American Idol Ratings: Down 23% from Last Year

I really am not a DWTS fan at all but I did spend the night flipping between channels. DWTS at least had pretty costumes and seemed kind of light. I find this season’s group on the “heavy” side – older, more serious, slightly depressing.

That judges’ veto is a lame idea as well. A talented group but I’m not seeing the stars. And S6 at least had Sanjaya for some laughs.

I don’t think Kara is helping at all. It works better with the three original judges. Can they dump her mid season? It might add some drama.

Maybe Grand Ole Opry isn’t a theme too many people are excited about. Michael Jackson sounded at least more interesting (if only for the potential train wrecks!).

Holy Moly is right.

I’ve watched since the beginning, off and on, mostly on and moving the focus of the show away for the singers to the judges is not a good move. From the grandiose stage entrance to all the bickering during what is supposed to be judging of the contestant’s performance it is a real turn off for me.

I originally thought that the lousy, judge (actually, producer)-dominated casting of the final group was truly going to be the crippling blow to AI8 and I am now coming to realize that as soporific as this cast is that is truly small potatoes compared to how mind numbingly repetitive and scripted the judges are.

The producers have argued that the ratings loss would have been worse if they hadnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t made the changes. But I wonder if Idol audiences are feeling disconnected from this bunch.

Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s difficult to get tired of contestants when there hasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t been an opportunity to get to know them in the first place.

I agree with this completely. I really don’t care about anyone this year, and I tend to think it has to do with the format just as much as with the contestants themselves. The build-up to the finals has been very disjointed (what with having a different group each week for 3 weeks) and did not facilitate emotional investment.
Now that we do see these kids weekly, I already lost interest and feel like some of the best contestants left during the semi-finals.
Honestly, if I wasn’t a DC fan and invested in the Idol fandom because of sites like this one, I would no longer be watching.

Also, can I just say – if another girl leaves this week (as DialIdol predicts) it’ll be yet another blow to this season. A 7-3 male to female ratio is NOT a good thing.

Three words: Saint Patrick’s Day

At least in my (longish) life, people have liked to go out and party ’til they’re green on this semi-religious holiday. Particularly while still in the bottom half of that demo. LOL

ETA: Ha, I bet you thought I was going to say, Grand Old Opry, didn’t ya? That’ll work too. But, I’m sticking by my first three.

Three words:

Ha, I bet you thought I was going to say, Grand Old Opry, didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t ya?

Actually, I was going to remind you about Kara.

Honestly, if I wasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t a DC fan and invested in the Idol fandom because of sites like this one, I would no longer be watching.

Same here, if I weren ´t a poster here I will be long gone from this season… and last night the only performances that were good enough to watch were Allison ´s, Adam ´s and maybe Matt the other ones were prety Zzzzz IMHO…

If it was St. Patrick’s Day, let’s see if DWTS shows a similiar decrease?

I don’t think there will ever be another David Cook. Best idol the show has had in my opinion. I think the contestant this season just don’t measure up. I love reality tv so I can’t help but watch.

This season is dulzzzzville. Pure and simple. While everyone was raving about Matt and Kris from last night all I could think was, and I hate saying it because, well just because, these guys look like amateurs compared to Cook and Archie. The only one making me want to tune in next week is Adam. I mean any of these girls left really are nowhere near as interesting as any of the top three girls from last year.

The tinkering didn’t help. In fact it’s just crap. I started out like Kara, but she’sjust been a disaster and makes Paula look like a rocket scientist. Well I guess in a way she is a success in that she is making Paula step up her game. With a few little wobbles here and there, Paula is the only judge making any sense. This format, including the judges save, must go.

I must say however saying that DWTS is in it’s 8th season and it being long in the tooth, if it did begin in 2005 it’s really only been on 4 years, it just airs more than idol. Let’s see if it makes a 16th season and still be bringing in the ratings.

DWTS did awful last night, too.

From THRFeed.com:

And 9 p.m.’s “Dancing With the Stars” (12.4 million, 2.7/7) came in third.

