Monday, December 15, 2008

Changes in Store for American Idol

American Idol has already added a 4th judge (Kara DioGuardi) for this season, but there are some other changes this season as well when the show starts on January 13th.
There will be fewer audition episodes and more Hollywood-round episodes. The shift increases the show's emphasis on talented performers and shies further away from the crash-and-burn spectacle of less-talented attention-seekers.
I'm totally in favor of this. The bad performances get annoying really quickly. And a lot of times I feel badly because I think they are picking on borderline retarded people.
Also, this fixes one of the problems with the show. Idol wannabes have often complained that in the early rounds of fan voting those people the producers chose to profile on TV had a better chance of making it through than those who were never shown. This should give more exposure to more contestants.
In order to further emphasize the focus on the most talented singers, the semifinalist rounds will feature the top 36 contestants instead of 24.
The "wild card" round will return, which gives eliminated contestants a chance to come back into the competition for one of the top finalist spots.
The network will not air an "Idol Gives Back" charity telecast next year, but does plan to hold the event in the show's ninth season. Moving forward, "Gives Back" will become an every-other-year event.

No comments: