Fantasia is just about to begin filming the movie version of the Broadway musical à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“A Color Purple.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ 

Wow. How did I miss that?

I hope it’s awesome.

Fantasia is not only a viable star. She is a proven star.

Fantasia is just about to begin filming the movie version of the Broadway musical “A Color Purple.”

I saw her on Broadway in the role of Celie–she could very well be a breakout movie star, like Jennifer Hudson, when the movie is finally released. She was fabulous in the role.

American Idol is a search for a pop star. Maybe the producers want to get back to the original concept.

But see, the most pop of all them is Jordin, and she’s hardly the most successful. I actually think the producers still like diversity… I think what they want is people with more personality, or in Simon’s mind, people who create controversy so the show doesn’t become as boring

Fantasia is not only a viable star. She is a proven star. She’s WAY outsold Jordin and starred on Broadway in addition to that. Jordin is struggling to even reach platinum. Those singles have sold well, but singles barely even make money.

Viewer votes are how we ended up with people like Kevin Covais and Sanjaya in the Top 12. Utterly ridiculous! Yes, the judges made the mistake of putting them through to the Semis based on semi-decent earlier rounds, but it was their teenybopper and grandma fanbases that let them advance even though the Semis served to show their that they clearly could not cut it at that level. America clearly does not always get it right

While I’ll give you Kevin and Sanjaya (at least Sanjaya was interesting), what about the judges choices of Carmen Rasmusen, Kimberley Caldwell and Leah LaBelle. Those were some pretty dire choices by those supposedly in the “know”. No judges choice has ever gone on to win the show or even be a runner-up.

Here is how they finished:
Season 1:
RJ Helton: (5th)

Season 2:
People’s Choice: Clay Aiken (2nd)
Randy’s Choice: Kimberley Caldwell (7th)
Simon’s Choice: Carmen Rasmusen (6th)
Paula’s Choice: Trenyce (5th)

Season 3:
People’s Choice: Jon Peter Lewis (8th)
Randy’s Choice: Jennifer Hudson (7th)
Simon’s Choice: George Huff (5th)
Paula’s Choice: Leah LaBelle (12th)

Of the first 3 seasons, using the wildcard method, 2 out of the 3 successes were wildcards. Perhaps the producers want to go back to the format that allowed them to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“saveà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  a good contestant that would have otherwise been out.

A) I don’t think Jennifer Hudson counts. She might have got some good cruise ship gigs from her time on Idol, but she earned her success by routes other than Idol. Idol may have helped a bit, but it did not make her a success, IMO.

B) I don’t think Clay Aiken can be used in this context either. He was the people’s choice and certainly wasn’t a judge favourite. The new format allows the judges to pick, not the people. So, changing to this format wouldn’t have helped him to be picked.

C) Define viable. Studdard, Locke and Gracin certainly have had their successes. All four of those Season 2′s Idols had initial success and then trouble with their latest release. Why is one viable and the other three are not? If one hit CD doesn’t make one viable, then how can we claim that Daughtry/Hudson/Sparks are viable? Isn’t it too soon to say?

LaToya Jackson would have had plenty of exposure. Sheà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Michael Jacksonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s sister. LOL. I know, I knowà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦.

Oops.

Viewer votes are how we ended up with people like Kevin Covais and Sanjaya in the Top 12. Utterly ridiculous!

We ended up with those contestants in the Top 12, because the producers advanced them to the Top 24 in the first place.

Of the first 3 seasons, using the wildcard method, 2 out of the 3 successes were wildcards. Perhaps the producers want to go back to the format that allowed them to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“saveà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  a good contestant that would have otherwise been out.

But in the next 3 seasons, they found those stars without the wildcard. And 2 were the biggest selling artists out of the gate that they’ve ever had.

American Idol is a search for a pop star. Maybe the producers want to get back to the original concept.

But again, their biggest sellers haven’t been pure pop. They were Country and Pop/Rock. Even their biggest seller under the old system was and an updated version of Barry Manilow. Why try to find pure pop now? Why would they fight the system that brought them the biggest sellers? Kelly broke big on her SECOND album. Jennifer had been off the show for years. Those coming off the show and directly blowing up were not pop artists.

primeminister Dec 15th, 2008 at 3:29 pm

I hope Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m wrong, but Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m afraid the diversity in musical styles will be lost due to this change, and that American Idol will revert back to its pop-star redundancy.

American Idol is a search for a pop star. Maybe the producers want to get back to the original concept.

1. Kelly
2. Clay
3. Jennifer Hudson
4. Carrie
5. Chris Daughtry
6. Jordin

season 7 is still to be determined.

Of the first 3 seasons, using the wildcard method, 2 out of the 3 successes were wildcards. Perhaps the producers want to go back to the format that allowed them to “save” a good contestant that would have otherwise been out.

I hope Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m wrong, but Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m afraid the diversity in musical styles will be lost due to this change, and that American Idol will revert back to its pop-star redundancy.

I doubt it since people like Brooke and Jason were incredibly popular among fans and their presence has certainly opened up a lot of doors and appreciation for that type of style on the show. Plus it’s going to be three that advance from each group this time, not just two. The top male, top female, and then the next highest vote getter.

Maybe AI is just tired of spending moo-koo bucks on a winner that tanks! There are some AI winners that have had a real difficult time finding a niche after the hype of the show is over. The à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“suitsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  may be speculating that many fans will be swayed by the judges decisions in putting someone into the top 12, thereby helping the odds of having a money maker come out on top.

Face ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦.if this was strictly a fan-vote competition we wouldnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t have ANY judges or commentary on a singerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s ability. The voting would be strictly associated with a performance, nothing else. Donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t kid yourselfà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦a lot of votes are cast in accordance with the judgesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ comments. And since the judges are paid by the suits youà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢d think that they would vote the Company line!

Excellent point. I actually don’t mind taking some of the power away from the viewers. Viewer votes are how we ended up with people like Kevin Covais and Sanjaya in the Top 12. Utterly ridiculous! Yes, the judges made the mistake of putting them through to the Semis based on semi-decent earlier rounds, but it was their teenybopper and grandma fanbases that let them advance even though the Semis served to show their that they clearly could not cut it at that level. America clearly does not always get it right.

In S4-7, because only the bottom 2 got voted off each week, different contestants who appealed to different tastes had a greater chance of remaining (for example 10 out of the 12 in the first week of semifinals). A rock contestant like Chris Daughtry, for instance, wouldn’t have to have broad appeal, but could instead, appeal to a specific demographic as long as that demographic was big enough to carry him through to the next round. Because of this, in Season 4 onwards, we saw many genres represented in the group of 12 finalists.

When you allow only the Top 2 from each group to get through, and you assume that the audience is generally the same for each semi-final episode, you will get the same types of 2 contestants getting spots in the Top 12. Like tina said, we will probably see an increase in impressive, but screaming belters. That gets old after like two weeks.

I hope I’m wrong, but I’m afraid the diversity in musical styles will be lost due to this change, and that American Idol will revert back to its pop-star redundancy.

I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t get invited to that stuff. LOL.

I guess the producers know who you are and try to silence/go against you a lot?

If it were up to me, you’d have the job as the leading producer.

Thanks MJ. I are you going to listen to the press conference?

I don’t get invited to that stuff. LOL.