No American Idol season 10 thread yet? [Archive] - Page 3

Solecismic

05-19-2011, 03:34 AM

Welcome to the penultimate episode of Country Idol 2011. Looking toward the stage you see three aspiring singing stars. Which one doesn't belong? I'll leave it for you to decide, but my bet's on the one who was tortured with impossible songs chosen for her by the Idol staff. You know, the one who sings just about anything but country.

Kristy Lee Cook is kicking herself for trying out three years too soon. She coulda been a contenda. Kellie Pickler just laughs and counts her money. No matter how hard she laughs, though, her shirt never moves. Kind of like Ryan Seacrest's hair in a stiff breeze.

I don't think any of you have any illusions about who I'm picking first tonight, but I'll throw the ratings together for the round of three anyway.

1. Haley Reinhart (surprise, surprise). They let her pick a song that inspired her for the first round, and she went with Led Zeppelin's "What Is and What Should Never Be." This showed off range and her ability to go on runs. They let her dad play some guitar, which made it a lot of fun for her. Jimmy Iovine sadistically chose the impossible Fleetwood Mac tune "Rhiannon" for her in the middle round. She actually did a more than credible job, focusing on hitting every note and staying in control of the vocal. Finally, the judges just kicked her in the groin with Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know," which has verses that Haley chose to sing out of her range. A mistake, perhaps, but she did a nice job finishing the song and showed off a lot of power in the choruses. 94, 86 and 80.

2. Lauren Alaina. She was at her worst in the opener, breathy and weak, especially in the early part of the song. Iovine gave her something that ruined her panty hose in the middle. I don't recognize it and it didn't suit her voice. She apparently missed a few notes in the middle as well. Still, everyone thought she was wonderful. The judges gave her a pretty Lee Ann Womack tune to finish the evening. This allowed her to show off more of her power and tone, and was easily her best of the night. 73, 74 and 83.

3. Scotty McCreery. Apparently unwilling to challenge his voting block for even a second, he decided to open with the same song he's thrown out there for a couple of months now. And he did the same decent job he's been doing all season. Iovine then chose something kitschy for him, something about being kissed. It was painfully awkward. I don't understand why the judges raved - his emoting was absolutely wrong for the song, and it didn't show off his voice at all. He finished with a decent choice from the judges, a familiar Kenny Rogers song. He was OK, but if you held that rendition up, side-by-side, against Rogers? It paled in comparison. Gotta know when to fold 'em. 77, 65 and 71.

Who Should Go: Scotty.

Who Will Go: I can say for certain it won't be Scotty. Haley, probably. She might have had a good chance if her Zeppelin had closed out the night.

CrimsonFox

05-19-2011, 04:00 AM

Not even going to rate these. I fast forwarded through the other two singers' songs. Just don't wanna hear them anymore. LOVED Haley's zepplin song. That was SUCH a mistake doing YOu Oughtta know. Something just feels SO SO WRONG when you change the lyrics. I did like the rhiannon take. :) She sung it very much like stevie has sung it in concert. Starting off slow. There was a point she gave a very dark look at the camera. gave me chills.

CrimsonFox

05-19-2011, 04:05 AM

THIS is the Alanis song Haley should have sung as the closing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvgi7P97lu0

Uninvited!

wade moore

05-19-2011, 04:50 AM

Mota

05-19-2011, 05:05 AM

Wade, at least you tried to watch some. The annoying people are the ones who never watch, and never gave it a chance, and still feel they're entitled to hijack a thread and diss everything.

I'm also tired of this season. I thought there was great talent this year, but much of it is gone and we're left with Scotty. I loved Scotty in the beginning even though I hate country, but he's gotten weaker and weaker every week. His act grows tiring, it's the same thing week in and week out, and he's also proven that he sucks when he steps outside of that comfort zone. I do like Haley but she wasn't one of my faves in the first half of the season. And finally there's Lauren who I think is decidedly mediocre, but the judges have been pumping her up so much that it may have helped her get to this point.

Ksyrup

05-19-2011, 06:53 AM

THIS is the Alanis song Haley should have sung as the closing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvgi7P97lu0

Uninvited!

She had no choice - the judges picked it for her.

Ksyrup

05-19-2011, 07:01 AM

I haven't watched in like 6 or 8 weeks after loving this show.

I watched about 1/3 or so of last night's.

I understand why I gave up on it.

The contestants aren't good. The judges aren't good. The shows not good.

I hate people that come in to dump on a show in a thread, and I'm really not trying to do that. I just feel like this season was a real step back in the show and I hope that maybe it can get back on track next year.

Eh, this show has never been that good, honestly. I think Nigel has overall done a decent job in getting it back on track from last year's shit fest, when Simon was too bored to care and they kept up with the faux homoerotica banter between him and Ryan (Yo Dawg has tried to keep that thread alive but fortunately done a poor job of it). The main thing that needs to be revamped is the judges - I don't even care WHO judges, just as long as they, you know, judge. This season, it was a waste spending 5 minutes for every performance to allow them to speak. They could have saved about $30M this season and just had Iovine and a bunch of guest judges and been much better off. It seems that the mantra of "we don't want to replace Simon" was interpreted as "no one can say anything bad ever" which, when combined with the fact that the show is over a decade old and has to keep touting the "best ever" talent, turned the judges panel into bozo cheerleaders.

I really didn't think the talent was any better or worse than a typical year, but this is what happens when you pimp a couple of country singers on a show that skews southern - you end up with Howdy E. Neumann and a teenybopper Pickles Lite as your leading candidates. They also cut out a couple of singer-songwriter guys from the competition scared they would get another Cook/Allen/DeWyze, and what they were left with was Stefano and Metal Lambert Lite. They did a poor job picking the top 24/12.

Ksyrup

05-19-2011, 07:22 AM

I'm pretty sure I won't be watching next week's shows because (a) I can't fathom listening to Scotty 3 more times on Tuesday, then a bunch on Wednesday, and (b) he will easily win and I can't stomach watching that. I usually choose a couple of contestants I love to hate each season (actually, they choose me with their voices, performances, and other stuff), but Scotty has easily been the most annoying, awful, loathesome contestant I've had the misfortunate to suffer through since I've been watching this show. He barreled right through Mikaylah Gordon and Chicken Little within about 2 weeks of the live shows starting up. He embodies everything that is terrible about country music (a genre I don't listen to much, but like on occasion when it's done right and not as some sort of faux patriotic/down home shtick) - if I tried to draw up a caraciture of the cliches I hate about country music, I couldn't come close to hitting them all on the head like he does.

Sorry...just needed to unleash my final Scotty vent (I promise).

Matthean

05-19-2011, 08:29 AM

Pumpy Tudors

05-19-2011, 10:07 AM

we need to get kenny rogers, englebert humperdinck, and the ghost of laura branigan to roll up in there and show those kids who's boss

CrimsonFox

05-19-2011, 02:49 PM

She had no choice - the judges picked it for her.

The judges are dumb then. (but we kinda knew this). Why'd they choose the song out of her range and then blast her for it. I wonder if there are some new goodoleboy producers in there that are skewing things and like giving Tyler a free snort of coke each time he does what he wants them to do.

I'm pretty sure I won't be watching next week's shows because (a) I can't fathom listening to Scotty 3 more times on Tuesday, then a bunch on Wednesday, and (b) he will easily win and I can't stomach watching that. I usually choose a couple of contestants I love to hate each season (actually, they choose me with their voices, performances, and other stuff), but Scotty has easily been the most annoying, awful, loathesome contestant I've had the misfortunate to suffer through since I've been watching this show. He barreled right through Mikaylah Gordon and Chicken Little within about 2 weeks of the live shows starting up. He embodies everything that is terrible about country music (a genre I don't listen to much, but like on occasion when it's done right and not as some sort of faux patriotic/down home shtick) - if I tried to draw up a caraciture of the cliches I hate about country music, I couldn't come close to hitting them all on the head like he does.

Sorry...just needed to unleash my final Scotty vent (I promise).

Ksyrup I'm confused. How do you REALLY feel?

Lathum

05-19-2011, 04:26 PM

Scotty has easily been the most annoying, awful, loathesome contestant I've had the misfortunate to suffer through since I've been watching this show.

I had no idea you felt this way about him...

CrimsonFox

05-19-2011, 05:32 PM

I can't wait for Scotty to sing "Babylockdemdoors'm" 3 times for the finale. That's gonna be awesome.

Eaglesfan27

05-19-2011, 07:32 PM

Did you notice what else they did to screw Haley? When they showed the other two revealing their judges' picks, they were surrounded by dozens of adoring fans. Haley? Alone in a car. She has no fans, obviously.

Yes, thought it was a real hack job.

Ksyrup

05-20-2011, 07:14 AM

AI is doing the survey thing again. Let them have it here:

What Do You Think of Season 10? - Show and Alumni News - American Idol (http://www.americanidol.com/news/view/pid/5095)

JonInMiddleGA

05-20-2011, 07:31 AM

we need to get kenny rogers, englebert humperdinck, and the ghost of laura branigan to roll up in there and show those kids who's boss

That does seem to be what a lot of folks want.

Well, either that or maybe judges from bands that no one has ever heard of that will never manage to sell more than half a case of CD's from the trunk of their hybrid.

Ksyrup

05-20-2011, 07:39 AM

I don't care who they get to judge - they just need to cut the strings from the puppeteering they do to sell the contestants as TEH BEST EVAH! It's insulting to us, as viewers.

GrantDawg

05-20-2011, 09:00 AM

AI is doing the survey thing again. Let them have it here:

What Do You Think of Season 10? - Show and Alumni News - American Idol (http://www.americanidol.com/news/view/pid/5095)

Done. Killed the judges. Killed them.

Sun Tzu

05-20-2011, 09:36 AM

I haven't missed an AI episode since Season 5. I have to say, short of Pia, Casey and James Durbin, the contestants this year have been shit. It really is amateur hour now. They should be happy that Simon is gone, because he would have shit himself with these two in the finale.

MacroGuru

05-20-2011, 10:02 AM

They should be happy that Simon is gone, because he would have shit himself with these two in the finale.

