In a not-so-shocking move, American Idol producers Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick will not be returning for American Idol 2014, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
It was expected that the two would follow the entire judging panel out the door before Season 13 after a lackluster season and a finale that saw ratings dip 40 percent less than the previous year.
“Both Nigel and [creator Simon Fuller] really clashed,” an insider told FOX411. “Ken and Nigel’s exit isn’t surprising…It’s hard for anyone involved in the production to get along with Fuller.”
I have a feeling we’ll be hearing a lot about the upcoming changes for Season 13 as Fox and the production companies involved shift into high gear to rebrand their show to attempt to regain its footing in the ratings race.
Here’s to hoping they come up with a plan that makes fans happy enough to come back to the show as loyal viewers next season.
Nigel has shown his ability to lead on “So You Think You Can Dance” for years. Of all the reality shows, I think that one is at the top in terms of voting fairness, judges, and promoting the contestants. It has made me appreciate dance so much more than I did before watching. Now he will have more time to make it even better.
I agree with you about SYTYCD regarding how well Nigel has done with it. However, you have to wonder where is all went wrong in terms of his leadership on AI. How could one show be done so well and the other just seem to fall apart? Granted there are more fingers in the AI pie but it seems strange to me that it has plummeted so far. As for SYTYCD, I hope Fox continues to allow it to show it some love and air it during the summer months. I wait for the end of AI every year because I know that that is when SYTYCD begins. The talent on that show, to me, is unsurpassed!
Nigel has experience as a professional dancer. I wonder if that makes him more in tune with how to make a dance competition show successful.
Looking forward to the new ideas! They should allow contestants to upload their own videos for entering online. The software idol uses doesn’t work very well in some country areas with slower internet speeds.
Nigel Lythgo has a good thing going on with ” So you think you can dance” Very good show! Awesome dancers! And he also has ” America has talent.” I do not watch the second one. Kind of a stupid show.
Well here are some suggestions that the new executive producers should take seeing as Nigel and co seemed to like to ignore any suggestions that their viewers had to make the show better.
1. First and foremost the voting system needs to be changed and there needs to be a limited to how many times a person can vote via phone, text, and online. If Nigel and co had done that with season 12 then perhaps the wouldn’t have had to manipulate things to ensure that there would be a female winner.
2. Leave the manipulation at a minimum. The manipulation to first ensure a female winner and then to try to get a certain type of winner was too much. It’s part of what caused the ratings to plummet the way they did. Don’t manipulate things just let the viewers vote whichever way they want.
3. Clear more current and better songs and have better themes. I’m not all for getting rid of the themes as the themes forces the contestants to leave their comfort zone. Just look over at the Voice at team Blake which is all country and Blake doesn’t challenge them. With that being said we don’t need though the latest version of Feeling Good, Alone, I have Nothing, I don’t Want to Miss a Thing or anything Motown. Clear different kinds of songs that are more modern and can show us what kind of artist the contestants wish to be.
4. Reduce the results show to 30 minutes. I know I sound like a broken record at saying this but do we really need to sit through the Ford Music videos or Fiesta missions? Do we really need to know what the contestants did the week before the performance night? At most we don’t care about those kinds of things we just want to know who is in the bottom and possibly going home. Reducing the results show to 30 minutes would leave time for building the bottom 3 and one or two guest performances and can get rid of all the useless filler.
5. Contestants should be 18 or over with at least a high school education. I know with this one I sound like a broken record and this goes for the X-Factor and the Voice as well. Kids should just be kids and should be doing kid things at that point in their lives. Focusing on their education should be the most important thing going on in their lives at the moment and not being on a singing competition show. And most of the teenagers who go on the show clearly have no idea what kind of artist they want to be. I would rather watch someone who is a little older and has a little experience under their belt than kids who don’t know what they want to be yet.
6. No sob stories!!!!!! Really every person out there for the most part has had to deal with their share of hardship. I don’t want to be made to feel bad because this person’s house burnt down, they were homeless, their mother or father died, they are auditioning because their grandma or grandpa loved hearing them sing and they recently passed away, ect. Enough with that, I don’t vote for people because of how compelling their backstory is, I vote for who I feel gives the best performance so stop with the stupid sob stories!!!
7. Don’t treat the audience like they are stupid. Nigel and co excelled at that and people don’t like being treated like they are stupid. Most people know when they have Ryan Secrest saying that they got 70 million votes it doesn’t translate into 70 million people had watched the show. Nor trying to say that a performance is “live” when it clearly isn’t. I.E. Ryan, Steven, and Randy sitting in the audience eating popcorn while JLo is “getting ready” for her performance when it was pre-taped. Treat the audience like they are intelleigent adults and not dummies.
8. Do not hire polarizing judges. How many people said that they wouldn’t watching if Nikki Minaji was hired as a judge and how many people stayed true to their word? And how many people turned off Idol after watching Minaji on the panel? While Nikki Minaji can’t be totally to blame for the ratings plummet she is a part responsible. I don’t know whose idea it was to hire her, but my guess that person is now having to freshen up their resume. When so many of you fans say that they will not watch your program if you hire this person to be a judge then that might be a clue to not hire that person.
I really hope that the new executive producers do a better job at listening to what the viewers of the show want to see more than what Nigel did. These are just some suggestions that I hope that they take. Feel free to add more.