American Idol might be confident with where it stands, but there are a couple other shows right on its heels. I don’t think the show can really do too much wrong at this point in the game, but there are definitely some things I think it could improve upon to make the American Idol 2012 experience a great one.
So with tonight’s season premiere in mind, I’ve put together the top five things that I think would make Idol better. Who knows, by chance, we might even see some of these things happen.
1. Stop forcing kids on us. I understand that they’ve lowered the age limit and they’re looking for the next Justin Beiber. But don’t pick finalists JUST because they’re young. Pick them because they’re talented.
2. That leads me to the next idea. Keep the talent pool versatile. Don’t give us a bunch of Beibers and Swifts. Give us some rockers. Some crooners. Some divas. Mix it up more.
3. More songs! New songs! New themes! Ban overdone songs (“Feelin’ Good,” Hallelujah,” “Alone,” etc).
4. Cut the results show down to half an hour! We know this will NEVER happen, but it just has to be said anyway. The results show are so tideous and drawn-out and filled with filler. Three or more hours a week of ONE TV show is just wrong. And we’ve been doing it for years. That’s hundreds and hundreds of hours spent watching TV.
5. Don’t change anything other than the four things I mentioned. Don’t try to be anything like X Factor. Don’t go to judges’ houses. Don’t let the judges’ pick who goes home. Don’t let the judges pick the songs.
What are some things you’d like to see happen this season on American Idol?
excellent suggestions. i would also add one vote per telephone or computer. a zillion little teeny boppers voting for the pretty boy should be stopped. new and unique talent should be encouraged. and most of all, please, no histrionics from the judges. just tell the truth in a straightforward way. if a contestant stinks, let him or her know it. don’t waste the audience’s time. and last but not least, there are too many commercials, which is why we record the show and then watch it, fast forwarding all the junk. there’s got to be a better way. that said, let the games begin! hoping for some exceptional talent and some real, down home ROCK AND ROLL!!!
Don’t make hearing people suffer through a whole season of grotesque mockery of musicality, i.e., Jacob Lusk.
Yes, great list of suggestions. The best was don’t become the X Factor! That was the worst so called competition, thank goodness a great singer won. Simon needs to go home, he’s so full of himself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can’t wait for tonight!
I would like the ability to vote AGAINST someone. That way I can counteract all those teenagers who are voting for someone because of how they look instead of how they sound!
This is a good idea. The way it is the worst is often not voted off. However, the business end of it probably won’t allow this, as they are probably paid by the telephone companies based on the number of total calls made. Furthermore, this idea would end the bragging about the number of votes cast.
And, this idea would also tend to stop those “shocking” eliminations. For example, it would be unlikely that Pia, or Casey would have been chosen as the worst contestant at the times they were eliminated. I’m thinking that AI actually likes the shocking eliminations, since they play them up so much.
It is irritating to see the worst contestant say, and a lesser talent stay on.
Hi IdolFan,
You can already vote against someone… Just vote for someone else.
Please don’t make AI anything like the boring and over the top X Factor. Backgrounds, lights shining in your face, so you can not see the performer.
The stages on Xfactor were too much. Keep AI well grounded and about the performances. I like the 5 things that were listed.
I would also like it if after commercial breaks they didn’t let the introduction music of we are back play so long – b o r i n g!!!!! Get to it.
It just draws things out much to long.
Branden, I agree with your suggestions. I would also like to make a point here in the beginning… Contestants on American Idol DO NOT get voted off. They just DO NOT get enough votes to stay on.
Hope this is a great season!
@Branden,
Brand new season,, Yeah! Branden a number of things that makes AI a cut above the rest of the talent shows are the things you mentioned. Good point! Mentoring and Judging at the same time is a bad mix to my opinion.