I don't think these two would be in the finale if Simon were around.

Arles

05-20-2011, 11:34 AM

I just started watching a few weeks back and caught maybe 3 of the prior 5 shows in some order as my fiancée has been into the show for a while. My favorite by far was Pia, but given she wasn't country or male (and was a knockout) - she lacked the voting block in AI viewers (same thing that hurt Haley for the finals). Out of the final 5, I actually enjoyed Scotty and Lauren more than the others. I can't ever see myself buying a record by Haley as her voice annoys me, but that's more of a personal taste issue.

I also think if I had to listen to Scotty sing the same songs/style for 20 straight weeks, he'd be on my nerves as well. But, with only a 2-3 week exposure to him, he isn't half bad. He reminds me a little of Easton Corbin or a younger George Strait, which I can tolerate in small doses. I think Lauren could end up the biggest star as she reminds me a lot of the lead singer of the Dixie Chicks (a little chunky, bubbly and has a nice country voice).

All that said, this show is becoming old hat and quite tiresome. Without critical judging, it becomes a "teeny bopper" contest for average singers at best. After seeing this judging crew, it wouldn't surprise me at all if the best singer ended up being someone voted off early or even in Hollywood week. I can't imagine this continuing much longer as is, but who knows.

Ksyrup

05-24-2011, 08:27 AM

The song choices for tonight's craptacular final performance show are starting to leak. Apparently for one song, George Strait will choose for Scotty and Carrie Underwood will choose for Lauren. Here's the best part - Lauren's single is a re-tread from Kristy Cook's first (only?) album.

Ksyrup

05-25-2011, 07:14 AM

What, no posts about one of the worst final performance nights ever? So bad that Nigel had his buddies at TMZ leak possible "shocking news" that Lauren Alaina lost her voice and Haley would take her place? So lopsided with an eventual Scotty victory that the entire night was a Lauren lovefest, in an attempt to either get people to actually vote for her to win, or maybe to make it even halfway close and not embarrass her?

That was some craptacular music last night. I Love You This Big? Seriously?! I believe if you run that through the country-to-crap translator, it comes out as This Is My Now.

We missed the first 2 performances, as I didn't want to watch and we didn't even set it to record. But the wife insisted, so I watched tornado updates on FB and Twitter while the rest of the show played. Underwhelming, to say the least. So underwhelming that Jim apparently couldn't bring himself to post.

CrimsonFox

05-25-2011, 07:41 AM

I don't think these two would be in the finale if Simon were around.

I am surprised I haven't seen any Simon quotes about this. I guess he wants to not lose ratings before his show even starts. :) But in private I bet he's saying what horrible rubbish judges and singers and everything they are. :)

Ksyrup

05-25-2011, 09:38 AM

Ha! This is from Jim Cantiello's live blog of last night's show:

8:16 p.m.: Commercial break #2 has me thinking, who is Haley Reinhart's idol? And who would producers have booked instead? "With his pick for Haley Reinhart, here's internationally convicted child molester Gary Glitter!"

Ksyrup

05-25-2011, 02:37 PM

First time a Tuesday Idol finale was beaten in total viewers - DWTS had 1 million more.

Pumpy Tudors

05-25-2011, 03:19 PM

First time a Tuesday Idol finale was beaten in total viewers - DWTS had 1 million more.
And I bet Pittsburgh is claiming that the additional 1 million DWTS viewers were all Steelers fans who willed Hines Ward to victory. Those 1 million people all want the mirror ball trophy to come back home to Pittsburgh (not that Pittsburgh was ever its home in the first place) where it belongs, and this will cause the Steelers to win the next six Super Bowls, the Penguins to win the next three Stanley Cups, and the Pirates to take one game out of a four-game set in Milwaukee either this season or next. Apparently, whenever a Pittsburgh Steelers player is involved with anything, the city of Pittsburgh and the Steelers fans are responsible for victory.

Funny, I have yet to see Steelers fans take any credit for Green Bay's victory in the most recent Super Bowl, but I digress.

JonInMiddleGA

05-25-2011, 03:33 PM

More Than 122 Million Votes Cast Following Last Nightâ€™s â€œAmerican Idolâ€ Performance Show, The Highest Number Of Votes In The Seriesâ€™ History - Ratings | TVbytheNumbers (http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/05/25/more-than-122-million-votes-cast-following-last-night%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Camerican-idol%E2%80%9D-performance-show-the-highest-number-of-votes-in-the-series%E2%80%99-history/93903/)

Solecismic

05-25-2011, 03:52 PM

Teen Country Idol locked them doors and turned the lights down low for its final performance of the season last night. Yes, there's a coronation event tonight, but the results are forgone and music fans are already forlorn.

What was notable about last night? The parody that has become of the judging was at least acknowledged. The judges didn't say a word until after both contestants had sung two of their three songs. They weren't missed in the slightest. And they had nothing to say, except different amalgamations of synonyms for amazing.

At this point, executive producer Nigel Lythgoe has to realize that changes are necessary. The finale is supposed to be exciting, not an afterthought. Less than 20 million people watched last night, as compared to an average of almost 23 million during the season, which included all the insipid audition shows. And the finale was down more than 10% from last season's finale.

Both performers last night went with three country songs. It felt like an afterthought now that all the better singers are out of the competition. Scotty was even more exposed for his limitations, Lauren even more for her lack of polish. Both were often eclipsed by the background, especially by an ever-present violin (oops, fiddle).

The anti-climax finished with an Idol tradition: forcing the poor suckers to sing their first "single" should they win the competition. Smart move, giving the front-runner reason to tank the last song. Rumors that Kara DioGuardi returned to write these horrific meandering singles for Scotty and Lauren were false. The results were no different, however. Both were trite and under-rehearsed.

On to the needless rankings for the finale:

1a. Haley Reinhart. Her absence was superior to the presence of the other two.

1b. Lauren Alaina. In her first song, which was a reprise of what she thought she sung best during the season, she sounded tired and behind the pace. Definitely her worst effort of the night. She followed up with a song recommended by Carrie Underwood, who knows the game very well. It showed off what power she has. It was the only song of all six from last night that I found even marginally acceptable for a finale. She did OK with the song written for her, but it was such a dull and redundant song that I think radio stations will decline to play it should she win. Which she won't. 71, 84 and 79.

2. Scotty McCreery. He went with "Gone," his crowd-pleaser, for the opener. It was a good choice and showed off exactly what he'll do when he grows up. George Strait picked one of his own songs to give Scotty for his second performance, and probably giggled, maybe even peed his pants a little, with the result. It highlighted what Scotty can't do in country, which is emulate Josh Turner singing something that isn't in his repertoire. Finally, Scotty was given a ridiculous "original single" for the end of the show. It exposed his problems emulating country radio with something he hasn't had time to practice. It was very weak. 78, 67 and 65.

Who Should Win: Haley. I suppose if I had to pick between the two finalists, I'd have no problem recommending Lauren. But among the 12 semifinalists, I'd have her ranked sixth or seventh.

Who Will Win: Scotty. Despite the judges' efforts to make this competitive, Scotty will win this easily. The judges spent whatever currency they had early this season, and their opinions no longer matter to the viewers.

Thanks for reading another season of my Idol rankings. I enjoy writing these, even when the music isn't so enjoyable. Believe it or not, this is my seventh season with full recaps.

PackerFanatic

05-25-2011, 03:54 PM

... and the Pirates to take one game out of a four-game set in Milwaukee either this season or next.

Now THAT is laugh-worthy, Mr. Tudors :-D

Lathum

05-25-2011, 04:03 PM

Thanks for the write ups Jim, I love reading them.

Now go work on TCY2

CrimsonFox

05-25-2011, 05:43 PM

Thanks for the write ups Jim, I love reading them.

+1. Friggin hilarious recaps. Better than the actual show. (but granted so is caulking the bathroom tile.)

Mota

05-25-2011, 08:35 PM

I have watched every single episode of AI since Season 2. But my wife and I skipped last night's episode, and it didn't bother us in the least.

And of course tonight is the 2 hour fluff piece, with almost no content, almost all commercials (some for product, some for singers). And usually, a complete waste of time.

I remember when the eviction episodes were 30 minutes, those were brisk and tension filled. Now they are drawn out, full of guest appearances and boring as all hell.

I agree about the judges, I think they did a great job at identifying the good talent in the beginning, but showed themselves completely unable to JUDGE after the show had truly begun.

Did I hear correctly about having a doctor come to check Lauren ON STAGE before her performance? Like that couldn't have happened 30 seconds earlier backstage? So basically it sounds like a giant excuse in case she s&*t the bed during her performance.

Anyways I wish the best to the winner, whoever it is, but I've never cared less than this season. The producers will definitely have to work harder to put together something with more integrity for next season. Maybe eliminate the text voting or something and get some better judges.

MJ4H

05-25-2011, 09:04 PM

Who Should Win: Haley.

and it isn't even close.

JonInMiddleGA

05-25-2011, 09:13 PM

Maybe eliminate the text voting or something and get some better judges.

Restrict the voting much & you'd kill a great deal of the buzz that exists around the show & I doubt they're going to be inclined to look in that direction very hard.

Mota

05-25-2011, 09:30 PM

Restrict the voting much & you'd kill a great deal of the buzz that exists around the show & I doubt they're going to be inclined to look in that direction very hard.

You're probably right. It just seems like opening the door to text voting has skewered the way voting is going too much in one direction.

JonInMiddleGA

05-25-2011, 09:47 PM

Up the thread a bit, someone mentioned DWTS beating AI for the first time ... but I thought everybody here kept insisting that 18-49 was what really mattered in ratings?

AI beat it 6.2 to 4.5 in that demo (although Glee surely helped hold Dancing down there while AI had no real competition at 8p), while losing by about 1m in total viewers.

edit to add: Ah, I think I found the 7% decline in AI's ratings ... Heat/Bulls Game 4 rocked a 4.2 rating 18-49 & nearly 10m total viewers.

