American Idol Ratings: Lowest Performance Final Ever

Wow. I thought it might be lower than last year because the whole season been down a bit, but the lowest ever? Damn. Are the Gokey fans that mad? LOL.

Lower than season 1 even? I didn’t think they got into the 20s til season 2.

Ryan will spin the part about 80 million votes is the most ever though, or whatever that number winds up being.

The lowest EVER, apparently.

Interesting, Dancing With The Stars stayed about even

Another shocker for me. I haven’t been this excited over a pair of AI contestants since Bo Bice and Carrie Underwood. David and David sadly bored me to tears. The ratings, they do not reflect my enthusiasm

What I find interesting in the ratings is the drop in the number for 18-49 viewers. The 8.3 number is still great but the drop from 10.1 must worry the producers. I say this because when you watch the telecast, it is obvious that the producers are trying to show that the show is popular with young viewers. They always place young girls in the front row and always show them during a performance. In news stories they always talk about “tween” or “teens” voting like crazy. The overall impression “tween”, “teens” or young adults are Idol’s largeset audience. These numbers show that the reality may be different and the largest proportion of idol viewers may be quite a bit older. This can’t be good for idol when it does its pitch to advertisers.

This year I didn’t care if I missed a week or two. or three, heh. Maybe it was their over the top comments which also made them less credible to me, maybe the 4 judges, maybe the talent level this year. I don’t know, for me nothing compared to last season.

This is bound to make major news. Hopefully tonight’s ratings will be better. I guess with all the changes, manipulation, and uber pimping, all they managed to do is to alienate the audience. In their pursuit of finding exciting personalities who weren’t as boring as last year, they missed the fact that last year’s boring personalities actually connected with the audience and made people care and actually want to tune in.

I think they still have the tweens, what I read elsewhere is that they are losing women in their upper 20s like hotcakes. That’s why the average viewer age is rising. They haven’t had a whole lot of older teens and young 20s for a long while.

I have two young teen guys in the house who typically watch the regular episodes with us girls. They got bored halfway through last night’s program and went and played Guitar Hero.

I like both of these contestants well enough but I was pretty underwhelmed myself. Two repeats, two odd selections, and twice through one of the worst songs ever written. Nothing new in the way of judge’s comments.

I’m sure adding Rod Stewart to the performance line-up is one step forward in drawing in the young ones.

Simon Fuller’s song choices last night didn’t help either. I was hoping to see Adam do something current…for the first time. But NOOO.

They say ratings are down but watch Ryan will say there were like 100 million votes. People sure vote their little fingers off!

I’m a little surprised but not really. I just don’t sense the passion that people invested in the Davids finale last year. Adam is tremendously overhyped and I’m not sure how big his fanbase is. Kris is Kris. I actually was tempted to skip last night’s show completely.

I think a Gokey/Adam finale would have done better. Just more drama or something not that I don’t think Kris deserved it.

There’s no way tonight’s finale draws 30 million. I don’t see that level of interest.

I’m not surprised. The way they built this season hurt them, IMO. The 3 rounds of new contestants and the wild card round did not give us time to really invest in the kids. Usually we know them really well by the time they hit the Top 12 (or this year, 13 stage), but we missed out on that this time.

I personally felt a disconnect with the contestants this year. Plus, the over pimping of Adam throughout the season, made me feel like the show/producers had already made up their mind. I have long thought that Adam was gonna win this whole thing and never thought anyone could compete. That tactic, made this season not compelling to watch. It’s always been the “American Idol Adam Lambert Show” for me. Not taking away from his talent, but feeling like you know who’s going to win from really early on, made me very bored with the show. I’ll still feel the same way, if by some miracle Kris pulls it out.

Not shocked. I stopped watching the season midway through (have only been watching some clips here via MJ’s). The only season that held my interest all the way to the end was last season.

However I’m pretty sure that despite viewers leaving, the voters only get more and more crazy, so I fully expect the vote total to top last year’s 100M votes, and that will be the figure they highlight on the show, not declining ratings.

The strange thing is that it seems lower than what the season was getting and its average. Maybe Danny was the one bringing the audience after all. lol

Well, this season just hasn’t been that exciting and I think most of its hype and buzz has been fabricated by certain media. I just don’t see the same enthusiasm this year as I saw last year, at all. Even if Simon thinks seasons 7 was a boring year it sure had more charisma and excitement.
Plus, I know it’s soon to tell, but the idol tour does not seem to be selling all that… I think that could be telling too.
It will be interesting to see tonight’s ratings.

