Who to Blame? The 5 Biggest Culprits in American Idol's Worst Season
Even if Crystal Bowersox ranks among American Idol's finest talents (and I believe she does), something's rotten in the state of Seacrest this year. Last season, Idol rejuvenated itself with a blend of personalities -- from subtle craftsman Kris Allen to sparkle sorcerer Adam Lambert. This season's Idol cast is dogged by a number of distracting elements -- and worst, the Idol-consuming populace is confused over the true culprits in this fiasco. Thus, we're ranking the five biggest contributors to Idol's weakest year. Hopefully number one will start to garner the skewering it deserves. Daggers ready!
5. The Kara/Simon Sideshow
This unfortunate non-drama subsided in recent weeks, but the memory burns on: Kara DioGuardi, who gives arguably the best criticisms most nights, confused herself for the star of the show and wasted our time caressing Simon's shoulders and gnawing his chest. At season's start, DioGuardi mentioned to the press that she felt obligated to revive some of Paula Abdul's shtick, which included contestant sympathy and an unpredictability factor. Well, that explains her flagrant attempt to stir up a saucy, buddy-buddy relationship with Simon, but it doesn't justify why she thought it should be so time-consuming.
4. Contestant Nervousness
No one should be crucified for showing nerves on a national stage, at least to start. But if these contestants are serious about pop idol status, shouldn't this platform be more empowering than discouraging? Lee DeWyze's worried warble, Aaron Kelly's prenatal shakes, Casey James' cautious bleat, and Alex Lambert's post-vomit trembles were eye- and ear-sores all season long. It made them seem like unwilling combatants, the least telegenic quality an Idol contestant can have.
3. The Themes/Song Selection
By this time in Idol's run, we need cooler themes. These months of outdated ideas ("Inspirational Week," anyone? "Frank Sinatra Week"? "Elvis Week"?) have transformed the talent pool into a mushy, urgency-deprived karaoke machine. Some of the burden is on the contestants themselves, who don't need to choose "I Believe I Can Fly" or "When You Believe" but labor our tolerance anyway. Still, the quantity of available goodness is seriously limited, and I can only think of a handful of times where the singers mined gems -- aside from Rolling Stones week, the competition's best moment.
2. Ellen DeGeneres
Let's put it bluntly: Ellen DeGeneres could not have been any worse this season. She was scarcely funny. She almost always agreed with and watered down Randy's "points." She couldn't authoritatively stand behind a negative criticism. Worst of all, she never justified her position on the panel, resembling a specter of the TV icon we once knew. Reviewing her comments from throughout the season, she said a version of the phrase, "You know I'm a fan" or "You know I think you're great" to nearly every contestant. You'd think a new presence infiltrating Idol's long-established panel would do more to substantiate her gig than pander to contestants.
1. The Voters
Surprise! You did this to yourselves! As much as we can lay into the judges' inconsistency, Ryan Seacrest's unhinged showmanship, or a cast of wheezing wannabes, the main problem with season nine is horrible home-viewer voting. There's a reason we were promised a year of standout female talents at season's start: Your Top 5 should've been Crystal Bowersox, Siobhan Magnus, Didi Benami, Lilly Scott and Katelyn Epperly. Lee DeWyze's (GrizzLee Bore) tuneless whimper-growls, Casey James' unassuming coffeehouse appeal, and Michael Lynche's Cool Whip commercial "soul" should've deserted Hollywood weeks ago.
We've witnessed so much sympathy voting this year -- from Tim Urban's continued survival to a grim use of the Judges' Save, all on behalf of the lagging male talent pool. Siobhan and Didi -- discernible personalities who not only had great voices but utilized them singularly -- gave one "off" performance apiece. Lilly Scott and Katelyn Epperly were voted out after some of their best efforts. When you reinspect the oeuvre of the four remaining guys, you find plenty more misses than hits.
While viewers can claim that Idol's personnel shifts have added a layer of annoyance to the show, they can't claim they didn't design this strangely uninteresting turnout themselves.
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isn't this show always designed to have roughly two boys and two girls as the final four, regardless of talent? (i know that's not the case this year, but I assume the judges relentlessly hounded the girls because they never in a million years assumed there would be three boys in the final four...the judges needed one or two of the girls to be voted off early, but over pushed and got them all booted)
PS. that person who sounds like Ellen but looks like Jigsaw frightened me away from watching this season.
The judges pick one or two contestants to pimp each year, and it's nauseating. Even though their pimping hasn't worked in recent years, the judges are lame, and I'm not watching anymore.
The judges pick one or two contestants to pimp each year, and it's nauseating. Even though their pimping hasn't worked in recent years, the judges are lame, and I'm not watching anymore.
I'm anti-"not watching anymore." Ridiculous stuff always happens on Idol; you have to be committed to the possibility of sheer ludicrousness from the start and embrace it 'til the bitter end.
Actually, I thought last year was pretty terrible, too. A couple of talents, but the rest were either too nervous, or just not talented enough. Season 7 was the last great year of Idol - loads of talent, many different types of contestants and a cast that really seemed to bond with each other.
But unfortunately, "arrangement idol" started in season 7, continued in season 8 and this is what you get in season 9 - a bunch of snoozer "artists" who can't carry a tune. Bring back the singers, please. I don't care what they do after Idol, if they can't sing a damn song on TV now, I don't want to watch them try.
Fun fact: Suppose we were, instead of considering nebulous concepts like "who do I think has more talent" or "it should be a girl's year, I'm tired of guys winning", to just vote off the worst performance each week. It's hard for any one person to decide on worst, so say we go by the consensus opinion (as measured by What Not to Sing).
One way to judge the quality of the voters any season is by how well they rewarded the good performances and eliminated the bad ones. So let's assign a penalty for each elimination based on the difference between the average review of the person who got eliminated and the average review of the person who "should" have gotten eliminated. Add up over all the weeks, and you get a score of how well the voters did in any given year.
By this measure, two seasons stand out. The worst voters by far were in season 3, which is really no surprise when you think about the eliminations of Jennifer Hudson and Latoya London. The surprise is this: Following the royal screwup in Top 16 week, the voters in season 9 have since been outclassing every other season by a longshot.
Because as much as you liked "Rhiannon", the cold truth of "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted" remains.
I stopped watching last year, swearing Idol off after Adam Lambert lost. It made me quit trusting the voters. Even Ellen didn't bring me back (I've heard mixed...I trust Louis since he's obviously been watching). I wonder if -- horrors -- it's really done. Everyone shows up at the initial auditions dressed like a monkey in a cape and howl out some Beatles tune just to be told "no thanks" or to smart off at Ryan or whatever. Simon Cowell is no idiot. This was his last season for a reason (and yes, I know he's got another show in the works).
The judges chose all these "singer-songwriter" types because Kris Allen won last year which made for a BORING cast. No matter what the judges do or don't do, if the cast is weak, the show is a failure. There was no excitement this year like with Adam last year.
The most offensive thing about American Idol is that these inferior judges are impacting the lives of young, hopeful talents in an irresponsible manner. The viewers are led to believe that the expertise of the judges will serve to take raw talent and teach, groom and shape individual young contestants into stardom. These incompetent aholes do more to destroy the talent than shape it and Simon gets the prize for destroying the self esteem of those he especially doesnt like, talent, and star quality be damned. I personally will NEVER watch Idol again after the way all judges cooperated in setting up Casey James to fail while setting up Lee DeWyze to succeed. Crystal came on the scene strong and built a fan base, so that even as she seemed to regress to mediocrity over time, the judges knew her fan base would carry her. I pray that the entire state of Texas voted for Casey to get him into the final two. That would serve to negate the power of the judges and justice would be served.
I think the main problem lies in the casting. It is unbelievable that these contestants were the best of the thousands upon thousands of people auditioning and if it is true, this show needs to take a rest for 10 years. But I don't think that's the problem because I don't think the judges/producers went into this season looking for the best singers/performers. They went into it with a cast sheet of types to fill and that's what they did. White guys with guitars, preferably southern? Check. Teen girl? Check. Asexual teen boy? Check. Cute/hot teen boy? Check. "Quirky"? Check. This season is boring because they did not pick people with performance skills -- they largely picked mediocre talent and folks who stand behind a guitar and as Lambert said so aptly during his mentorship, "Borrrrring." All of the other issues -- Kara/Ellen/continued uselessness of Randy -- are really negligible. All the of the other factors could be perfect but if you have mediocre/boring contestants, game over.
Bring back Rock Star, dammit!
I totally agree with the issue being the initial choices! if you want the show to continue go back to the roots of good voices and talent, and don't try and skew it with demographics!
I can't wait for Simon to exit the show. He has been acting so bored the whole time, without having his heart into even listening to the preformances. And then says hateful uninspiring critiques. I just hope that whom ever they chose to replace him will bring insite to the show of just what will make the performers successful.
This is a great show, and as past seasons have shown, can be a wonderful jumping off place for real talent. Lets not wreck it with overthinking the chioces early on, and then not giving good advice at the end. Siobhan had a great voice, but didn't get the advice she needed about ALWAYS having a loud high pitch at the end of the song.. she needed to lose that screech, and the voice teachers should have told her so when planning the arrangements with her.