Mustang

05-25-2011, 10:18 PM

I've been hooked on Idol since season 2. I thought as the season went on, I'd break down and get hooked, but save for a few weeks I just didn't care this season. No contestant grabbed me and the 'judges' (If there was ever a case to use air quotes, it is now) were just crap.

Overall.. blah. Simon would have tore Scottie a new asshole up and down in previous seasons and I doubt he would have made it to the top 24 let alone win.

GrantDawg

05-25-2011, 10:22 PM

Ummmm.....did anyone know that the country twins were dating till Scotty let it be known there at the end? Rumours usually fly around these things, but I hadn't heard anything about that.

StrangeWay

05-25-2011, 10:22 PM

AI sucks, the Voice is better and X Factor is gonna kill AI.

Pumpy Tudors

05-25-2011, 10:36 PM

AI sucks, the Voice is better and X Factor is gonna kill AI.
How do you feel about Elmo Knows Your Name?

Lathum

05-26-2011, 12:05 AM

Ummmm.....did anyone know that the country twins were dating till Scotty let it be known there at the end? Rumours usually fly around these things, but I hadn't heard anything about that.

My wife called it last night but it certainly seems like something is going on

Ksyrup

05-26-2011, 06:49 AM

I didn't even get that from watching - but then again, "watching" meant FF'ing through 95% of it. I saw Judas Priest, Tony Bennett, sat through that boring ass U2 song, and then the announcement. Either he said something earlier, or I missed it during the celebration.

Speaking of Judas Priest, one of their long-time guitarists quit the band last week. I'm wondering if the decision to go on Idol played at least a small part in it. Hard to believe that the world premiere of the first new JP guitarist in 40 yearrs would come on... American Idol.

As far as the voting goes, I don't think they want to give up the "world record" voting numbers they had this year, but it remains to be seen how they square that with the demographic of who votes and the bias that brings. I seriously hope they don't think the voting is fine jsut because 2 women made the top 3. I'm not sure there is much they can do, aside from move to a SYTYCD format where the audience chooses the bottom 3 and the judges get the ultimate decision.

CrimsonFox

05-26-2011, 07:05 AM

Have always liked SYTYCD better partially because of that and partially because that bad singers are boring and painful, but bad dancers are funny...and the songs are real polished songs. And really there usually aren't many bad dancers on the show.

Ksyrup

05-26-2011, 07:12 AM

The biggest difference between AI as a singing competition and SYTYCD as a dancing competition is the limitations you have with singing. With song, people expect to hear stuff they know or will like, with little regard for the artistic integrity of it. With dance, they don't have that limitation. They are able to create new dances every week and explore the artsy side of dance without having to rein it in too much (within reason), and that makes the show more authentic. People have less knowledge of and less of an emotional attachment to what they consider "good dancing," but everyone has an opinion on music. So they are kinda stuck. Plus, SYTYCD gets to use music as a soundtrack to the dance, so they get to have it both ways.

CrimsonFox

05-26-2011, 07:16 AM

yup :) well said. Although they also have the occasional thorn in their paw...name of which is the ever-irrelevant Debbie Allen and the completely predictable Shane Sparks.

Ksyrup

05-26-2011, 07:26 AM

So apparently Danny Gokey started trending last night on twitter, and I can only assume people were rehashing his Dream On debacle after Steven Tyler did it last night.

I was also surprised at how little of Dream On Tyler performed, given all the time JLo and her Latino Steve Buscemi (seriously, either I've never really looked at that guy, or he's aged 30 years in the last 5) were given.

GrantDawg

05-26-2011, 07:54 AM

Ksyrup

05-26-2011, 07:59 AM

Ksyrup

05-26-2011, 08:00 AM

Did you see his Tweet on it? "Why I am trending tonight? Did I die and no one told me?" :)

Ha! We all died a little on that last note he tried to hit that night.

JonInMiddleGA

05-26-2011, 08:02 AM

Incidentally, final ratings for Tuesday night saw AI gain 0.2 and DWTS gain 0.1 in 18-49's, meaning AI's last performance show was off less than the 7% indicated by the fast overnights (that were mentioned here).

Nothing unusual about the adjustment, it was expected for both shows (as the smaller markets are added to the totals).

Alan T

05-26-2011, 08:02 AM

Oh, and a bit of X-Factor news - Cheryl Cole, some chick from the UK I've never heard of, has already been dropped as a judge due to a heavy British accent and a lack of chemistry with Paula Abdul. Nicole Scherzinger, some chick from the US I've never heard of, is replacing her as co-host AND judge. Not a good start for Simon's show this soon.

I'm surprised that you haven't heard of Nicole. She was lead singer of one of those popular groups a while back but she also was one of the judges on the Sing off (on NBC) and was pretty bad at it.

Ksyrup

05-26-2011, 08:03 AM

I have heard the name, but I have no idea who she is or what she's famous for.

Never watched the Sing Off.

Alan T

05-26-2011, 08:12 AM

I have heard the name, but I have no idea who she is or what she's famous for.

Never watched the Sing Off.

Ahh, well she is attractive to look at, but her judging style is pretty much like Paula lite. Never has anything bad to say to any contestant and not even really much constructive. Seemed half the comments were build up comments, many that don't even apply to the singing. (Commenting on how good someone looked or whatever).

I don't know how it will play having both her and paula as judges, but seems like it is going to fall on Simon for every single constructive criticism for any act that we'll see.

Ksyrup

05-26-2011, 08:15 AM

The way the show works, though, is that each judge is also a mentor. It's kinda like a combo of AI and The Voice (or as Simon would say, The Voice is a rip-off of AI and X-Factor). That's why NBC rushed The Voice for this spring, to get a foot up on X-Factor and to try to make the mentor thing less of a novelty for the AI crowd.

Anyway, if you've got a couple of weak, pandering judges and Simon, it seems to me that Simon's people are likely to dominate the show, as he will be much harsher on other mentors' contestants and the other judges will sound like AI's judges this year by comparison.

wade moore

05-26-2011, 08:16 AM

I'm surprised that you haven't heard of Nicole. She was lead singer of one of those popular groups a while back but she also was one of the judges on the Sing off (on NBC) and was pretty bad at it.

Ahh, well she is attractive to look at, but her judging style is pretty much like Paula lite. Never has anything bad to say to any contestant and not even really much constructive. Seemed half the comments were build up comments, many that don't even apply to the singing. (Commenting on how good someone looked or whatever).

I don't know how it will play having both her and paula as judges, but seems like it is going to fall on Simon for every single constructive criticism for any act that we'll see.

Ugh. Her and Paula together will be A-W-F-U-L.

I was very excited about X-Factor, this is a serious blow for my interest.

She was SO bad on the Sing-Off, highlighted by how good Ben Folds and Shawn Stockman are.

GrantDawg

05-26-2011, 08:38 AM

Once they announced Paula as a judge, my interest dropped. Now it is at zero.

bulletsponge

05-26-2011, 02:28 PM

no Cheryl, no sale

CrimsonFox

05-26-2011, 02:35 PM

Agreed wade and Dawg. Why oh why did they put Paula on the show? She is a mess. She needs serious rehab and psychotherapy...

No credibility and a train wreck to watch (and a much too happy train wreck at that...). Now I probably WOULD tune in to "Paula Abdul's Rehab". That would be a megahit.

Ksyrup

05-26-2011, 02:43 PM

I think Simon's trying to have it both ways - position X-Factor as a new show, separate from AI, but offering viewers the "comfort" of the way AI was before all the judging changes the last 2 years. There will be, I'm sure, a bit of "I want the AI I used to love watching" in the TV audience for X-Factor. A nostalgia factor, I guess.

CrimsonFox

05-27-2011, 05:16 AM

Happy Birthday Solecismic!

FOr your birthday, have a video....I think he is better than Scotty myself...

<iframe width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vqmy5qrvaVQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

JonInMiddleGA

05-27-2011, 06:42 AM

LMAO ... yep, everybody sure was mad at AI

Updated TV Ratings Wednesday: ‘American Idol’ Finale Up, Buries Competition; ABC’s Finales Down vs. Last Year - Ratings | TVbytheNumbers (http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/05/26/tv-ratings-wednesday-american-idol-finale-up-buries-competition-abcs-finales-down-vs-last-year/93940/)
Of course, Fox dominated the final night of the 2010-11 broadcast season with the two hour seaon finale of American Idol which scored a 9.2 adults 18-49 rating and 29.3 million viewers. ... That was up 12% for adults 18-49 and 21% for viewership compared to last year’s finale 8.2 adults 18-49 rating and 24.223 million average viewers. It was also the first time in five years that American Idol finale ratings topped the previous season’s.

Update: From 10:00-10:07 Eastern when the winner was announced, the show averaged 38.6 million viewers.

Ksyrup

05-27-2011, 07:04 AM

Well, I guess the lesson in this is: more country!

k0ruptr

05-27-2011, 07:57 AM

I like country. I guess I should have watched this season. In all honesty I didn't watch a single episode. Was there a lot of country this season? maybe I'll catch up if so. wait, I meant was there a lot of decent/good country? I don't wanna watch if its all crap.

MJ4H

05-27-2011, 08:17 AM

it was all crap

Ksyrup

05-27-2011, 08:18 AM

It was crap.

You had two kids - a guy with a deep voice and a knack for copying his favorite country singers and absurd/goofy facial expressions, and a girl with a good voice but the confidence of an 8-year old.

Neither were, or are, ready for primetime, IMO. And that's completely ignoring their chosen genre. But yeah, there was a lot of country this season.

JonInMiddleGA

05-27-2011, 08:18 AM

it was all crap

Same as virtually every other season to date

GrantDawg

05-27-2011, 10:47 AM

Country had very little to do with the finale night. U2, Beyonce, Jack Black, Lady Gaga etc. It was actually a fun episode. I fast forwarded through the final 13 group stuff, but most of the rest was pretty good. Even Steven Tyler's performance was cool. You can't really judge the last night viewership by the finalist (I think the previous night's was the tell on that).

JonInMiddleGA

05-27-2011, 11:14 AM

You can't really judge the last night viewership by the finalist (I think the previous night's was the tell on that).

