have still won this season of Idol.
Imagine hearing D.C. tear into CREEP (edited version of course), Man In The Box, Hunger Strike, or any GnR, NIN song in the semi’s; he would have been labeled TCO, along with Archie, from the get go (that’s my theory, and I’m sticking to it).
But then again, what the hell do I know about Idol? Not a whole lot, seeing as the Finale was the only episode I watched in real time. Whereupon, I was totally impressed by the quality of the performances of all the hamsters, and went back and watched a few episodes on Daily Motion. But, I agree with most of you, in that the songs sung during Season 7 were too old (i.e., boring), resulting in the large drop of viewers by Top 9. If AI can have an age limit on the contestants, then they can also have an age limit on the songs sung; nothing older than 29 years, unless specifically requested by the hamster singing it.
Gosh (tm Archie), I’m beginning to get excited and kind of antsy about watching my first full season of Idol from the very beginning…..and, I’m also looking forward to matching wits and picks with everyone in MJ’s Idol Office Pool…hurry up and get here, January/February.
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Peace Out & POKE SMOT :smoke_tb:
Yes, this definitely did NOT help ratings at all. Many of the kids really started struggling with these restrictive old-timey, one-artist themes and who can blame them. We can’t expect miracles when they’re given so little time to begin with to get stuff together and then given such crappy songs to choose from. But unfortunately, when you’re given this set of circumstances and you fail to pull the rabbit out of your hat, you then have to get slammed by the judges in front of millions of people and then criticized by everyone in America who watches for basically not being a miracle worker.
I have watched the show from the beginning and I am not in favor of the 36 contestant format. Thanks, MJ for this thread.
Honestly, I don’t believe for a minute that this is the reason the ratings went down. Singing “old” music is a challenge for the contestants to reinterpret the lyrics and music. David Cook did such a good job. My favorite “old” music song on the show was “Stand By Me”. Outstanding. Motown 50 is an opportunity to take a song and make it your own. I know I am in the minority here, and I do respect your opinions. Please understand, I don’t mind the newer songs, as I am a music fan. What AI did wrong was to introduce the themes much too early in the competition.
Also, “old” people are not likely to be posting on Forums. LOL! You would be surprised how many Grandparents enjoy the show with their grandchildren. Honestly, I don’t want them to get rid of those horrendous/old mentors. Often, Barry Manilow was cited as the best mentor, which is why he was on the show twice. The younger mentors NEED to provide insight for the contestants.
Getting rid of the manipulation and scripted moments is the NUMBER ONE thing AI can do to improve the show.