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Simon, Paula and Randy face the press gauntlet - TCA Report
Despite the presence of Seth McFarlane, Matt Groening, David Kelley, and Tim Minear, every critic in the room knew what the biggest panel of the day was going to be at FOX's press tour day: American Idol. Between the charges that Simon and the other judges are being meaner than ever this year, and Paula is being loopier than ever, it promised to be a lively session. The tension built as we waited. And waited. And waited.When the session finally started, 45 minutes late (Simon apologized for that; he flew in late from London), the tired and cranky critics began clapping in unison, prompting Peter Liguiori to say, "I feel like I'm at a Black Sabbath concert." Then the big guns came out: Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, Simon Cowell, and Ryan Seacrest, accompanied by the show's executive producer, Ken Warwick.
Paula explained yet again why she was so loopy-seeming during that satellite broadcast, first by explaining what her environment is like during these things. "You're in a small room; you get up really early, and you look into a small camera. You don't see anyone. I did three hours of them. There were a couple of glitches; the very last one had tremendous technical difficulties. I heard split cities in my ear, but I thought it was all one groiup of people. 'Oh you're having like a party there!' I'm in a swivel chair and I'm swiveling and I'm very angry with my hands. What you were hearing wasn't exactly who I was answering a question to. And I was waiting for the technical difficulties to be fixed."
Uh, sure Paula... anyway, in support of his co-judge, Simon admitted in public for the first time that he was responsible for the "moths and melons" incident from last year, which only fed into everyone's perception that Paula was either drunk or crazy. "(During one episode) Paula said 'I don't know what to say,' and I said use a Chinese proverb." Randy chimed in: "He made that up!" He apologized for the incident; Paula was so appreciative she leaned over and gave him a kiss.
Randy quelled the "drunk" speculation by saying, "In the Coke cups are all Coca-Cola products!" Sure, Randy. Just because there's water and soda in those cups doesn't mean that there also isn't rum and/or Everclear in there, either.
OK, now on to the "crueler" Simon. "I take your point; it's a singing competition. Why would I say that someone's a bush baby?" But he defended himself by saying, "We never try to censor this show. There are times I watch it back and I think, 'God, I wish I never said that.' I feel more comfortable being on a show where we're prepared to show the warts as well as the good things."
Randy agreed. "It's season six; it's no different than it ever was."
Despite what has seemed like a difficult relationship between the three judges and their host, Simon -- that softie! -- sincerely thinks the interaction between the four of them is one of the key factors of the show. "I wouldn't do this show unless Paula, Randy and Ryan were on the same show. We all work well together. I don't want to work with boring people."
Of course, the other part is the singers. "We change people's lives for the rest of their lives," said Abdul. "And real superstars come out that way. It appeals to all demographics."
Other notes:
- Why do people come on the show if they know they're not as good as the people who have been on it in the past? Well, they don't know, even to this day. "It is part of the fun and wackiness of the show; people turn up to audition for Idol and in (just as in) real life auditions, they're terrible and they don't know it," says Simon. We will go and talk to everyone before we start filming, and tell them. 'If any of you aren't very good, chances are you're going to get a hard time and you should leave.'" Apparently everyone thinks they're good, because no one leaves.
- When the "William Hung" factor was mentioned -- that people get on just to get embarrassed on national TV -- Paula mentioned that they can sniff those folks out pretty well. They trick them by telling them they're great.
- There was a contestant who was recently discovered to have been in the Special Olympics, which Simon didn't know about when making his blunt remarks and sending him on his way. Warwick said it was impossible to screen for that kind of thing, given the number of contestants. Simon went a step further: "To suggest that, because somebody has done something like that, he can't enter the competition smacks of censorship. We can't be censors on the type of people (that enter). Randy had a bit of a different take: "Do you think William Hung is mad he came on the show? He is jumping up and down!"
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