People were willing to watch to see who won, and that's the bottom line. Despite all the whining about wannabe X,Y, or Z that was cut, despite all the country haterade, despite the virtual disappearance of any actual judging, at the end of the day the results show went up instead of down for the first time in five years. Hard to kick dirt on that performance no matter how you slice it.

The previous night scuffled (down give or take 4% in the final numbers) seemingly because they lost males to the Bulls-Heat, which isn't a combo that's going to happen every year.

Cable will continue to erode the broadcast numbers, the show will continue to slowly slide to eventual death, but it certainly looks more like it'll die of old age rather than the dire complaints that were so popular during this season.

Ksyrup

05-27-2011, 11:34 AM

I agree with that. As an avid watcher of the show, this year was pretty typical, I thought. It's not like I've really ever followed a single one of these people after the show, and by early April, I'm ready for it to end. So I'm not the typical AI watcher. I still marvel at all the people who buy into the legitimacy of these contestants as artists simply because of the forum they are given to seek publicity and be pumped up for no discernable reason. And that, when it boils down to it, is the primary reason I watch. This show is like a petri dish for puppeteering played out on TV every 6 months.

They likely won't make many changes, at least not without eating a ton of money. I believe Tyler and Dawg have multi-year contracts. JLo doesn't, and is in talks to produce her own Latin-flavored singing/dancing competition, so she may bolt. But what woman are they going to bring in who could serve the dual role of female and heartless bitch/straight-talker that the judges panel desperately needs?

As far as entertainment goes, the judges' comments were the main part of the live show I looked forward to and enjoyed. And now that's gone, so there is literally nothing else but music I wouldn't listen to sung by mediocre personalities I wouldn't follow. So it would be unfortunate if they didn't at least attempt to fix the problem.

MJ4H

05-27-2011, 11:54 AM

This was the first finale I didn't watch and had no interest in watching.

Ksyrup

05-27-2011, 12:00 PM

Well, we watched it, but that's being pretty generous to say we "watched it." We started watching at 9pm and by 9:20, had caught up to the live show. And then we spent the majority of the next 45 minutes on Weather Channel, flipping back and forth to see if there was anything interesting going on.

JonInMiddleGA

05-27-2011, 12:04 PM

But what woman are they going to bring in who could serve the dual role of female and heartless bitch/straight-talker that the judges panel desperately needs?

What's Sharon Osbourne doing these days?

Scoobz0202

05-27-2011, 01:31 PM

America's Got Talent, mang.

CrimsonFox

05-27-2011, 09:35 PM

This was the first finale I didn't watch and had no interest in watching.

+1000

My DVR even shut itself off for 2 days to avoid having to record it.

Ksyrup

06-10-2011, 03:15 PM

In an interview with K Frog Live at the CMA Festival (http://mjsbigblog.com/#) today, Scotty McCreery reveals to the DJs that he’s already recorded 5 songs for his debut album on Thursday. He probably won’t do any co-writing on the first album, but will “work his tail off” on the first, hoping it keeps him around for a second.

Least surprising news ever.

"OK - what do you think of this? Baby turn the deadbolt and pull the shades down slow?"

Lathum

06-10-2011, 04:08 PM

I think its great that even after the season is over you continue to hate on him.

Matthean

06-10-2011, 10:39 PM

JonInMiddleGA

06-10-2011, 11:09 PM

I find it interesting the winner has already assumed he could get axed after one album. I also next to never expect them to even co-write songs. If they had any sort of songwriting ability, they most likely wouldn't be needing to use a show singing other people's songs.

Eh, any AI winner who doesn't recognize that possibility would have to be an idiot I'd think.

Also, off hand I imagine you'd find over half the current country top 40 being written by someone other than the performer, even co-writing credits are often iffy. Nothing new at all about that, I suspect that country might have the highest percentage of it of any genre.

Probably something that was more top of mind for me than it would have been normally, after noting that Jason Aldean (who does write) closed out the CMT Awards this weeks with a pair of songs written (and originally recorded) by Brantley Gilbert (who is from just up the road from me, in Jefferson, GA). That's apparently been a bit controversial for Gilbert's considerably smaller fan base but frankly nobody who likes Aldean gives a rat's ass, songwriting or the lack thereof really has no stigma with the country audience at all.

GrantDawg

06-10-2011, 11:40 PM

Eh, any AI winner who doesn't recognize that possibility would have to be an idiot I'd think.

Also, off hand I imagine you'd find over half the current country top 40 being written by someone other than the performer, even co-writing credits are often iffy. Nothing new at all about that, I suspect that country might have the highest percentage of it of any genre.

Probably something that was more top of mind for me than it would have been normally, after noting that Jason Aldean (who does write) closed out the CMT Awards this weeks with a pair of songs written (and originally recorded) by Brantley Gilbert (who is from just up the road from me, in Jefferson, GA). That's apparently been a bit controversial for Gilbert's considerably smaller fan base but frankly nobody who likes Aldean gives a rat's ass, songwriting or the lack thereof really has no stigma with the country audience at all.

This. There are a lot of good country songwriters (and performers for that matter) that just aren't "marketable." and vis-versa. Actually, that is true in every segment of the music industry. Hitting it big often has less to do with over-all talent, than hitting the right lightning in the bottle. Scotty is going to do fine (being a name gives you such a huge leg-up in country music).

GrantDawg

06-15-2011, 12:40 PM

First one may be out: J-Lo undecided on second season on 'American Idol' *| accessAtlanta (http://www.accessatlanta.com/atlanta-music/j-lo-undecided-on-977326.html?cxntlid=thbz_hm)

CrimsonFox

06-15-2011, 12:42 PM

Not surprised. And it would only help the show. There is not enough bitching about Scotty tho. Let's bitch some more.

Ksyrup

06-15-2011, 12:53 PM

Yeah, that's been the case since the middle of the season when her new show about latin dancers/singers or whatever made the news. I doubt she comes back, because she doesn't need to.

Honestly, at this point it doesn't matter who they put at the judges' table because it has become beyond painfully obvious that the judges aren't there to provide any real information or critiques, they are just part of the puppet show orchestrated by Nigel to sell the chosen contestants. And while many people might think that's been the case all along - and maybe it has - with Simon on the panel it always felt more like they managed the show/storylines around the critiques, and not the other way around. Now, it's like they've mapped out the entire season beforehand and use the judges, the extra special effects and musicians for select contestants, the order of the performance, the song choices, etc., to get to a pre-planned ending.

Ksyrup

07-15-2011, 12:06 PM

Ha!

Simon Cowell asked FOX to reschedule the World Series?

That’s what The Wall Street Journal reports in a new and in-depth article on the man we love to hate. Afraid that the series would interfere with the X Factor rollout, Simon asked network executives if they might reschedule.

“I asked them if they would change it by a couple of days,” he admits. Executives at Fox Broadcasting, which will air both, said no.

Ksyrup

09-22-2011, 07:56 AM

MacroGuru

09-22-2011, 08:10 AM

So, did anyone watch X-Factor?

We didn't. I was completely uninterested after seeing a snippet of the audition process, which basically looked like America's Got Talent or Star Search without the novelty acts. It looked really, really bad. And there doesn't seem to be even a hint of buzz about the show, either. I'm guessing it bombs badly.

We did decide to record The Sing Off, which isn't really my style but does feature people who can really sing, not to mention Ben Folds, who was as good as I expected him to be. I had no idea this show was already in its 3rd season. We'll probably keep watching.

It gets a meh from me. We watched it last night. I think the producers know they have to have something there. Contention between LA Reid and Simon and then on the 9 pm show, they had some putz up singing who dropped his drawers on stage and pranced around for his entire song....Paula supposedly was physically ill from it and left to vomit.....

Not watching it anymore.

Easy Mac

09-22-2011, 08:13 AM

I watched the last hour so I could avoid watching the Braves continue to choke (and modern family was being recorded while to wife did work).

It was pretty much American Idol on a larger stage.

Surely the guy with his penis hanging out has to get arrested right? There were kids in the audience.

LA Reid will now have the nickname "Blandy" in my house. because he looks like Randy, but is somehow blander (but he's still blacker than Randy).

The dude at the end, the meth dude, annoyed me to no end. He was doing some weird sort of hand dancing while he "sang." I thought he'd do great as a singing puppeteer.

Ksyrup

09-22-2011, 08:20 AM

Heh. Not only did Simon get an inferior show, but an inferior drink, too. Remind me - who was the first Pepsi icon, the guy whose hair caught fire?

pepsi (http://twitter.com/#!/pepsi) Pepsi™ 7 Retweets
What did you think of <S class=hash>#</S>TheXFactor (http://twitter.com/#!/search?q=%23TheXFactor)? Did we find the next Pepsi icon? Think anyone can be in a Pepsi commercial?

wade moore

09-22-2011, 08:47 AM

I watched the first hour, then went to sleep and left the rest recording.

My gut tells me it's better than current Idol. Is it better than mid-run Idol? I don't know.

Here's the positives to me:

1. I like the removal of age restrictions, particularly on the upper end. I always fear the "cute kid getting by on being cute, rather than talented", but the upper end could get some real quality.
2. I like that groups can compete.
3. I like L.A. Not sure why the comments about "Bland". As far as I see it, he's the first judge that's ever been willing to disagree when Simon says someone is good. It's refreshing. It may be manufactured, but I like the tension between L.A. and Simon.

My concerns:

1. The "production" is no different than AI or all of the other reality shows so far.
2. Audience sentiment in auditions may be too influential.

Thomkal

09-22-2011, 08:53 AM

watched during commercial breaks on Survivor-the main guy (or was it girl?) I saw did splits all over the place and barely sang and they passed him (her?) through. That was enough for me.

wade moore

09-22-2011, 08:55 AM

watched during commercial breaks on Survivor-the main guy (or was it girl?) I saw did splits all over the place and barely sang and they passed him (her?) through. That was enough for me.

Yeah, this worries me too. It seems to be like Idol lately where the standards are low and there will be a crap ton of people at the big cut down stage (whatever the equivalent to Hollywood is on X-Factor), making it a jumbled mess.