Oh, and yes, the episode was really boring and one of the weakest finales. Underwhelmed is a good way to put it. I don’t think the guys really brought it.

It’s not just this week, last week’s ratings were particularly low, 20.5 million viewers and 7.2 in the demo (source).

The number of votes is meaningless. With texting, it’s literally possible to cast thousands of votes an hour. Someone posted here that they put in 10,000 votes or something crazy. It doesn’t mean more people are invested in the show.

If Top 3 ratings were low, maybe Allison was the draw.

But I thought Adam Lambert was an Elvis-sized superstar?
Not trying to be an Adam hater but I think that perhaps the extreme over-manipulation and OTT pimping turned people off this year. They made it seem like Adam’s win was a foregone conclusion 6 weeks ago.

Note to Simon squared: Ditch the judge’s save, ditch the wildcard round, return to the season 4 style of semi-finals and show us a broader range of contestants in the Hollywood rounds.

It all has to come down to the fact the show isn’t getting younger. I thought this year we were supposed to have younger mentors, more current music. It was nothing but the same old stuff. Next year they need to do more to appeal to the younger veiwers. L-Richie, Rod Stewart, Cyndi Lauper, Steve Martin…come on. You mean to tell me that the money making machine, one of the biggest shows on t.v can’t get a Britney,Pink, Beyonce on the show. Heck they should be able to get all three
They need to fork up the money to get the good songs through. If they tell you no… make them an offer they can’t refuse

It’s Kara’s fault.

Last year was so much more exciting. The excitement level just isn’t there this year. It seems like people were way more invested in the Davids than they are Adam/Kris.

To be honest, I’ve found this whole season rather boring and lifeless.

I hate to say this but maybe Simon was right. An Adam-Danny finale would have been more interesting.

But, but, but… I thought Adam Lambert had saved American Idol….

I mean, I thought the presence of the Divine Lambert= Ratings Gold….

An Adam-Danny finale would have been more interesting.

IDK. I think part of the problem is that Adam winning has been a foregone conclusion for a very long time. By week 3 of the finals it looked like a done deal IMHO. You just can’t sustain that kind of hype for a full season, so you need a dark horse to come in and either pose a real threat (rallying up your voters and solidifying them), or steal the title altogether (resulting in shock!win that has people buzzing).

IMHO Adam has been too dominant for his own good. If you’re not an Adam fan, you had very little to look for in this season. Last year I think the talent was more evenly spread among the Top 12, and I think the final 2, while predestined, were far more exciting.

I hate to say this but maybe Simon was right. An Adam-Danny finale would have been more interesting.

Well, I certainly wouldn’t have watched that.

Seems like a lot of people must have heard a leaked version of No Boundaries prior to the final.

I have to admit, I was bored to tears watching last night’s show and the only reason I’ll be watching tonight is to hopefully catch a glimpse of David A in the audience and to hearing Cook sing Permanent.

Not a shock at all. Competant performances but nothing riveting. Adam may be the boldest contestant ever but he has been basically the same from day one. I watched the show last night and felt none of the emotion or excitement I’ve felt in previous years. This year was about the judges to the point where contestant performances were cut. No wonder I did not feel as much for these kids.

Final Performances: September 3, 2002 18.69 2002 Tuesday 9:00PM
(performance show) #30
Season Finale: September 4, 2002 22.77 Wednesday 9:30PM
(results show) #25

sorry to be anal….and not that Wikepedia is 100%correct – but they have performance show for season one at 18.7 million.

Agree with you Jolene. I thoroughly enjoyed at least 7 or 8 of the top 10 last year. Their talents were diverse and interesting and they truly seemed viable in the marketplace. This year I struggled to stay interested at all, and didn’t at times. I did watch last night and was very underwhelmed. To me, the finale last night was symbolic of the whole season. Impressive at moments, but not much emotion or conviction. Last year, I felt the Davids performing so hard I thought they might both collapse by the end of it. The performances were stunning. And whether you were a fan or not, you couldn’t help but be moved by both of their efforts–it was great television. This year, I felt no connection at all.