And case in point , Xfactor. What the producers of Xfactor did not anticipate is the human emotions that played a very important role in keeping or sending a singer home. In other words why not therefore leave the sending
or keeping of the singers to us “FANS”. If they only realize how much of a
critic we are and how much we are in tune to the whole show, it is scary 🙂
don’t think AI allows kids as young as XFactor did. I hope that this unsolicited advice is just because Scotty won last season. Scotty is young, but much more mature and talented than many older contestants. I think the show that needs to adhere to advice #1 is XFactor, not AI. It would have prevented Rachel Crow’s bratty elimination meltdown. If the idea to raise the age is because Scotty won, I’m sorry to tell you that he won fair and square. Had he not won, he wouldn’t have had a meltdown of Rachel Crow proportions, that’s for sure. I don’t recall you criticizing her on the Xfactor site.
Here a few of things I would change if I were in charge.
1. Change the voting system and make it one vote per phone number and computer. This will keep from having the “shock” eliminations. I remember reading back after Pia was eliminated that Nigel Lythgoe said that he saw the voting and that Pia was always the “middle of the pack”. Well that shows that Pia was the middle of the pack in votes only, and not actually about how many people voted. It could have been that Pia had more people voting for her than say Jacob Lusk. If the voting was limited then Pia might have avoided elimination or could have been kept out of the bottom three altogether.
2. I know it’s too late for this suggested change to take place this season, but one thing I’d change for future seasons is raise the age limit to 18. Most of the time it shows that most teenagers don’t have the maturity to handle the competition. How many times must I be treated to a teenage girl being reduced to tears because the judges don’t have such great comments for her performance? How many times must I see a teenager break down in tears because they are in the bottom 2 or 3, or are eliminated? Remember Lauren Alania breaking down that week she was in the bottom 2? Or Thia Megia acting like it was a school project and the judges were her teachers and hoping they would give her a good grade? On the Voice there was a young teenage girl who suffered from stage fright. Or Astro’s attitude on the X-Factor, or Drew and Rachel’s reactions to being eliminated on the X-Factor. Sure you might get a Jordin Sparks or a Scotty McCreery who are mature enough to take it on, but those teenagers are few and far between. And I seriously question the parents of these kids of allowing to enter these competitions, as I know if these kinds of shows were around when I was a teenager and I asked my mom if I could try out for it she would say I could when I turned 18 as she knew I wouldn’t be ready to handle that kind of pressure.
3. Don’t let the judges save be in play until after the top 10 has been determined. I know not a lot of people are going to like this one, but I think Casey deserved to be eliminated at 11th place. He had two very bad back to back performances, and really didn’t improve much after he got the save. It was like all the good advice that JLo gave him on the night he got the save went right out the window. If I were on that judging panel I wouldn’t have voted to save him. Also using the save too early was at the expense of a more deserving contestant getting it. Would they have used it on Pia? Well if they had let Casey got they might not have needed to use it as if it had not have been used on Casey then either Thia or Naima would have still had been in the competition and that could have changed the whole dynamic.
Things I agree withe Brendan on are scaling back the results shows to a half-hour, but I agree when say that will never happen. The network and advertisers make more money off the show with the results show being an hour. I agree having a little variety in the contestants. Allowing pop, rock, country, r&b, ect. I agree with banning overdone songs and coming up with new themes. I would also like to add to retire some overdone themes like Motown, and please no themes that are centered on a single artist. As much as I like Michael Jackson and Elton John I’d rather have the contestants have a little more variety to choose from than just one artist one week. Also don’t become the X-Factor I agree with too. I don’t want to see the judges homes(though I doubt those houses were actually their homes, but rental properties that were rented by the show for that purpose). Don’t let the judges mentor a group of contestants. Don’t let the judges choose the songs(just see some of the songs Nicole Shirzinger choose of Josh Krajick and you’ll see why). Don’t let the judges pick who goes home after the live shows start.
I’d like to see the judges choose to bring back a wild card from among the group of Hollywood hopefuls that didn’t make it beyond the individual audition. I have someone particular in mind, but it would be interesting to see who they would choose to bring back for another shot and to see how well that contestant would do in the competition.
More rock, less forcing of “talent” from the Judges.
Will be tuning in for Steven Tyler’s epic mouth, and the greatness that flows openly from it.
Brendan….Love your list of suggestions, we can only hope someone is paying attention…..BTW I just love your honesty…