American Idol 2016: Lame Duck Syndrome [Op-ed]

This week on American Idol 2016, the Top 8 will perform after a double elimination, but we have no idea what the theme is this week or if there is one. Fox has already thrown in the towel on this lame-duck show, folks. And that’s a shame.

It first became clear that Fox wasn’t going to put a lot of effort into it this year when they announced a shorter season. We already knew we’d again be getting shows one night a week after the preliminary rounds, so that wasn’t a shocker. But Idol ending in April is crazy. And in order to make that happen, we have to lose two Idols this week. So we get less time and fewer chances to see our favorite contestants perform. Talk about kicking us while we’re down (“we,” as in American Idol fans).

And there’s something else that’s being neglected this season and I haven’t seen it mentioned anywhere else: Where are the songs on iTunes? I went to download Trent Harmon’s Top 10 performance on iTunes, and when I searched his name, nothing came up. So I searched for La’Porsha Renae and also found nothing. A “Dalton Rapattoni”search turned up his own 2014 single “Stop,” but nothing from American Idol 2016.

Of all the things that are lacking this season, the song downloads shock me the most. Isn’t that something Idol can make money from? Maybe they’ll start putting the songs on iTunes this week or next or eventually, but I still don’t understand why we didn’t get the Top 10 songs. We’ve always gotten Top 10 and Top 12 songs on iTunes. Some seasons, we got Top 24 songs on iTunes. This just makes no sense to me.

Another thing they dropped this season is the judges’ save. I guess it just doesn’t make sense since we started with a Top 10 instead of a Top 12 then immediately drops to a Top 8 and then a Top 6. I guess it just isn’t feasible to allow the judges to save someone. And since we’re getting double eliminations, we surely won’t get the Twitter save like last season either, and I loved that touch.

They’ve clearly already given up on this season and I’ll say it again: It’s a shame. Especially since this season has a lot more heart than it has in years. The production value is better, the talent is strong, there’s emotion, there’s nostalgia (and Kelly Clarkson made a great judge!). It’s kind of great. Too bad we’re being short-changed, though.

I really thought Fox and Idol producers would go all out with the final season, but I was wrong. They’ve already moved on and left the show and us in the dust.