'American Idol:' Nigel Lythgoe on James Durbin's Elimination, Rumors of Fixing Final 3

Clearly the format of deciding needs to change. It is really a popularity contest with kids voting hundreds of times and whole towns having churches vote, etc. Fair voting really would be one vote per viewer. The winner is not usually the most talented (witness the last 3 or 4 seasons). The judges should have way more say, and (in theory) it IS about talent and ability to perform on a grand scale.

Clearly the format of deciding needs to change. It is really a popularity contest with kids voting hundreds of times and whole towns having churches vote, etc. Fair voting really would be one vote per viewer. The winner is not usually the most talented (witness the last 3 or 4 seasons). The judges should have way more say, and (in theory) it IS about talent and ability to perform on a grand scale.

I believe the judges votes should count for a certain percentage of the vote like they do on Dancing With The Stars. I wish there was some way to allow people to vote ONLY ONCE via telephone and internet.

http://www.votefair.org/americanidol.html

Without James the show is just a snorefest! Someone please create a website and let people independently vote on the 4 again. If idol won't do it, let's do it ourselves. I'll help drive traffic to it!

NIGEL IS A SNAKE !!! WHEN PEOPLE ARE TELLING HIM THEY VOTED FOR 01 BUT 03 COMES UP. THE LINES ARE TELLING US NOT A WORKING NUMBER , NEVER GETTING THROUGH TO JAMES'S LINE and a lot more. Why doesn't he explain that !!! and he calls us morons, if he didn't have us , there would be no American Idol. I guess he forgets we help pay his bills. You can be ugly for just so long and it will EVENTUALLY catch up with you !

Nigel is 1000% correct. Idol scoring sucks along with unqualified Musical "CELEBRITY" judges,that virtua
no training in this specific area.

Lauren Alaina is NOT cool-looking. Even though she is not fat, she always looks frumpish. She can never look like Haley Rhinehart who is a stunning presence both in the way she moves and in the way she looks. Haley can sing different types of songs and each one sounds different as is her performance - a true professional. Lauren always looks the same and sounds the same no matter what she sings. Lauren is singing " the same song" over and over even though they are different songs. Haley is a true performer as are James and Casey. There is a difference between singing and performing. When you can do BOTH, THEN YOU ARE A STAR! When Casey and Haley sang and performed competively (can't remember the name of the song) they were way over being professional. Lauren couldn't do that! What kind of a competition is this? The voting should be restricted to a person's name which would be proof that he/she was not using different phones, voting more than once, and it should be in a certain age limitation. This should not be a popularity contest or a venue for teenagers to have something to do in their idle time. This VOTING should be held professionally. These performers are striving for their careers, their dreams, their LIVELIHOOD! American Idle, don't you get it? Get REAL! I am appalled!

Oh yes 2nd comment. Get rid of J Lo she says the same thing over and over
plus she interrupts other people when they are talking. Randy should be voted off the panel period.
he wouldn't know talent if it fell all over him. DOG! time for change!!! I won't even watch this last episode
Everyone knows that Scottys going to win..

Personally I think the whole thing is rigged! Yes they eliminate some of the best performers to
rile up the people to vote! It is also a popularity contest (obviously) more teenies and pre-teenies
have cell phones. It's all about ratings, not who has the most talent. I Like Scottys voice,But Loren couldn't
hold a candle to Hayley in a real competition based on talent!
Who will win, Betcha Scotty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!