They lost young adult women. Looks like they picked dancing over singing.

Or perhaps Kara scared them off!!

And spencer, I agree. Last’s night’s show was boring. I only watched because I am so invested in Kradam.

There just didn’t seem to be a lot of energy in the performances. I think having the redo to open the show was boring. Then to follow that with old, albeit great, R&B songs that were relevant 40 years ago. Plus, the icing on the cake “Kara’s Song”.

I think the show is just so old. Old judges, old format, old mentors. Same old stuff. If Adam hadn’t been on the show I would never have watched. I’d say the numbers would have been worse without him. But if you didn’t like Adam, and your favorite left then there was nothing to keep you. Kris would never had made top 10 any other year. The talent was severley lacking, so I don’t think Idol had many casual fans. If you had a favorite, I think you stopped watching once they were eliminated.

Just like any year, it’s not Idol that is going to make any of them a superstar. They come out with a “name”, but it will be the music that will make or break them.

Plus, everyone knows they both “win”. They both get contracts. I don’t think the average person can tell any difference between what Archie and what Cook “won” from Idol. Of course, this year, the winner has to put out that awful song while the runner-up gets to pick a single for summer.

They say ratings are down but watch Ryan will say there were like 100 million votes. People sure vote their little fingers off!

The announced vote-count is meaningless because all they have to do to juice that number is open more phone lines every year. Text votes are of course also increasing as unlimited text plans and overall adoption-rates for SMS increase every year, and it is very possible to text thousands and thousands of votes with very little effort now. So as much as Idol may crow about how Nielsen is antiquated and the increase in votes is evidence that the official ratings are not reflective of this season’s popularity, I’ll bet they’re freaking over these numbers.

This entire season was just so poorly-paced that while they ended-up with two good finalists who gave strong performances (pretending Kara’s song never saw the light of day here), last night felt really flat and boring. As much as I hated the machinations that went into making last year feel like a close race even though Cook was clearly running away with it by Top 7 night, it definitely doesn’t make for compelling TV to feel like the winner was hand-selected and pre-ordained by the show. I like Adam fine, but he was so over-hyped that I’m not surprised people didn’t tune-in. It sucks because in reality this was certainly the closest finale match-up since Season 2.

But people keep telling me that everyone tunes into American Idol to see the “Adam Lambert Show”. I thought last night’s finale (in which Adam could dazzle us with THREE performances) would pull at LEAST Super Bowl figures.

But seriously, with all the hype surrounding Adam, I’m a little surprised. Oh well….I’m just glad that season 5 is still the king of overall ratings.

But I thought Adam Lambert was an Elvis-sized superstar?
Not trying to be an Adam hater but I think that perhaps the extreme over-manipulation and OTT pimping turned people off this year. They made it seem like Adamà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s win was a foregone conclusion 6 weeks ago.

I think that’s part of it. It’s really too bad because there was a really interesting crop of contestants this year. If you already know who’s going to win.. why tune it at all? It’d be easier to just find out what you missed online.

I think the judges played a huge part as well. I know that I dvr’d the crap out of this season. And constantly fast-forwarded though the judges, even Simon. Watching the show live last night seemed to drag on. (And I kept getting the urge to punch certain judges in the face.)

There needs to be less nattering from the judges and more actual judging. Judges comments from previous seasons were much more to the point. Plus, less talking means will get more actual singing.

Just anecdotally speaking, I haven’t talked to anyone in RL who has been terribly excited about this season.

I’m the only one in my family of four (two adults, two young teens) who even watched routinely this year. We all liked Adam, Kris and Allison, but none of them was the clear choice at any point in our household. (Unlike past seasons where I thought I was going to have to take the family to counseling to make it through the Taylor vs. Daughtry and David vs. David drama.)

TPTB tried to script the show too much from the get go, and for all their supposed “improvements” (with the exception of bringing Kara on board), they were all done on the cheap. Paying for better song clearances, spending more time allowing the television audience to get to know the contestants in the earlier rounds, and managing the broadcast professionally (just look at the difference between the sound quality on Cook’s performance of “Come Back To Me” on Idol earlier in the season and today’s on Ellen as just one example) all required way too much time and effort, I guess.

Oh, well. I always thought they were intentionally sabotaging the show so they could scrap it for X Factor USA, and it looks like they’ve done a bang-up job after all!

