Oh well, at least Nigel didn’t deflect blame and succumb to making the Reaganesque “mistakes were made” excuse, although that would have made for some pretty awesome snark material. TPTB appear to be taking at least some responsibility for the latest less than buzz-worthy season. (Though, I still maintain there is a boatload of talent present in the S6 bunch…)
Nigel Lythgoe, the executive producer of both shows who also serves as a sharp-tongued judge on Dance, said there’s plenty — and that we should all expect some changes on Idol next season. ”We realized we made mistakes on Idol last season,” he said. ”We were so engrossed with the mentors and didn’t really focus on the Melinda Doolittles of the show. We didn’t know them as much as the Kellie Picklers of last season.”
We’re all attached to them a little more,” Lythgoe said about Dance’s focus on its contestants’ lives. ”I think that’s affected us all a little bit more. There are little emotional hooks that come out.” As for an Idol tune-up plan for season 7, Lythgoe revealed the production team is always looking to ”tinker with the program,” adding that ultimately he’d like to see the Idol contestants be as strong as his prized top 10 on So You Think You Can Dance.
Personally, I can do without the super-contrived Pickler-like back stories. However, what makes the show work are the contestants themselves. Once the producers decide that the kids aren’t the real stars of the show, then it’s all over.
So, sure, invite your special guests Nigel, but they should always ALWAYS take a backseat to the kids. Feature more of the Top 44 in the audition phase. Expand the Hollywood Rounds back to 4 episodes. And, make the contestants the central focus of the taped bits featured on the show. It’s a pretty simple formula TPTB started out with back in 2002. Next year, they need to get back to basics. and as Fox entertainment chairman Peter Liguori said,
“We’re one watercooler contestant away from another surge, There’s still a feeling about an upcoming ‘Idol’ season.”
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I must say I was amazed at the mentors and guest appearances they focused on last season after all the comments regarding Prince and Shakira from the previous year.
Maybe they were hoping for validation from featuring the current top 40 artists?
Yes to backstories but no to the overkill on them.
Let’s focus on the idols and their talent and personalities.
Roll on Season 8!!
I don’t think they necessarily need 4, but they definitely need at least 2 nights to show the actual Hollywood rounds and then a night for the “chair” episode.
I think Gina is one who really suffered from the way she was portrayed in the Hollywood rounds this year. Maybe it was to help build up her “rocker cred” to portray her as a bitch, but it didn’t help her in the long run, especially since they basically gave her no backstory. So her “I’m not here to make friends” comment was all people had to base their perceptions on.
I agree on the Kellie Pickler stories - that’s a bit much… but we could definitely use more than “omg she’s just 17!!11!1!1!1!!!” storylines next season. They didn’t even expand on Melinda’s and Brandon’s background singer pasts, Lakisha’s struggles as a single mom (hello! backstory extraordinaire there!), Blake’s involvement with the Seattle music scene, etc.
I think that’s part of the key. They’ve got Idols on top 40 radio, and to get those HUGE top 40 artists on their show (enter Gwen Stefani, Maroon 5, Fergie, Pink, etc), well, that legitimizes them, and the artists AI produces, even more.
I was in Canada for vacation and watched Canadian Idol’s top 10 show. I was surprised to see that they all had hometown visits. It was nice because you learned a little about them, saw where they were from and was still in an hr & 1/2 show. I’d love to see AI do something like that. I’m not so sure about the Kellie Pickler background stories. It seemed like they highlighted her but not so much some of the others.
Nigel’s comments in Time magazine about Taylor not deserving to win and subsequent distancing is the final mistake he’ll ever make with me, I’m done. Yeah, Nigel, maybe you made a bit of a mistake by badmouthing last years popular and deserving winner, ya think? If any extraordinary talent or performances emerge from future seasons, I’m sure I’ll find out online here or elsewhere. The shark has been jumped, there’s no turning back
I disagree with Nigel’s comment that the lack of a backstory on the competitors was the reason that S6 didn’t do as well as S5. The plain truth is that, with the exceptions of Blake and Sanjaya, the S6 gang was a bunch of dull dogs, while the S5 group was an interesting one, even though Kellie and Elliott were the only two with unusual backstories. Contrary to what Simon frequently affirms, it is NOT just a singing competition. It takes more than a pleasant singing voice to make a pop star, a rock star, or a country star; charisma, stage presence and appearance are all factors in the makeup of a star. I guess this is the It or X factor that Simon keeps yammering about.
Well, as usual, I agree with all of you and not with AI PTB :-)
Yes to:
— 4 nights of Hollywood with the last night being “The Chair”. One of my favorite parts of the entire season is the group sings.
— Treat all winners with respect. Hoodathunk I’ll take it one step further with.
— You need to treat all winners with respect and make sure that they “win” because if the contestants do not see winning AI as the most valued prize evah, OR if they feel the season is setup for only a specific person to win, then they will just phone in the performances and not up their game. Hence–boring.
The fact that Nigel chose Melinda as an example of who we needed to know more about just shows he doesn’t “get it”. If he would have used Chris Sligh or Gina as an example, I would have felt more comfortable about any “planned changes.”
I agree with MJ about the talent in season 6. I enjoyed both of the last 2 seasons although actually preferred this one which may be because my favorite was in it to the end. However I don’t think it’s an either/or between the 2. I think part of the reason there’s less buzz right now is that there hasn’t been any record deal announcements and some of the things they normally do like putting out a compilation cd and real singles weren’t done this time.
I think even the usual record deal announcements and CDs wouldn’t create much buzz. Season 6 generated very little buzz with the exception of Sanjaya and he’s just a joke. Blake seems to have some fans but I’ll say most TV viewers have probably forgotten about most of the rest (including Jordin). Hopefully, their talent will give them some career success but AI won’t make them stars this time around.
I think it’s a little early to know what will happen. Chris D shouldn’t be doing as well as he is since he was voted out 4th. At this point last year, he was getting some decent, some mixed reviews from the concerts and the odd pic of him out in LA but that’s about it. The same thing is happening with Blake now although I’m not saying he’ll do as well as Chris in the future but at this point who really knows how any of them will do?