American Idol producer admits to season six mistakes

You know, American Idol should refocus and let the older performers show them how things should be done. I'm ready when you guys get it together. No offense, but how that child won this past title is beyond comprehension.

I don't care much one way or the other about "getting to know" the contestants better. I care more about the quality of the singers and the quality of the competion. And last year, AI went downhill on both counts. After Melinda was voted off I stopped watching, since in my view she was by far the most accomplished singer left at that point.

Also, I never watch the audition episodes because I strongly object to the way AI makes fun of people by putting on these oddballs who have no chance of competing. In some cases it comes across as downright cruel.

As for the celebrity mentors, I kind of like having them around and I don't think they steal any thunder from the contestants. But their "advice" is often hokey and useless and it comes across to me as rather boring.

I think the idea of the judges having more say is right on target. On other shows that let people vote, like
Dancing With the Stars and SYTYCD, people vote where the contestants are placed, such as bottom three, etc, but DWTS uses a combination of voters and judge scores to make its decision, and on SYTYCD, its up to the judges who goes from dancers the voters put into the bottom.

There is much more fairness this way to the contestants. This way, we don't have to put up with tweens deciding to bypass a talented voice because they like a teen with cool clothes or hair. A talented singer may end up in the bottom, but the judges could prevent a singer like Melinda from going home.

They will never limit how many times a person can call or text. It makes too much money.

Seeing Melinda Doolittle leave killed this seasons momentum. Blake and Jordin made for the weakest finale so far and I bet they'll both release craptastic CDs.

What they really need to work on is cutting out all the non-competition related filler. It's ridiculous to stretch the results show to an hour. And they need to find a producer and director who knows how to bring a show in on time. There was no excuse for the finale to run overtime. Fox claims that because it was live they had no control over it, but there are plenty of live events that air on network TV that come in on time. The Tony Awards, The Golden Globes and the various beauty pageants for example. They have people who know how to plan for a specific time slot and they bring the show in ON TIME. They could have cut the stupid "awards" which only served to embarrass the contestants and the viewers once again. The could have cut Clive Davis' rambling (and snubbing of Kelly Clarkson). Cut the pre-recorded...oh, I mean "live" performances that didn't make the "Idol Gives Back" show. A good producer can bring a show in on time and can cut things on the fly if it's running long. This applies not only to the finale but to just about every episode that aired! Rarely did one live show come in on time and that's just pathetic and poor planning.

If they really want to tweak the show, let the judges have more of a say in who stays and who goes. What's the point of having a panel of judges if they don't do anything? Their comments only serve to sway the competition in a way it shouldn't go. Criticize someone too much, they automatically get millions of sympathy votes and someone who actually deserves to be there goes home. As the "judges" keep harping week after week, the show is about finding the BEST SINGER in America, not the most popular or cute. Melinda should have been the winner, hands down, but because they allow the show to be a popularity contest and not a singing contest, the truly deserving people don't stay around. The one comforting notion is that even if someone doesn't win, they can go on to have bigger success than the winner - Clay vs Ruben for example!

For me, this entire season was nothing but a joke and I really don't have any plans to watch next season. They made too many stupid mistakes this year and they lost at least one viewer. It will be interesting to see how the ratings, which did seem to decline this year, holds up next season.

Ratings were great last season. The only two mistakes were putting Sanjaya in the finals and keeping Ryan Seacrest as host.

Oh, and having Taylor Hicks murder a Beatles song.

I would suggest they actually pick a top 24 of good singers cuz it is much easier to make a talented singer interesting and moderately attractive than make the attractive and interesting into talented singers.

Tammy, you're right. I hope AI is more fair this time around with the attention contestants get. Last season it was so obvious that Jordin was their favorite and she was pushed out front with everything down the the final song choice that seemed tailor made just for her voice. You never see this on So You Think You Can Dance? All those dancers are great and the judges are fair with them.

I don't have a problem with getting to know the contestants more as long as they do it evenly. I don't like the focus being on certain contestants while we know nothing about others. We should know something about all 12 by the time they are selected. I didn't like that they went to some contestants hometowns before they even made it to the Top 12. One example would be roller girl.... why do such a long drawn out backstory on someone who isn't going to be in the Top 24 and then put through someone we never heard before and expect them even survive the first round of voting.

Liz, you hit the nail on the head. I complained on this blog a LOT last season, starting with too many bizarre auditions. They were funny when mixed in with the good stuff, but one of the reasons the finalists got lost was starting with this idiocy the producers thought it would be hilarious to overpower us with. The joke got old real fast.

Second, the celebrity thing caused me to grit my teeth. It was all about whose flagging career could get a boost on a show that was such a ratings juggernaut.

I agree with Lythgoe that all this overshadowed the contestants' personalities, but I also think the crop chosen last season suffered because the producers also pushed the "back story" angle rather than focusing on real talent. I think a lot of truly good singers probably never got to the audition room because the producers had an image they wanted to push, rather than a singer.
I always thought Jordin was bland and only a so-so singer, and I predict, after her first release no one will care in the least.

Lythgoe is right that the dancers are so much more enjoyable because they are so talented and its all about dance, not some has-been's boring choices. Imagine if on SYTYCD if the dancers only had a choice of some 60 year old tap dancers numbers to do? Ugh.

I loved AI but last year was SO bad that I wonder if it has irretreivably jumped the shark. I hope not. I'm willing to see if the producers, having admitted the wrongdoings, can get it back on track.