You want this show to continue, well in my vote, let it go back to being a show for talent, and let that win the day.
The problem with "American Idol" has ALWAYS been the fans. This is not new to the show or the season.
I don't think Idol needs 4 judges and as much as I like Ellen I don't think she's cut out to be a judge. We need more Randy's and Kara's to really judge a contestant and I think their comment's should weigh in more on who win's. Let's face it Turban only stayed on because he has a cute smile, Casey James should never have ever been in the final 3. The only reason he is is because of teeny bopper cuteness. So the judges comment's must be counted as part of the vote some how. If they are not then why are they there? They don't really sway the public at all..I think the public should still vote but not just because a contestant is cute or really out there that is totally WRONG!
The worst thing about this season was those who had great voices and could sing getting criticized by the judges which caused them to be voted off! UGH!
i think one of the reasons every1 see's american idol as garbage this season is because another show some what like it" so you think you can dance",was very exciting this year.
yes the judges do give to much sympathy but i think simon gives enough criticism on behalf of all the others.
Ditch Ellen, Worthless, a me-too person who has not had an original thought in her life.
Send the fag home.
Personally, I think this is one of the best seasons. I liked Michael, and I thought Lee blew away Crystal last night. I agree that some of the women, especially Siobahn, were voted off far earlier than they should have been. Although if you read some blogs, a lot of people didn't care for Siobahn's signature screech. By the same token, who is the biggest demographic to watch this show? Girls between 10 and 20. They will always vote for "cute" guys over talented girls. Think about all of the boy bands over the years and how much longer their careers were compared to girl bands. Teenage girls drool over the likes of the Jonas Brothers and the Backstreet Boys.
And I think Ellen has been very funny. Ryan has said that with Ellen, he doesn't have to be nearly as funny as he has in the prior seasons.
Finally, I will agree that some changes are needed in themes. Now, I wouldn't get rid of Sinatra night. After all, about 1/3rd of the time, my XM Radio is set to Siriusly Sinatra. But, maybe I would expand it to let people pick music made popular by Dean, Sammy, Tony Bennett, or Rosemary Clooney.
On country night, don't let people sing songs from Garth, Faith Hill, or Keith Urban. Make them sing old country, such as Hank Williams, Sr., Tammy Wynette, Johnny Cash, or Loretta Lynn.
If you do a Broadway night, don't go with Andrew Lloyd Weber musicals, but rather, Rogers & Hammerstein, Lerner & Lowe, Cole Porter, the Gershins, or Stephen Sondheim.
that's strange i found this the best season except for saving mike, who should have gone home long ago and that blonde bombshellhaha..he cant sing. now lee is wonderful, and he deserves to win. you have to admit he has the looks, the talent. i like this season, i find it the best so far from the first. no fantasia no rubens to win, yeah i like this season. real singers, except for mike and a few others
this is the best season ever! lot of talent, mike no..a few others no.but lee is the real deal. and i watched all season and enjoyed myself watching the singers, i loved the mentors too. in all a great season..what the hell are you talking about worst season? that was last year and the year fanasia won, and lets not forget ruben who can sing worth a lick
I think this year has lacked something, I think the contestants song choices have been terrible, they are singing songs that not very many people have heard before and that is boring. Last night at least they did have some good songs [thanks to the judges], and Ellen did really good. They better think long and hard about next season, and the new forth judge to replace Simon, I will be surprised if it has the viewership that it even has this year. So far Lee has been the surprise, and will probably win it. Chrystal has remained solid each week though. i hope tonight isn't one of those shocking vote offs, I have a feeling that Casey just might stay in there[ because of the female voters]....we will see but I think we are in for a shock.
what a stupid stupid and unfair thing to write, this season was great! i had my doubts without paula but i forgot all about her watching this year, ellen was good. dont put down lee, he is a nice person.
the person who wrote this is full of it.crystal is boring, she reminds me of a person singing on the bus, lee is the deal. you put him down for being humble and shy..i think somone is green with envy and is a moron for writing this peice , ive been watching idol from the get go and this is finally the only good season since number one. so get over your jelousy, and realize that this year rules.
lambert sucks, he made me cringe every time he 'sang' or should i say screamed. yuck
I wish they would replace Ryan Secrest. He's JUST THE ANNOUNCER but he acts like he's the main attraction on the show. His ego would sink a ship ... Plus, he's become even more obnoxious during the show and and more sadistic in presenting the results of the voting. so much so, that I've almost decided to stop watching the Wednesday night results show. Hope Fox does us a favor and fires Ryan !
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