Despite a record-setting start this season, the first “Dancing” results show of the spring was off a steep 31% from when it faced a similar lineup last year and hit a series low for a regularly scheduled episode. The airing dropped 49% from Monday’s performance show, a much larger-than-usual fall.

What was the drop from top 12 to top 11 last year?
I tried to search here on the blog but couldn’t find. I’m wondering if it’s natural more people tune in for top 12.

This show has always been better when you participate on a blog or message board. Even if the season sucks the fan interaction is a blast. I started off on Bolt during season two, and also a yahoo group. I found out about Mj’s at Bolt, lurked for a while, Bolt went kaput, and I’ve been here ever since. This is the absolute best place to talk about idol. Frankly it’s the best thing about idol, period this year. Well this, and Adam

Idol’s aging audience was boozing it up for St. Patrick’s day yesterday? Although some of the ratings decreases here in Boston could surely be attributed to that most holy of holidays. Heh.

Here are the numbers for DWTS last night:

But the live results show at 9 p.m. perked up to 12.42 million viewers (#3) and a 2.7/ 7 among adults 18-49 (#4). So long, Belinda Carlisle.

But it was the first results show of the season, and it did compete directly with Idol, so I’m not sure comparisons can be made. I would have to look at the numbers from last year.

ETA: ^^^ Thanks for the numbers…

Could it be that the quality of the talent this year just doesn’t match up to years past?

It is hard to fathom the waste of money it is paying the incompetant producers for this years show. Here are the problems:

1. The format just doesn’t allow anybody to really connect early with a contestant. This isn’t rocket science. The more you see them sing, the more you know about their life, the more folks will get hooked. Yet, we get the opposite.

2. They were put in a house together, but there is nothing about relationships, life in the house etc. Why, then, were they put in a house?

3. The lighting on the new stage is aweful as is the invisible band.

4. This is a singing contest and the sound control is amateur at best. You mean there is nobody who can work a sound board? The band is dialed up too loud and the mike is too low.

5. Speaking of the mike, it sounds like a 39.99 special, thin and tinny.

All I know is I almost have to talk myself into watching this year. Last year, I scheduled my Tues and Weds around the show and wouldn’t miss it for anything. Last year had serious star wattage with the Davids–their continued success and popularity would seem to underscore this. And I still insist the top 8 or 9 from last year were more interesting and talented. I think Adam from this season may be an exception–he has definite star power. But I’m not sure his appeal is as broad as the Davids.

And, yes, I do think all the changes have done nothing but cause confusion and have made it hard to really root for anyone.

I wonder if there is some cycle to this. Season 5 is known as being a great season, then season 6 seemed to pale. Season 7 will if not already is regarded as a great season, so I wonder if season 8 will follow the same pattern.

This season is dulzzzzville.

It is. You know what I find ironic? That last year was supposedly filled with “boring contestants”, however, even with all of this year’s great “personality”, I find the current crop a lot paler and far less interesting.
Funny how that works.

Last year the Davids shone bright, but we had Jason, Carly, Michael, Brooke, even Syesha – all of which were interesting and engaging. I may not have rooted for them, but I always looked forward to seeing what they would do with each given theme.
This year the only people I find remotely interesting are Adam and Allison. Allison looks about ready to leave if DialIdol is to be trusted. Ugh.

PS – sorry about the constant comparisons to last year, but that’s the only other season I’ve watched, ergo my only frame of reference.

There was about a 2M drop in viewership between the Top 12 and Top 11 last year:

http://mjsbigblog.com/historical-charts/season-7-ratings/

But 21M viewers for a regular performance episode? I wonder when was the last time Idol has seen numbers that low. I don’t have any stats before Season 5, but I’m betting it’s Season 3 or before.

Tuesday nights have become very competitive this year, so I’m not surprised that DWTS took a hit last night as well.

CBS–NCIS and the Mentalist–is doing extremely well against its competition. Plus, there is “The Biggest Loser” on NBC, a fairly popular show.”