Ksyrup

09-22-2011, 03:14 PM

Surely the guy with his penis hanging out has to get arrested right? There were kids in the audience.

Not naked. He was wearing a leopard print g-string. Appears X-Factor had Paula rip-off Gordon Ramsay's fake vomit/dry heave reaction to make it look like that. I didn't see it, but just reading this makes me glad I'm not giving this show a chance.

Ksyrup

09-23-2011, 06:40 AM

American Idol 10 semi-finalist Tim Halperin will lock himself in a fake jail cell for the final 28 hours of the restriction placed on him by the show’s contract that prevented him from releasing music.

A press release hilariously declares that Tim “has been sentenced to prison — American Idol prison” because “of the contract restrictions placed on Halperin from his time as a top 24 semi-finalist on Season 10 of American Idol,” although it notes the actual imprisonment is a “voluntary prison sentence.” (Of course, so is the show’s contract.) *

CrimsonFox

09-23-2011, 07:35 AM

Oh God I thought there was another horrible season of idol on. Okay so xfactor eh? what's it like?

Ksyrup

12-13-2011, 08:24 AM

Well, it's about 3 years too late, but I now like David Cook... a little. he does a nice job on this - it's too bad AI didn't allow him (or other musicians) to show their real personalities on the show.

http://<IFRAME height=315 src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/WorheQYhjNQ" frameBorder=0 width=560 allowfullscreen></IFRAME> (http://<iframe width=)

Ksyrup

01-18-2012, 09:55 AM

I just now realized this show starts up tonight. The lack of buzz is deafening.

Me saying I'm not going to watch is like saying I'm not going to buy the next version of EA's NCAA football game, but I'm really not feeling it. Last season turned me off of the show. I'm sure we'll watch, but I'm guessing I tune out pretty quickly. The crappy music is one thing, but combining it with a bad judging panel and interminable episodes... I don't see myself lasting long. I'm sure I'll be in it long enough to find a contestant or three I hate, though.

spleen1015

01-18-2012, 09:56 AM

My wife and daughter still love it so I'll be watching it.

Matthean

01-18-2012, 10:04 AM

Maybe the ratings will tank enough X Factor will out do it and Simon can be happy. :D The show desperately needs somebody to be a breakthrough type of talent to help it go in the right direction. I just think the talent pool for AI is rather tapped.

Ksyrup

01-18-2012, 10:11 AM

I don't really care about the talent, I just want to be entertained by the show. They desperately needed to make a couple of changes on the panel, and didn't.

Ksyrup

01-18-2012, 10:13 AM

This season will be make or break, I think. The Voice starts in early/mid February, and it built up some steam from last year. Also, Seacrest's contract is up after this year, and one would think that with all he's got going on, being tied to an anchor would not be the best career move for someone who doesn't need AI anymore. Plus, all the judges seem to be year-to-year. Will be interesting to see how things go this year, that's for sure.

Solecismic

01-18-2012, 12:19 PM

Ksyrup

01-18-2012, 12:21 PM

:(

That makes me even less likely to tune in. Your recaps were part of the fun. Honestly, dissecting/berating the judges and contestants is the primary entertainment I get from this show.

This will be the first season I'm on twitter, though. Maybe that will make up for it. :lol:

CrimsonFox

01-18-2012, 03:28 PM

I haven't watched the first season of X factor yet. I'll go watch that instead.

Ksyrup

01-19-2012, 03:04 PM

Not unexpectedly, "American Idol" dipped significantly with its Season 11 premiere.

The series pulled a 7.2 rating among adults 18-49, marking a 27 percent drop over last January's premiere. The veteran reality series still gave Fox a significant lead over all other networks, topping its closest competition (ABC) by 140 percent.

"Idol's" drop among total viewers wasn't as steep: the two-hour broadcast drew 21.6 million, down 18 percent from the Season 10 premiere of 26.25 million. Still, the season 11 kickoff marks the show's lowest-rated season opener since "Idol's" first season premiere, which garnered 9.85 million viewers. The show's highest-rated season premiere came in 2007, when the start of season 6 drew 37.4 million viewers.

Matthean

01-19-2012, 05:12 PM

Still means it won't be on death's door for a couple more years.

CrimsonFox

01-19-2012, 05:23 PM

Indeed the advent of Sole and Ksyrup doing reviews and ratings made the show fun again but it's just so bad that I can't take another season of it.

THere's always Top Chef, Project Runway Allstars, THe VOice, and other reality shows still going.

CrimsonFox

01-19-2012, 05:23 PM

The Voice actually shows promise

CrimsonFox

01-24-2012, 11:29 AM

Okay I am checking out the first season of The Voice on hulu and kinda like it. What I like about it is what USED to be a big feature of Idol...judge comeradery. And with that they not only like each other but they bicker and quarrel amongst each other.
Good stuff. We'll see how it goes when they actually get to the competition and voting phase and training phases.

Will definitely tune in the new season in a couple weeks.

Ksyrup

01-24-2012, 11:44 AM

We're not watching this season. Or at least, haven't yet. It's being recorded and our daughter is watching and they haven't been deleted yet, but so far I have no interest in it. I think last year finally broke me with the judges and the format changes. There's virtually nothing left that I like about watching the show, and I'm damn sure not tuning in for the music and singing. The one thing that drew me in was knowing who the contestants were before the show even starts, but I wasn't motivated to find out any info beforehand, so that reason to watch has been eliminated, too.

There's also the issue of 2-hour episodes. I just can't watch them. Don't have the time. It's one of the reasons I find myself watching that auction show or storage wars - nice quick 30 minute shows I can watch without much time commitment. If I started watching AI, I know I'd get behind and not care enough to try to catch up, so why put the time in now?

CrimsonFox

01-24-2012, 11:46 AM

I've found Hoarders to be more interesting than watching AI. :)
I LOVE that Auction HUnters show!

Eaglesfan27

01-24-2012, 11:50 AM

Watched every season, but I don't have the time or inclination to watch this year so far.

MJ4H

01-24-2012, 11:58 AM

Enjoying this season much more than last so far.

:2cents:

Ksyrup

01-24-2012, 12:22 PM

Enjoying this season much more than last so far.

:2cents:

Why? I'm honestly curious.

spleen1015

01-24-2012, 12:26 PM

I don't think it is any worse than last year. Some of the talent has been okay.

Ksyrup, I think there has only been 1 2 hours episode and it was the premiere. Everything else has been 1 I think.

Ksyrup

01-24-2012, 12:41 PM

I just can't handle any of the judges. Randy is beyond expired and was useless even when he was "in his prime." J-Lo is a waste - I'd rather listen to Kara, and that's saying something. I just don't like or respect anything about her. And Tyler is a whopping turdball of disappointment. I didn't expect him to be the new Simon - since Nigel said they weren't looking to replace him - but I was hoping for some actual substance. And all we got was cheerleaders. Part of the fun of watching the judges critique the performances was having Randy babble, which was entertaining in its own way, Paula corkscrew herself into the ground trying to avoid saying anything mean - again, which had entertainment value - and then having Simon come in as (usually) the voice of reason. They've totally lost that balance. They're all pushing the product, and it's because the show's existence is being threatened, so pretending the talent is amazing is more important than the show itself.

And it even infected the auditions last year. After William Hung and You Are My Brother and Pants on the Ground, they realized they were allowing too many kooks to get too much facetime. So they went to the opposite extreme. Pretty much all they showed were people who made the top 24/36. They had the token kook, but aside from that, it was nothing but positive. Again, the "kinder, gentler" AI post-Simon. I'm glad they dumped the fame whores and wannabe comedians. But you know what they totally left out? The legit but on the fence singers. A group of singers who actually made the judges work, made them choose sides, and (GASP!) maybe be negative and turn someone down. THOSE were compelling auditions. I'm going to see enough of whoever makes the top 12 - show them, but show me some tough decisions and the results - elation, jubilation, devastation, suicide, whatever. I don't think I saw more than 2-3 auditions last year that didn't result in 3 absolute "no" votes, or 3 "you're definitely in" votes. And that sucked.

So anyway, that's been my rationale for skipping this season. I didn't really catch on to X Factor, either, because I don't like the idea of non-musicians mentoring contestants. This isn't Music Business Idol - Simon or that Pussycat Doll chick has no business mentoring vocalists. And frankly, with the expanded age limits and allowing groups, it came off as a music-only America's Got Talent/Star Search/Bachelor mash-up. The Voice I didn't get either, simply because the premise for the entire show (vocal ability matters more than looks) only mattered during the first audition. After that, it was a mix of X Factor and AI, but with far better judges than either of those shows.

CrimsonFox

01-24-2012, 01:24 PM

I like this trend. Ksyrup's wonderful reviews of the show have now been replaced with insightful intelligent rants about the show. Keep it comin'! ;)

Ksyrup

01-24-2012, 01:26 PM

No, I'm done. I've been ranting about the show for the 9-10 years I watched, so no need to keep ranting if I'm not watching. If I start watching, I'm sure I'll comment.

Scoobz0202

01-24-2012, 01:29 PM

I'm done for the sole reason that every year I'd get pissed I invested hours into a show only for the voting trends to be idiotic. I always enjoyed the unique voices and those never last.

I also actually was never a fan of the crazy terrible auditions. Just never got enjoyment out of watching people make fools of themselves. I'm excited for The Voice to return. I really enjoyed the first season.

CrimsonFox

01-24-2012, 02:07 PM

I actually forgot about the show until you guys mentioned it. It just doesn't work without simon. And the obvious producer campaigning for people is lame as is the ridiculous allowance of singing the same song every round. The lean towards country "singing" is a huge turnoff for me as well.

Solecismic

01-24-2012, 02:28 PM

Ksyrup articulated it well. The judging isn't judging any more. Simon had a way of keeping it all in check, and even he struggled when they went to four judges. I think that led to him burning out and leaving the show.

Randy was supposed to be the new voice of reason, but I think they forgot that Randy is simply the reflection of the audience. He feels their response and he articulates it. That's valuable, and that's why they had him in the first chair.

