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American Idol: Can This Show Be Saved?
I can't explain it. I love the show. I've watched every season. This season honestly had some of the best talent ever. FOX didn't bloat the show repeatedly with 90 minute or 2 hour editions like it has normally done.
And still I was bored almost this entire season.
I wasn't the only one. Not only did the ratings, still high, show a significant drop, but a lot of my friends admitted to watching the show on fast forward.
Last night I watched the show live and wanted to pull my hair out. I honestly didn't care about the kids' trips home although I was touched by Syesha and David Cook being moved to tears by the outpouring of fan support from their hometowns.
The group song was strange. It didn't even sound like the trio when they sang together. Only when they broke apart for solo parts did they sound like themselves.
The Ford commercial? Eeh.
Fantasia? Same. I love her but I just didn't care. It wouldn't have mattered who it was taking up time from the business at hand.
The one thing that did interest me? In the beginning, Ryan kept teasing that Simon was showing too much chest and he asked Paula to button him up. All I could see was Ms. Abdul's boobage about to flop out on the desk. Now THAT was too much chest.
Besides, a little chest hair has never scared me. Much.
In the end, Syesha went home and didn't look a bit surprised. She knew it was coming, as did the rest of us.
I WILL admit to looking forward to the bloated finale next week. I do want to know which David will take the prize and I'm a Cook girl all the way.
But what can FOX do for Idol next season? I'm interested in hearing your ideas. Here are mine:
Show two weeks of auditions with a good mix of those who are going to make it through and those who are funny/awful. Too much of ANYTHING (bad auditioners) becomes boring.
Show more of the California rounds. Let us get more invested in those trying to make the top 24. THAT is the time for personal stories and who stayed up too late and who isn't practicing, etc.
Drop the padding and let the kids sing an entire song.
Drop the overt product placement. Make people buy commercial time if they want to advertise on Idol. (And this includes movie plugs).
Drop the mentor thing. Seriously. Let artists find some other way to push their new albums.
Stop the theme nights. Let the kids sing newer songs.
Keep the results show down to a half hour.
***
AS FOR THE JUDGES:
Paula is a train wreck and that's part of the fun so just leave her alone.
Randy needs to stop the "dawg" talk and judge. He should stop waiting until Simon cuts someone off at the knees to start screaming down the table to say the stuff he should have said when it was his turn. Of all the judges, he is the most expendable.
The judges should be banned from telling kids not to sing/change songs by Whitney, Mariah, etc. What are these poor kids supposed to sing? The judges need to get over themselves and judge the kids, not compare them to 10-year-old performances by someone else.
Okay. Them's my thoughts. What do you think?
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May 15, 2008 7:59 AM
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Hi Vickie.
Those are all excellent ideas. However, I feel that once they weed the competion down enough they should make the elimination round a half hour. As I recall, that is how it used to be and it was plenty!
Also, the judges should quit giving conflicting advice. So many times I have heard them tell the kids to not be afraid to make a song 'their own', and later tell someone they really shouldn't have messed with the song.
I would like to ask you about something from the recent past. My ability to get enough computer time to read many blogs has been severly limited lately so if this was addressed earlier, forgive me.
As to the judges contradicting themselves, back when Brooke White was performing, I believe she was doing the Lloyd Weber song when at the beginning she stopped and started over. She was chastised for that and told that one should never stop once the song has begun. BUT.... I thought that Brooke had done the same thing once before on a number, perhaps one of The Beatle's songs, and was praised, being told that it was smart for her to have known that it wasn't right and to start over. Do you remember that or has my brain been busy reinventing scenarios again?
Thanks.
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May 15, 2008 11:12 AM
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Hi Miss Vickie!
How did you do that? You read my mind. I agree 100% with everything you said.
I'd like to add one more thing. About the teeny boppers down in front with the arms waving....CUT IT OUT!!!!!!
Can't wait to see who wins next week!
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May 15, 2008 11:15 AM
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Z ~ You are correct. I also remember her starting the Beatles song, stopping and starting again, and they all told her it was very professional to do that. Then, the second time it happened, Randy was okay with it but Paula was the one that said she should never start and stop like that. Simon didn't care. I guess Paula slept through Beatles week.
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May 15, 2008 11:26 AM
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I agree, I remembered it to. It's like the judges always change their minds.
Wanted to alert those of you posting here that Vickie Jean did a SECOND post when this one didn't seem to go thru (they were having trouble with the site for a while till David Flores fixed it) so there are lots of comments from other people in the second one AND Vickie may not realize there is this second (was first) post so CHECK IT OUT (as Randy would say and NO I won't say DAWG)
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May 15, 2008 11:44 AM
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thanx Dorjean
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May 15, 2008 1:09 PM
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