There is less competition against Idol on Wednesdays

This might be an unpopular opinion but I think this year’s crop is starting out stronger than last season’s. Last season, there are usually just one/two stand out performances – the rest are either mediocre or hot messes. This year seems to have more stronger performances.

This may be a dumb question, but how does TIVO, et al, play into the ratings game? Of my group of several friends who faithfully watch AI, I am the only one who still watches it live. Everyone else records it and plays it back later.

And I realize I’m a minority of one, but I think this year is vastly more entertaining this Season 7. Of course, if/when Adam leaves, I’ll probably give up on this season too.

Well this article sees this more positively for AI. The headline says it all:

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/03/18/tuesday-ratings-american-idol-crushes-dancing-in-reality-clash/14782

To my previous diatrible I am adding the fact that 4 out of the final 13 were chosen by the JUDGES and not by the PEOPLE.

There was about a 2M drop in viewership between the Top 12 and Top 11 last year:

http://mjsbigblog.com/historical-charts/season-7-ratings/

Thanks MJ. It is a bigger drop compared to last year. 21M this soon in the competition doesn’t sound good, cause it usually just goes down as the season advances.

This might be an unpopular opinion but I think this yearà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s crop is starting out stronger than last seasonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s. Last season, there are usually just one/two stand out performances – the rest are either mediocre or hot messes. This year seems to have more stronger performances.

I think this year’s talent is pretty good, but I think the problem is that people don’t seem to be connecting as much. Could be the format, could be their personalities, could be that people are just tired of the show… And even though there have been good performance, I think we have yet to see those showstoppers that everyone will still be talking about one year later. Maybe there are more good performances, but there aren’t blow your mind performances.

I’m not surprised at all by the ratings drop. Season 7 was far more entertaining than this. I couldn’t wait to watch every week last year. This year is a train wreck by comparison for so many reasons. I miss David Cook on my TV.

Well this article sees this more positively for AI. The headline says it all:

Hm, comparing a performance episode to a results show this early in the season? I don’t think that’s a good comparison. Plus, Dancing isn’t only competing with Idol, it’s also competing with the other networks that are managing to stay competitive against Idol.

I’ll be interested to see how Idol and Dancings performance shows stack up against each other next week, and if Dancing continues to improve its ratings from last year, while Idol fails. That’s where the story is, imho.

Ooh, this is bad. So I was checking out MJ’s historical chart for Season 7 ratings, and was surprised to see that they were a lot better than I thought. I had figured, like MJ, that the producers were hoping the Top 36 format will prevent the ratings loss that occurred towards the middle of the Finals last year when the David-David finale became increasingly obvious to viewers. But Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m starting to think the David-David plotline wasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t really that bad for ratings last year.

Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m looking at last year’s chart, and it looks to me like ratings throughout the Finals stayed relatively steady around the mid-20s range starting at Top11 week. Barring IGB, which showed a big dip, ratings for the regular show only dropped a bit each week as the season progressed. And then it ramped back up starting Top 3 week. The fact that last yearà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s ratings for the latter half of the Finals didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t drop too drastically from Top 11 week (which was pre-Billie Jean, i.e. pre: David-David plotline) makes me think that last yearà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s format wasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t such a problem after all.

Not sure if that long-winded blurb makes any sense, but what I’m trying to say/conclude is this: I’m thinking the David-David plotline (or what the producers have been saying about last season’s cast being boring) did not cause the ratings drop in the middle of the show. I’d like to argue that the S7 ratings drops were natural attrition (which is exactly what they’re claiming for this season’s drop). BUT, producers made the big mistake of interpreting those drops as a sign of the apocalypse, and decided the show needed drastic changes. The problem is those changes (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“casting personalitiesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ , Top 36, Kara, judgesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ save) plain suck, America hates them, and is tuning out. And now, the S8 declines might actually be a sign of the apocalypseà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ and ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s all due to their horrible changes, and NOT natural attrition.

The drop is significant, but DWTS drop from Monday to Tuesday is just as alarming, IMO. Losing 10 million viewers… even if it a result show within a span of two nights?