J-Lo was supposed to be the cheerleader, but her personality doesn't really allow for that. She's more a corporate lawyer who picks her favorites and relentlessly grinds down anyone who doesn't agree.

Stephen is a clown. They've never had a clown before. It doesn't work in this format.

So the show has to rest on the performances alone. Unfortunately, without Simon to guide the voters, it's more a popularity contest and that takes the fun out of watching.

You're absolutely right (and I know we talked about this last year) that what was missing from the tryout shows the last year or two was the fringe-candidates. What we lost was the gravitas of real discussions about talented individuals who weren't good enough.

Instead, they sent all the good stories through to Hollywood along with the top competitors. That gutted Hollywood week, as all it did was eliminate the non-talents who would cry on cue.

I'm still not tempted to watch.

CrimsonFox

01-24-2012, 02:32 PM

And did you guys notice the increase of backstories? LIke they actually sent cameras to MANY kids' homes and stuff to film. That's crazy and they never used to do that. Telling me a sob story about them is NOT going to make me vote for them I just wanna see them fail or succeed. The sob stories just overshadow the actual people.

Ksyrup

01-24-2012, 02:39 PM

They did that as a way to help people get to know the contestants who ultimately ended up on the show. The problem is, by doing that, they signaled early on who makes it and who doesn't. I never asked for in-depth interviews; all I really wanted was a fair shake for all the eventual top 12/24 people during the auditions. Studies showed that the people who made it but weren't featured during auditions rarely, if ever, advanced to the top 12, much less had a real shot at winning. I was just hoping for some balance there. Instead, they took the criticism to mean we needed to see videos of them living together in the mansion and to spend nearly every minnute of the auditions focusing on no one but the eventual live show contestants.

Matthean

01-24-2012, 04:05 PM

I'm curious to see how far Jim Carrey's daughter goes. You have to figure they can use that for some hype. I did chuckle at Jane's response to JLo remembering when she last saw Jane and Jane's response was reminding JLO she was two at the time. No, I haven't watched the show. I just saw an article about it online.

MJ4H

01-24-2012, 04:47 PM

The judges are more comfortable with each other this year and they haven't wasted nearly as much time making fun of people so far. I'm hoping that continues.

CrimsonFox

01-31-2012, 02:15 AM

The Voice I didn't get either, simply because the premise for the entire show (vocal ability matters more than looks) only mattered during the first audition. After that, it was a mix of X Factor and AI, but with far better judges than either of those shows.

I'm seeing what you're saying about The Voice. The audition episodes were a ton of fun. But the battle episodes are kinda lame.

I'm getting that the judges are picking who they want to win ignoring the performance in front of them. And already the country factor is trumping actual quality.

Ksyrup

02-03-2012, 11:29 AM

American Idol (http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/tag/american-idol-ratings) drew a 5.9 adults 18-49 rating (http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/09/06/updated-numbers-101-whats-a-tv-rating-and-who-is-it-dating/102756/) last night, down 9% vs. a 6.5 rating last Wednesday (although typical upward adjustments in the final ratings are likely to trim that decline by a tenth). That was also down 34% from the third Wednesday telecast a year ago that averaged a 9.0 adults 18-49 rating and 25.16 million viewers.

Mota

02-03-2012, 01:41 PM

I'm already bored with American Idol this season. I've watched every episode since Season 2 and this year I've missed a few already. Especially with all the other wannabees out there, it just feels played out. I can see why people are leaving in droves.

SirFozzie

02-15-2012, 08:26 PM

Lathum

02-16-2012, 12:03 AM

After seeing the whole sad thing about the singer collapsing on stage... I hope like hell they had her sign about nine million "If you go on stage and fall and hurt yourself, it's your own damn stupid fault"..

Someone collapses multiple times, and is shaking from exhaustion, and instead of taking them to the hospital to be treated like a sane person would, you let them go on stage, collapse, and basically drag down at least two of her teammates out of the competition because they were too busy wondering, you know if their "teammate" was going to die next to them.

That's disgusting.

Well the crazy thing is she was a minor and her mother let her perform like that, which is crazy. I get your kid has a dream, but that is crazy.

My wife and I were discussing the group week and we both think they really need to revisit how they do it. I get the producers like the drama, but the whole thing is such a hot mess. Then this year you have multiple people passing out from trying to stay up all night. IT really isn't at all enjoyable to watch.

Another random thought, that Asian kid is funny as hell, I hope he goes far,

SirFozzie

02-16-2012, 12:31 AM

to make things worse, I guess the Flu Bug ravaged the whole area.. so you had people pushing their bodies past the limit, in a pandemic area.. recipe for disaster.

CrimsonFox

02-16-2012, 02:47 AM

Yeah, group challenges ruin every competition. So sick of seeing them on Top Chef and others as well. It becomes all about people that are too tightly wound and over bossy as well as the submissive or laid back people. And the actual work is just glossed over. And any difficult people usually skate by as the judges never see that stuff.

Hollywood week was always my favorite part of idol when I watched it. But yeah, it always became an allnighter about choreography and not much else.

Ksyrup

02-16-2012, 07:05 AM

I have nothing to add, just kinda miss posting in an AI thread as a matter of routine. More than I miss the show, actually.

GrantDawg

02-16-2012, 09:01 AM

I have nothing to add, just kinda miss posting in an AI thread as a matter of routine. More than I miss the show, actually.

Agreed. We are about 6 episodes behind on the dvr. My wife and daughter aren't even pushing to watch, and I definitely couldn't care less. But I do miss the discussion and recaps.

MJ4H

02-16-2012, 10:16 AM

Still enjoying the show.

GrantDawg

02-16-2012, 10:35 AM

Still enjoying the show.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying you shouldn't. If you do, you do. I personally just feel a little burned out on the whole genre. I have only watched one episode of the Voice as well, and liked it a lot last year. I didn't get past the second week of regular shows of the X-factor as well. Just too many shows, too similar, and all doing the same thing that annoys me (ie. picking "good stories" over better talent).

CrimsonFox

02-16-2012, 01:19 PM

CrimsonFox

02-16-2012, 01:20 PM

And Blake is FINALLY trying to get people that aren't all country twangers

Thomkal

02-16-2012, 01:23 PM

I think Group Day needs to be stretched to two days to prepare or be done away with altogether. I mean most of the singers have never performed in a group and most will be solo artists when Idol is over if/when they go further with music as their career. Kids fainting/vomiting left and right isn't drama to me, its not something I want to see, and especially emphasized like it was the last two weeks.

I have no idea what goes on behind the scenes with health care people/psychologists availability during Hollywood week, but its pretty clear Idol needs to be more active about-getting them to eat and drink enough, do destressing exercises, get enough sleep, and just having someone there to talk them through their weakest moments.

And I see there's more group stuff in Vegas tonight, and at least one more person collapses. Yeah?

Thomkal

02-16-2012, 01:31 PM

I've watched the first 3 "The Voice" eps. Wow Blake is a crybaby.
I like the interaction of the judges and how it works. I hope they improve the actual singing part later on. But they added a lot of slots to make sure they have more audition rounds.

I like the Voice because they are just starting to tap into the talent that's available to them. Idol more and more is going to the teenagers because they grew up on Idol and have wanted to be on it their whole life-the older talent on Idol isn't nearly as good as it used to be. The performers on the Voice are usually much more experienced and polished. I can't say that there's anyone I've seen this season that I felt they never should have been chosen.

And I like the interactions between the judges as they fight over the talent. They probably need to bring in someone new and/or shift someone off after this season though.

CrimsonFox

02-16-2012, 01:42 PM

Blake and Christina shoot themselves in the foot every time with their trash talk. Adam sits back and speaks glowingly about the contestants and the other two just badmouth Adam. And Adam and CeeLo win those people every time. :)

CrimsonFox

02-16-2012, 01:43 PM

Incidently, CeeLo would make an awesome Bond villain (if he isn't already)

Lathum

02-16-2012, 02:09 PM

I also think with Idol, especially group week, the parents should not be allowed to give input. It just adds to the unnecessary drama

MJ4H

02-16-2012, 07:51 PM

Tonight has been a group night done right and the most enjoyable episode of Idol I've seen in a long time.

JonInMiddleGA

02-16-2012, 07:56 PM

The performers on the Voice are usually much more experienced and polished.

Not being remotely a fan of either show, I was still more than a little surprised to discover just how experienced some of the Voice contestants are.

Royal Bliss’ Neal Middleton Performs ‘I Heard It Through the Grapevine’ on ‘The Voice’ (http://loudwire.com/royal-bliss-neal-middleton-performs-i-heard-it-through-the-grapevine-on-the-voice/)

That's a group with 9 albums to their credit, including some on a Capital Records deal, and at least two top 25 mainstream rock hits in the past four years.

Ksyrup

02-16-2012, 09:12 PM

Unlike AI the Voice never tried to deceive people about the contestants' experience. I think they've been pretty upfront about it actually.

JonInMiddleGA

02-16-2012, 09:33 PM

Unlike AI the Voice never tried to deceive people about the contestants' experience. I think they've been pretty upfront about it actually.

{shrug} Just surprised me to discover it as a non-viewer.

Matthean

02-16-2012, 10:03 PM

I know Rachael Lampa got a group of artists together from Nashville and finished 8th. She's been putting out albums since she was 15.

Ksyrup

02-17-2012, 06:59 AM

{shrug} Just surprised me to discover it as a non-viewer.

That was one of the primary things that got me interested in AI to begin with. After the initial run of true "undiscovered talent," the pool began to wear thin and they started identifying people with industry experience who had either failed or gotten sidetracked and began promoting them, complete with backstories that made little or no mention of their experience. The season where it reached its tipping point was the one with Carly Smithson and Michael Johns (and there may have been others) who were discovered to have had major label ties, with Smithson's solo album (under her maiden name) selling like 15 copies from a $2M+ investment.

I think it was the next year when another contestant was discovered to have ties to Randy Jackson's old label or something, as well as one of the producers on the show, and when that got out, she ended up being disqualified before the top 24 or Hollywood week (the details escape me now). That lead to AI changing the timing of when they held certain auditions and Hollywood week, to cut down on the number of leaks and "investigative reporting" going on by people all over the internet.

