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« The Great American Idol Blog
Fox Reveals Idol's First Season 8 "Fix"
Natasha Bedingfield on American Idol by Ray Mickshaw/Fox
It was almost a throwaway line at Fox's Thursday upfront presentation, but it undoubtedly will be welcome news to most American Idol viewers: One of the first announced changes in place for Season 8 is "predominantly" half-hour results shows, versus hour-long, overstuffed and sometimes painfully bloated build-ups to a simple, "See ya!"
Less filler, sounds great!
This is but the first tweak in store for the next cycle, in which Fox brass hope to inject new energy, bigger "twists and turns" and better storytelling.
What's your take? Will you miss seeing [insert CD-pimping singer not especially relevant to the Idolaudience here] perform on the Wednesday show? — MWM
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May 16, 2008 3:39 PM
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Matt:
I must say, you have been giving me happy, good news today! First Smallville, now this! Woohoo!
This is, indeed, very GOOD news!!!!
~Sangeeta
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May 16, 2008 5:18 PM
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I really don't see the point in making the latest voted off contestant sing a song for which they were just voted off for in the first place! I, for one, would be delighted to see that part gone!
But as for a special guest singer, who looks awkward to even be associated with the AI name, that part was pointless from conception!
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May 16, 2008 5:22 PM
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I don't mind the hour long results show, what I do mind is that they announce the results, like dancing with the stars, with just a few minutes left. Which means, we don't get to hear what the voted off person or couple have to say. Are they afraid we are gonna change the station? I think just a few more minutes before the end of the show would be great.
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May 16, 2008 11:19 PM
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Excellent news! I'm glad to hear they are beginning to take steps to hopefully improve the show. I had the opportunity to take the survey about what I like/dislike about American Idol and what changes I would make. The hour-long results show is one of the things I said I liked least, and I suggested they change it to 30-minutes. I guess more people had the same feelings. It's nice to see that TPTB are taking the suggestions of us, the viewing office, and are putting them into play. Hopefully a 30-minutes results show will also mean they ditch the phone-in segment.
Now if they would just get rid of those screaming, arm-waving girls at the front of the stage....
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May 16, 2008 11:29 PM
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I don't care too much. The results show usually stinks anyway. The only two I've enjoyed this season were the one with Blake and then last week's with Maroon 5.
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May 16, 2008 11:32 PM
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I don't need twists and turns and storytelling. I need less production and more reality.
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May 16, 2008 11:53 PM
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I don't mind the one hour results show--I enjoy those. They should change the Tuesday night performance shows to a 1/2 hr though--cut down on those crappy pop songs the contestants have to sing.
...
...and bring back Sanjaya
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May 17, 2008 12:29 AM
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This IS good news - hopefully this means no more phone segment, the Ford commercials can go back to just being regular commercials and Ryan won't have as much time to torture the contestants.
Now if they can make some of the theme weeks relevant to people under 50 and change the voting rules to one vote per phone people would be REALLY excited!
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May 17, 2008 9:01 AM
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Didn't they use to do half-hour results shows a couple of seasons? Also, didn't one season after the person got booted they let them PICK which song they wanted to perform (from all the songs they had performed so far)?
Not really NEW changes...
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May 17, 2008 9:11 AM
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I could have sworn that last season we had a bunch of 30 minute results shows. I kept waiting for them this season, and don't really understand why they never did it.
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May 17, 2008 9:45 AM
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and don't really understand why they never did it.
Ratings and money from advertisers during that second half hour, of course!
I think this was the first season where ALL the results shows were 1 hour. In the past, they were either all 30 minutes or a mix of 30 minutes and 1 hour when they started getting greedy.
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May 17, 2008 11:05 AM
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The strike meant the network had time to fill. So they went with the hr results show on their #1 franchise.
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May 17, 2008 11:07 AM
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Half hour results show?...FINALLY! I hate the hour results show. They just drag the results out with pointless fillers and everyone just wants to see the last 5 minutes anyway...
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May 17, 2008 11:08 AM
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This is a very good start, but here are 5 more things they could do to "fix" the show or at least make it better:
1. Let the fans recommend a song for the contestants to sing each week. If the contestants choose to sing something else, that's fine, but at least let the fans weigh in. Or at least let the fans choose a song for the final 3 - I'm certain we would do a MUCH better job than the producers.
2. Pick fun, new themes for each week. For example, songs from foreign countries other than Great Britain, one hit wonders, opposite sex week (guys sing songs made popular by women and vice versa), singer songwriter week, hip hop week, different genre week (every singer must sing a song from one genre using a different genre). Just mix it up and be original! No more "disco" week or "celebrity of the week", please!
3. Have male and female singers do duets during Hollywood week.
4. Have on a contestant who is blind or otherwise physically challenged who can inspire people (if the person is talented, of course).
5. Ask the judges to provide more constructive criticism to the contestants to make them better from week to week. Not just "that was da bomb!" or "that would make dogs cry!". Though I like those comments too 
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May 17, 2008 11:09 AM
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