It will be interesting to see if Idol gains traction as the season progresses. What is undeniable, however, is that the competing networks are not backing down to Idol this year. It’s not untouchable as it once was. Of course, some of that is due to this season as a whole, but some also can be attributed to the aging of Idol — series tend to decrease in viewership as they age. Idol obviously is no exception.

sma11ie, I think you are 100% correct.

In any case, they didn’t make all those changes this season for the fun of it. They were meant to help ratings, and they aren’t doing that at all.

I think my biggest problem with the show this year is I feel totally disconnected with the contestants. I have no favorite this year I am not behind one person, I like a few but nobody does it for me this year. I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t think the talent is the problem (although it is obviously mediocre) I just think some people feel disconnected.
This year I am more excited to see DWTS than idol, whoever thought that would happen.

Count me in as someone who is only watching this year because of the fun times on this blog and because I want to participate in the Idol pool.

I can’t judge the ratings unless we have figures for TV as a whole, or TV watching on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at least. I need some context.

Sorry, post-ho’ing today.

This might be an unpopular opinion but I think this yearà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s crop is starting out stronger than last seasonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s. Last season, there are usually just one/two stand out performances – the rest are either mediocre or hot messes. This year seems to have more stronger performances.

I actually won’t disagree with this too much. S7 had the Davids and then what appeared to be a big gap in talent for the rest. Don’t get me wrong, I floved Brooke, really liked Jason, occasionally enjoyed Carly and MJ, but despite Brooke’s massive talent (IMO), she was often a hot mess, and the others were often mediocre or hot messes. This year seems to be yielding fewer trainwrecks, (barring Megan, IMO) and in that sense, might indicate that there’s more breadth of talent in the entire pool. But I’m really missing those “one/two stand out performances” from last year. Has there been a Hello/Imagine/Hallelujah/Let it Be type performance this year? For me, personally, no. The aforementioned performances all moved me, and got me really invested in those contestants. I’ve enjoyed a lot of performances this year–Adam’s last two, Matt G’s last two, Anoop’s last one, Kris’ last one are standouts to me, but I can barely remember those songs’ names, let alone be bothered to download them onto my ipod for regular rotation. I dunno, maybe it’s me, but has everyone else here experienced a deep connection to a season 8 performance? From casual observation, I can’t even pinpoint any big watercooler moments this year except for Adam’s love it/hate it OTT-ness. He’s fun to watch, but I’m not connected.

I think it has a lot to do with the plain manipulation of the show, nullifying the actual viewer vote. Anoop gets voted off but put back on. Then they say, guess what, we will do it again with Judges’ Save. That tells the viewer, don’t bother voting. We will nullify your vote. It’s just a hop, skip and a jump to, so why am I watching if I don’t even have the likelihood of affecting the outcome like they said these past few years?

Like, if not for Anoop, either Jorge or Jasmine would have performed this week because Anoop would have left, then someone else — maybe neither Jorge nor Jasmine, in fact. The judges and producers have pissed away the central premise of the show — that America always gets it right.

Sma11ie. I completely agree with you again. One of the only reasons I’ve continued watching this season is because I do love those “watercooler” moments–I like to be a part of that. And it’s fascinating to watch a performer suddenly leap forward from the pack. Granted, it is still early. And one of those moments may happen. I felt like maybe Matt and/or Adam were kind of on the cusp of it last night. Matt was held back by a pretty but kind of mediocre song. And Adam, well, he is his own case. Every performance is entertaining. But I don’t really connect with his performances. But the performances you mention have been, forgive the hyperbole, transcendent. Who knows? We still have ten weeks.

I don’t really believe this big of a stumble is due to the format of the show or the quality of the competition.
Most certainly external factors are playing a big role.
Next week will be very interesting to see if this is a one time dip or if it’s reflective of a new situation for idol.

Who cares. All that matters is that Adam Lambert gets to perform every week. Adam > AI

I canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t judge the ratings unless we have figures for TV as a whole, or TV watching on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at least. I need some context.

If you go to that Marc Berman link, he provides ratings for the entire night.