But with The Voice, I think they've been upfront about not really caring where you come from. They've had at least 1 or 2 former AI contestants on, as I recall.

For me, it was not so much that these shows are allowing experienced contestants, but that AI billed (and continues to bill) itself as the show where your typical "every person" can win, all the while hiding the fact that they've planted people with industry experience among the top 12 that America will be voting for and make sure to hide that fact as best they can. Like I said, it was more of an issue back around season 7 or so than it is now.

MacroGuru

02-17-2012, 07:55 AM

I will admit, I have been watching it this season...I have already grown weary of AI focusing on the "Pageant" Parents that are there...more than you have seen in past shows...

CrimsonFox

02-17-2012, 07:58 AM

I also think with Idol, especially group week, the parents should not be allowed to give input. It just adds to the unnecessary drama

Agreed. The only exception to that was the parent that one year who was a choreographer and basically staged the girls' number for them...which of course is kinda cheating :)

Ksyrup

02-17-2012, 08:01 AM

I will admit, I have been watching it this season...I have already grown weary of AI focusing on the "Pageant" Parents that are there...more than you have seen in past shows...

Maybe they are piggybacking on the popularity of those Toddlers and Tiaras-type shows (which are absolutely horrific trainwrecks of TV).

Ksyrup

02-24-2012, 11:47 AM

Wasn't last night the unveiling of the top 24? Wow.

Stuart Levine ‏ <S>@</S>Variety_StuartL
'Big Bang' defeated 'Idol' by 30% in the 18-49 demo last night. That's huge.

spleen1015

02-24-2012, 11:50 AM

Yeah, the 2nd Top 24 show was last night.

Ksyrup

02-24-2012, 12:16 PM

I guess we'll see what happens when the live shows start. I know a lot of people ignore the auditions, so maybe ratings will improve once the shows go live.

JonInMiddleGA

02-24-2012, 01:07 PM

Wasn't last night the unveiling of the top 24? Wow.

Stuart Levine ‏ <S>@</S>Variety_StuartL
'Big Bang' defeated 'Idol' by 30% in the 18-49 demo last night. That's huge.

Final score 5.2 to 4.0 for the common half hour. More disturbing for Idol perhaps is the trend

For the full hour, American Idol drew a 4.4 adults 18-49 rating, down 14% from last week and down an alarming 39% versus the year ago Thursday night telecast. American Idol will likely be adjusted up a tenth or two, but that won't make up for the week over week drop, let alone the year over year plummet.

Lathum

02-24-2012, 02:01 PM

I watch the show every year and was really annoyed by the way they stretched out the unveiling of the top 24. 2 hours on Wed and another hour on Thursday is just to much. They need either all one show of 2 one hour shows.

Either way, I think the loss of Simon has hurt and the fact that stuff like this has a shelf life and Idol may be approching theirs.

Ksyrup

02-24-2012, 02:41 PM

I also saw they found another way to add someone, by bringing back one more guy to be announced next week on the live show to make it a top 25? How many more ways can they insert the same twist into the show? It's to the point where if they went an entire year without adding someone, that would be the more shocking twist.

MacroGuru

02-24-2012, 03:22 PM

Thomkal

02-24-2012, 04:06 PM

Yeah, I think it's either the young kid or the big guy, Jones....I am leaning towards Jones because he had all 3 of them in tears.

I'm thinking its going to be Johnny-the one they raved over in his audition with Jennifer Lopez telling him he was already a superstar. I was very surprised they cut him in the first place as I thought he was pretty much a given for the top 24 (25)

Mota

02-24-2012, 07:11 PM

They milking this baby dry, 4 hours a week is just too much to ask of viewers. No wonder people are getting burned out!
Talent on the guy side seems pretty good this year, the girls are not impressing me though.

Lathum

02-28-2012, 11:53 PM

Thomkal

02-29-2012, 06:55 AM

yeah I agree Lathum-I was actually expecting it to be a little better given what I saw in the Hollywood/Vegas shows-there was about three of four decent ones last night like the guy who sang before the "Gentle Giant" returned-Joshua Ladet (?) but the rest were mediocre at best.

And the judges just have to go-when they finally got down to "criticizing" some of them-they glossed over it and went back to praising them. Ryan Seacrest can go too.

Let's hope the women do better.

Ksyrup

02-29-2012, 07:33 AM

That was the most boring pile of yak dung I have seen on idol. Not one energetic performance, it was like watching a nursing home talent show.

And they may as well do away with the judges, what good are they is all they do is over praise these kids and act like they already have made it.

Can't speak to the performances since I didn't watch, but the fact that they didn't change at least 2 of the judges for this season is why I stopped watching. Even when the performances sucked in previous seasons, at least you could count on Simon (and sometimes even Randy) telling it like it is. And in an entertaining way.

What's happened to Idol is this: as reality shows get older, they are constantly trying to outdo themselves - to be bigger, better, etc. Biggest Loser suffered from that, as they went from helping normal people lose weight to basically creating Biggest Loser: Forklilft Edition every season. And with Idol, as the show became stale, they made changes to the judges and format, etc., it became more about promoting the show and how great each successive group of contestants is than the last year, and less about, well, reality. Simply put, you can't talk about each group of contestants each year to the levels they do, and then rip them apart when they suck. So the only alternative is to whitewash everything in piles and piles of love and you're great and you're a star.

And when you do that, you disconnect from reality, bore people, and in some cases, anger people (like me) who can plainly see the truth and get pissed that they've hired Steven Tyler to be the Iraqi information guy.

wade moore

02-29-2012, 07:45 AM

Can't speak to the performances since I didn't watch, but the fact that they didn't change at least 2 of the judges for this season is why I stopped watching. Even when the performances sucked in previous seasons, at least you could count on Simon (and sometimes even Randy) telling it like it is. And in an entertaining way.

What's happened to Idol is this: as reality shows get older, they are constantly trying to outdo themselves - to be bigger, better, etc. Biggest Loser suffered from that, as they went from helping normal people lose weight to basically creating Biggest Loser: Forklilft Edition every season. And with Idol, as the show became stale, they made changes to the judges and format, etc., it became more about promoting the show and how great each successive group of contestants is than the last year, and less about, well, reality. Simply put, you can't talk about each group of contestants each year to the levels they do, and then rip them apart when they suck. So the only alternative is to whitewash everything in piles and piles of love and you're great and you're a star.

And when you do that, you disconnect from reality, bore people, and in some cases, anger people (like me) who can plainly see the truth and get pissed that they've hired Steven Tyler to be the Iraqi information guy.

Well said. I don't post much in this thread anymore since I do gave up on the show about 3/4 through last season, but I still follow the thread to see what's going on.

I think it's sad really. It was a really good show that I enjoyed a lot that just doesn't connect with me anymore.

MJ4H

02-29-2012, 10:15 AM

The talent level seems about the same to me, honestly. The critiques are pretty lol-worthy, but that's not too big of a deal to me.

Matthean

02-29-2012, 03:50 PM

DivaRank: Welcome, Joshua Ledet! - Hollywood Prospectus Blog - Grantland (http://www.grantland.com/blog/hollywood-prospectus/post/_/id/44666/divarank-welcome-joshua-ledet)

Grantland covers Joshua Ledet. Can't really say I'm impressed.

Mota

02-29-2012, 06:00 PM

I thought a lot of these guys were great, but last night I realize that most of them are completely not relevant in today's music and could never release a successful single let alone an album.

The house band has to go, they made everything sound like it was 60's or 70's music. Even if the singers pick those songs they should try to make them sound like something that came out in the last 10 years.

And yes I agree about the judges, they need to identify what makes a star and what is forgettable, something which Simon was able to do. Hey, they're all good singers but a lot of people are getting cut on Thursday and the judges are one of the factors to help keep the best ones. If they're just cheerleaders then they might as well not even be there.

Mustang

02-29-2012, 08:07 PM

When Aaron was doing his camera scenes from home, did they use stock footage? A big ole sign in the back had 'Race the World, 8-31-2008'

MJ4H

02-29-2012, 08:08 PM

The girls are a lot better than the guys.

Ksyrup

03-14-2012, 10:50 AM

Jermaine Jones' 'American Idol' run has come to an abrupt end.

The 25-year-old vocal instructor from Pine Hill, N.J., tweeted Tuesday night that he no longer would be on the Fox singing contest.

He wrote on his official "Idol" Twitter account: "Awww I will no longer b on the show."
The post, and Jones' official "Idol" Twitter account, were later deleted.

A Fox rep declined comment to Fox411.com.

Producers allegedly discovered Tuesday night that Jones had been arrested twice and has outstanding warrants, TMZ reported. One of the incidents reportedly involved violence, which especially worried the producers. He also reportedly gave police fake names.

If this is the guy I think it is, I've heard a bit of him singing on 2 separate occasions, and he is HORRIBLE. Not only can he not sing, but his style and vocal delivery seem to be 180 degrees from anything remotely current and "pop idolish."

spleen1015

03-14-2012, 11:11 AM

He is the big 6'8 guy with the very deep voice. I agree with you. He can't sing at all. He was originally eliminated during Hollywood week and the judges brought him back.

Ksyrup

03-14-2012, 11:40 AM

Yeah, that's him. I thinnk part of his problem is his voice is so low he completely loses pitch/key. But just stylistically, he seems like a huge mismatch for the show.

MJ4H

03-14-2012, 11:45 AM

lol he sings very well, and isn't off pitch very often at all. stylistically, it would be like bringing barry white back; sort of an awkward fit. but really, his singing is pretty good

Ksyrup

03-14-2012, 11:49 AM

Not from what I heard. He was all over the place, and rarely hit a note. My daughter, who's actually watching the show, fast forwards through his spots. She was watching one of the final pre-live show eps one Saturday, and he was so bad, my wife came out of another room to gawk at him, like a car wreck.