The person who emailed me about the Season 4 ratings? I tried to email you back, but the email permanently failed…

You can reach me at mjsbigblog at gmail.com

The biggest problem is the judging panel and the producers. It seems the judging panel is trying to take over the show from the poor Idols, and the producers are using every opportunity they can to manipulate things. And Simon, you are THE biggest problem.

Spring Break St. Patricks Day

I still think the biggest problem this season was with the new/old semi-final format, for several reason.

We get to see any individual performers less early on. By this time previously we would have seen five performances from the contestants, instead we have seen three (four if they were a wildcard pick). So we haven’t had as much time to get to know them yet.

The new format I think will tend to create less diversity of types of singers among the finalists. When you have the same group of people being able to vote for the top three for each group of twelve then there is a greater chance that a particular type of singer is going to be chosen more often whereas with picking the top six from a group of twelve some of the smaller voting blocs have more of a chance. Certainly this season has shown a fairly strong preference for the male soul/r&b guy. Of course, not helped by the fact that the judges decided to use half their wildcard picks to give us even more of them. Season five is still my favorite season (started watching midseason four) but season seven was also strong. I think some of the strength of both of those seasons was a pretty diverse group of singers in each of them. Coincidently, I think that Idol is also more likely to draw a wider audience with a broader range of singers.

With multiple performances to get into the finals, there is less chance of getting in on one lucky performance. Jorge seems like a nice guy, and a decent singer but I think the combination of going towards the end that night, a decent performance and a touching interaction with the judges had a lot to do with sending him to the finals. Who knows, maybe he would have done great the other two weeks of finals and gotten in anyway. But I would have preferred that he had to do that. To a lesser extent I think you can see this with Scott too. Again, seems like a very nice guy but if by the third week of finals we were being presented with our third similar sounding ballad from Scott would he be in the finals now? Maybe, but maybe not.

Only one voting performance to get into the finals means that previous screen time and performance order becomes even more powerful in determining who gets in. And add to that the producers/judges just outright picking a quarter of the finalists.

They added twelve more people to the semi-finals but then barring a wildcard spot, you only get to see each perform once. So there is an even greater chance of people seeing someone they really liked and then them promptly being gone. At least some of those people aren’t going to bother tuning back in. The old method encouraged you to tune back in to see that person you liked last week. And yes, I am still very bummed about Jesse. Although at least I got a second performance from the wildcard. With Mishavonna and Felicia who I also kind of liked, it was one song and gone

Sorry for the book, but the new semis format still irks me. And I really do think it is less conducive to hooking people into watching the show.

We’re, what, 5 weeks into performances and have had exactly ZERO “moments.” There are about 2 or 3 good performances each week, several good-decent ones, and a couple that are just pretty bad. I don’t even know why I bother to watch any more. Also, I’m not sure if it’s the format, these particular contestants, or the edits that we’re getting, but I’m having a lot of trouble feeling really connected to any of them.

As for DWTS…that show is just fun. I mean, it’s a bunch of z-list celebrities competing for a TROPHY. Yeah, there’s some pimping, but it’s not like these people’s careers depend on their placement in the show. And, in general, they do pimp the contestants who are actually good. It’s tough to have an agenda for a show that is going to make no difference in these people’s careers and the prize is a big piece of plastic or metal or whatever that thing is made of. Also, the judges are sober and have bigger than 5 word vocabularies.

LOL…I have to laugh!! After last season so many peeps swore that they were done with AI..that they would never watch again. They vowed that they could have their stupid show and all the hype, over the top pimping, and bs that goes with it..(Need I remind you of how Paula critiqued Jason’s performance before he had sung??)….maybe, just maybe, so many of those people actually kept thier word and really aren’t watching…hence the ratings slump?? I love it!

I think it’s a pretty strong group of singers this season so don’t think it’s that. The format has certainly hurt at least in helping us to get to know them. I think that’s why Allison and Alexis have had trouble with developing a fanbase. I don’t really like dividing the sexes but can see how it might have helped the girls.