MJ4H

03-14-2012, 11:54 AM

Matthean

03-14-2012, 12:47 PM

Googled a performance by him. Deep voice but not one with any real power to it. When he needs to kick it up his voice just doesn't go where it needs to. I would say this about 99.99% of AI contestants though so....

MJ4H

03-14-2012, 08:54 PM

There are 3 flat out incredible singers this year. If one of them doesn't win, it would be...well, normal for this show.

(Joshua, Hollie, Jessica)

MacroGuru

03-15-2012, 07:46 AM

I thought it was crap how they handled his boot off. They did it to get ratings and now the rest of the US and the World know that Jermaine has 4 warrants out for him.

Granted, we really do not know what they are for. But still it should have been done privately and without it being televised and a hey, this happened like in the past for some of the others that got the boot.

Oh well, I was close to being done...now I am pretty much through with it.

Ksyrup

03-15-2012, 07:53 AM

They really did that? Wow. He wasn't there, was he? That's shitty. Granted, it's his fault to begin with, and maybe he deserves the public humiliation and the show is pissed because it invested in his story and set up the top 13 a certain way, but still. He's already taking a beating across the internet, I imagine, as well as having to face some ongoing legal issues, so that's just piling on for the sake of ratings.

Thomkal

03-15-2012, 10:05 AM

well AI has to feel pretty embarrassed after all the pub over him being added after eliminating him in Vegas. Maybe turnabout is fair play? But yes they really should have handled it off-camera. And I never thought of him as the "Gentle Giant", but as "Giant Creepy" so not sad to see him off the show.

Pretty bad week overall with the performances with only Joshua, Hollie (though she missed the note on the end she talked about so much leading up to her performance), and Phillip looking good.

Ksyrup

04-06-2012, 07:27 AM

Still not watching this show, but did read this:

In the battle of the music competition series, there’s been an unexpected turnaround in the past few weeks, as American Idol, while suffering significantly lower ratings than last year, is now the number-one TV series, beating The Voice among all viewers and younger viewers.

Variety reports (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118052268?refCatId=14) that The Voice was “finishing higher than Idol in four of their first five common weeks. Over the last three weeks, though, Idol has prevailed.” Still, it’s “up vs. last year (though recent trend lines have diminished those gains) while Idol is down by more than 20% — its first significant year-over-year falloff after holding up surprisingly well in the years since its peak season of 2006.”

EW notes (http://insidetv.ew.com/2012/04/04/voice-ratings-idol/) that “The Voice has declined the last five weeks in a row. It’s down 52 percent this week from its first Monday episode”—although the magazine forgets to note that the first Monday episode aired the day after the show’s post-Super Bowl debut. Variety says that because of that sweet debut timeslot, Idol may not be number one at the end of the season “because The Voice was able to include its hugely rated season premiere following the Super Bowl (a whopping 16.3 rating in the demo) into its averages; a seldomly applied Nielsen rule allows the premiere rating for a Monday series that opens its season on a Sunday (within 24 hours of its regular Monday timeslot) to count in season averages.”

The Voice is NBC’s star performer, though that’s a faint compliment. It does do well, though; last night’s results show was the number-one show among 18- to 49-year-olds last night, although Dancing with the Stars had more viewers overall, several of whom likely watched from their coffins.

Overall, American Idol is back to number one, which I think has to do with its selection of more relevant and interesting singers this year that came with a scaling down of its sense of spectacle, both smart moves. There’s also The Voice’s battle round problem; those episodes have little consequence, since the matches are so lopsided, and they’re nowhere near as fun as the blind auditions.

American Idol now regularly topping The Voice + reality blurred (http://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/archives/american_idol_11/2012_Apr_04_ratings-switch)

Mustang

04-06-2012, 07:34 AM

CrimsonFox

04-06-2012, 07:37 AM

This show is still on? I thought reruns of the Jetsons on Boomerang were topping Idol...

Ksyrup

04-06-2012, 07:51 AM

"Overall, American Idol is back to number one, which I think has to do with its selection of more relevant and interesting singers this year that came with a scaling down of its sense of spectacle, both smart moves."

Ok.. I really didn't watch last year, but this is scaled down? Holy shit, how bad was last year then?

I don't know, but I thought I read earlier this year that they maade the stage smaller, more intimate, and less spectacle-y. In terms of the judges, I don't know how they are this year compared to last, but they were so embarrassingly cheerleading for bad/mediocre talent last year that I stopped watching.

Lathum

04-06-2012, 09:01 AM

I don't know, but I thought I read earlier this year that they maade the stage smaller, more intimate, and less spectacle-y. In terms of the judges, I don't know how they are this year compared to last, but they were so embarrassingly cheerleading for bad/mediocre talent last year that I stopped watching.

The judges are still dreadful and the talent remains about the same. IMO more people are tuning in because all of the crappy/ gimmick singers are gone. The auditions/ hollywood week used to be fun, but now it is just uncomfortable.

Thomkal

04-06-2012, 09:39 AM

Yeah I would agree with that last paragraph about The Voice's Battle Rounds-I really don't like them-coaches try to matchup their favorites with their least favorites leading to many uninteresting and bad duets. I'd like to see them change it to them both singing the same song one after the other-so they can sing it in a style suited to each contestant rather than having to compromise themselves and sing to match the others style.

The blind auditions really are my favorite part of the show.

MJ4H

04-06-2012, 09:46 AM

The thing about the battle rounds is that they are complete wastes of time. One of them could completely dominate the other in the performance and the judge just picks the one they wanted in the first place. Welp, thanks for that waste of time.

spleen1015

04-06-2012, 10:03 AM

I never understood why the battle rounds didn't have contestants from different coach facing each other. That would make it much more interesting.

Matthean

04-12-2012, 01:32 PM

According to Forbes, AI is still the #1 most profitable show.

TV's Top Moneymakers - Dorothy Pomerantz - Forbes (http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mfl45jigd/tvs-top-moneymakers/#gallerycontent)

Mota

04-13-2012, 11:18 PM

Remember back in the good old days when Jim used to post his reviews every week?

Lathum

04-15-2012, 02:53 PM

Just watched the results show. Tonight is the reason why they put in the judges save and also proof that only 15 year old girls vote and it is extremely unlikely another girl will ever win.

Matthean

07-13-2012, 09:53 AM

American Idol Miley Cyrus Katy Perry Nicki Minaj Fergie And William Being Considered As Judges| E! Online (http://www.eonline.com/news/328622/watch_with_kristin/american-idol-miley-cyrus-katy-perry-nicki-minaj-fergie-and-will-i-am-being-considered-as-judges)

Depending on where you get your info, there could be all new judges.

GrantDawg

07-13-2012, 12:01 PM

J-Lo and Tyler have now both confirmed they are not coming back. If Randy chooses not to as well, it will be a good thing.

CrimsonFox

07-13-2012, 12:05 PM

J-Lo and Tyler have now both confirmed they are not coming back. If Randy chooses not to as well, it will be a good thing.

Who says he will have a choice? It doesn't sound like it matters if he wants to or not. :) Come on idol! KEep jumping those sharks! Get Justin Hawkins and Lisa Lampinelli and James Hetfield and Dennis Rodman to judge!

Ksyrup

09-07-2012, 07:48 AM

I am so glad I stopped watching this show. It seems like every few days some random famous or semi-famous singer is being rumored for the judges panel. I've lost track of who is confirmed and who is not, other than it appears they are going back to 4 judges and Randy is transitioning to mentor. What a trainwreck. And the sad thing is X-Factor looks even worse. Lose/lose for Simon.

Matthean

09-07-2012, 08:11 AM

I wouldn't put Keith Urban in the category of some random famous or semi-famous signer. Him being on the show would be one of the greatest things ever for my sister-in-law.

Ksyrup

09-07-2012, 08:21 AM

Buccaneer

09-07-2012, 08:37 AM

I wouldn't put Keith Urban in the category of some random famous or semi-famous signer. Him being on the show would be one of the greatest things ever for my sister-in-law.

or my wife. I see a photo all over my house and on the computer showing Keith and her arm in arm.

Lathum

09-07-2012, 08:47 AM

Adding someone like that just signals how far behind the show has fallen. That, I assume, would be AI's response to the country dude from The Voice (don't remember his name, just remember him as the guy who looks like Jason Newsted).

I don't really understand this comment. Keith Urban is very current and relevant in todays music scene. He would be just as big a star as they have ever had as a judge.

Ksyrup

09-07-2012, 08:57 AM

I don't know how big he is (I couldn't name a song or pick him out of a lineup), but that still doesn't mean it's not a reaction to The Voice having a country singer (star?) as one of its judges. When has AI had a country judge, even as a guest - Dolly Parton/Kenny Rogers probably? Which reminds me, I think Taylor Swift has also been "rumored."

Matthean

09-07-2012, 09:37 AM

Is that a country singer? I don't recall specifically, but I'm sure I've seen him mentioned among the dozens of hip/hop, rap, R&B, pop and country singers/producers "rumored" to have been approached or offered a job over the past several months.

Adding someone like that just signals how far behind the show has fallen. That, I assume, would be AI's response to the country dude from The Voice (don't remember his name, just remember him as the guy who looks like Jason Newsted).

Keith Urban married Nichole Kidman. He's been on 60 Minutes. He's one of the thee top ranking country stars. While I won't deny adding him in could be looked at as a response to Blake Shelton, it's not like there's a ton of options out there either and eventually they were going to pick a country artist. The fact that AI's best seller(or will be in the end) does country seems like a logical move to have a country star come in.

Ksyrup

09-07-2012, 09:57 AM

Heh, I was probably familar with who the guy is at some point, but he might as well live on another planet as far as how often I would run across him or others like him.

But really, how big he is has nothing to do with my point - AI is now following, not leading. Even having that Jimmy guy, and now Randy apparently, as full-time mentors is stealing from The Voice and X-Factor. Dumping execs/industry people/past-prime musicians and going for 4 current artists (which is what it sounds like from the rumored names) is also stealing from The Voice.

You can say it was only a matter of time until they added a country judge, but Carrie Underwood's been out there for years, they've changed judges like some people change underwear the past few seasons, and they've only now decided to go that direction?