I had already given up on DWTS until Melissa was on and still can’t be bothered to watch all of the show. I tend to f/f through boring dances and all of the fluff. I don’t even watch the elimination show other than the last few minutes. I still much prefer idol so hope they can fix things.

It just seemed like they really blew their hand early. By spending the majority of the first two months of the show on fake reality show dramz, controversy, joke contestants, and so much screen time on the judges themselves, they kinda trivialized the season and exhausted the audience. Those factors were already in play, it being the seventh season, but they made a decision to blow off the “loves music” crowd–who were a lot of the remaining core audience in season seven–in order to go after a “loves reality show whacky” audience who have a million other products to spend their time on.

The top 36 format just intensified the phenomenon, which is spending lots of times with the screen on people you’ll soon stop seeing, and failing to deliver performances you could really love. Am sad!

To be fair, a large heaping of luck is in play as well. This year’s crowd has plenty of talent. For whatever reason, they’re delivering performances that are mostly merely competetent and not really “OMG take this puppy home!”

My 2 cents…..last night after AI I was in a ton of bars….LOL….and not for the reason you think, and they were not busy at all, but I did notice that there were more people out and about. The time change went into effect a month earlier this year and the weather was wonderful yesterday, at least in my part of fly-over country. So it was lighter longer and the weather was warm ( well for mid March) could explain some of it.

The share is only down from 24 to 22 so there was a decline in general TV usage for sure.

I agree with those who wrote the season is boring because of the contestants. I really do not see much in terms of personalities and talent, apart from Adam, who however is a turnoff for some people.
Honestly, I don’t think I would watch if he was not in the competition this year. Too bad, because last year it was really fun.

Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m looking at last yearà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s chart, and it looks to me like ratings throughout the Finals stayed relatively steady around the mid-20s range starting at Top11 week. Barring IGB, which showed a big dip, ratings for the regular show only dropped a bit each week as the season progressed. And then it ramped back up starting Top 3 week. The fact that last yearà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s ratings for the latter half of the Finals didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t drop too drastically from Top 11 week (which was pre-Billie Jean, i.e. pre: David-David plotline) makes me think that last yearà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s format wasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t such a problem after all.

While there was a general dip in the middle, it is noticeable that what happen one week had an effect on the rating of its following week. The second Beatles night (Top 11) was a bad night performance-wise (they should never have repeated the same theme for the same season), and on Top 10 the viewership dipped. Top 10 however was the night of Cook’s performance of Billie Jean, and the next week more people watched the show. You also see a similar rise the week after David Cook performance of Always Be My Baby. People talked about the performances, so more people want to watch it. Neil Diamond week was another bad night, and the viewership dropped quite a bit the week after. One thing that will draw people to watch to show is the outstanding or note-worthy performances, and so far this year there hasn’t been any, unless you want to count Adam’s performance of Ring Of Fire.

The producers have argued that the ratings loss would have been worse if they hadnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t made the changes.

If they’re actually making this ridiculous claim, they are even more clueless than I believed. On what grounds do they believe that ratings were going to fall more than 25% if they had done nothing? I can’t see anything that transpired between last May and this January that remotely supports this claim. TPTB are hiding behind one of the lamest excuses in the books, figuring that no one can prove them wrong. Meanwhile, plenty of people predicted this mess back in January when they heard about the new Top 36 format and saw the massive emphasis on personality/drama/judges rather than performance.

Weà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢re, what, 5 weeks into performances and have had exactly ZERO à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“moments.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  There are about 2 or 3 good performances each week, several good-decent ones, and a couple that are just pretty bad.

I’ve been thinking along the same lines. Last year about six or seven different contestants produced a really good “moment”, even Chikezie. This year there have been none, and a quick check of What Not To Sing bears that out: the consensus best performances so far this year wouldn’t make the Top 8 in any other season except S1. Even bad “moments” are better than no moments at all. Right now the only reason to tune in is for Adam, to see whether he’ll be brilliant (like Top 13) or grotesque (like this week). But one way or another he’ll be interesting. You can’t say that about the other 9 contestants, none of whom I believe are capable of pulling off anything close to a “moment”.