I think they still have the tweens, what I read elsewhere is that they are losing women in their upper 20s like hotcakes. Thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s why the average viewer age is rising. They havenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t had a whole lot of older teens and young 20s for a long while.

And that’s why female contestants have little chance anymore. The absent demo you reference is the one most likely to identify with a Kelly Clarkson or Carrie Underwood.

On another note, I wonder what Idol’s excuse will be this year. Last season Simon blamed it on the “boring” group of contestants. He wanted “drama”. Well, he got it. So what’s the explanation this time, ole chap?

I think Adam was a big draw this year, and I loooooooooove him….but I liked the top contestants group from last year better than the top this year.
I hated the top 36 thing……and the 4 judges.

We got screwed out of a lot of performances this year, especially in the finale.
A repeat, producer’s choice, and the natural disaster song.

I hope the producer’s give the okay for the winner to sing some other song tonite…please.

Lets face it, it was a boring show. Could we get more current with the song choices? And poor Kris, I love the guy, but man did he butcher that coronation garbagio. Tonights will be worse. We have to listen to a bunch of has beens in the industry. Lionel Richie? Carlos Santana? Man, I thought current stars would be lining up to participate.

Idol is losing its luster I’m afraid.

Season 5 is the ratings king? Thats great to know… I must say I LOVED Taylor. Too bad his post Idol career has been nothing. He was so good on the show.

Are the Gokey fans that mad? LOL.

:lol_tb: :lol_tb:

The show felt cheaper this year. Even the mentors didn’t seem top notch: Quentin Taratino, Jaime Foxx wtf? Kara made all the judges seem less important. The “wild card” format took too many good females out of the mix. The judge’s “save” was a travesty. The insane pimping of Adam made it feel like the voters didn’t matter. It was like, America you’re too stupid to pick the right people, so we’ll do it for you.

hmm..I was kind of surprised but then again we are in a recession and Adam has been the favorite so…w/e I really liked this season.

Well I guess it is Adam Lambert bashing time again. He was an exciting person to watch. I look at some of the other contestants that were just horrible. Megan Joy, Lil Rounds, Michael Sarver, Scott whoever, come on. Adam was a breath of fresh air. He always had us guessing. He can’t save a show. They have so many things they need to change and it doesn’t have to do with Adam. The judges need to quit playing with each other throughout the show, the “save”, too many judges and not enough singing. We got cut a whole song a couple of weeks ago because they just wouldn’t shut up and one judge too many. They have stale music that they continue to make the contestants sing. I do mean stale. The songs last night were ridiculous. Can’t they get some songs that are from the 1990′s at least. These contestants can only work with what they are given. If they say do 60′s, well they do 60′s. Why not say you have to do a song from the last five years. Pay a little and get some songs cleared. But no the contestants get dribble and we expect them to make them incredible.

So my suggestion is update your music, younger mentors or no mentors at all if they are relics, quit playing with each other and talking through the whole thing. Stick to the amount of songs that they are suppose to do and not cut it down because they have too many gabby judges.

Last night’s music didn’t have a chance. We had all heard the one song already and they had no choice on that, they were handed a song from the 80′s or whenever, and then that coronation song from hell.

Well, Kris and Adam will sign contracts and go about their business and have great careers. I think I’d rather not win so you don’t have to be known as that AI winner from the worst season ever. Ouch!! Kris and Adam don’t deserve any of what has happened to them. They just want to sing and win a competition. Not be compared to all of the other seasons. They did what they needed to do. Talk to the producers and judges!!!!

I hope the producerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s give the okay for the winner to sing some other song toniteà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦please.

In my imaginary unicorn world, they would declare a tie and then celebrate by not making either of them sing ‘No Bound-and-gagged-daries’

And thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s why female contestants have little chance anymore. The absent demo you reference is the one most likely to identify with a Kelly Clarkson or Carrie Underwood.

Yet they are the two most successful – by a wide margin – when it comes to album sales.

They NEED to go back to basics next season – no save, no manipulation, less power to the judges, perhaps one less judge, more focus on the contestants.

Hi spencer…. long time no see…
:bye_tb:

I have to admit, I was bored to tears watching last nightà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s show and the only reason Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ll be watching tonight is to hopefully catch a glimpse of David A in the audience and to hearing Cook sing Permanent.

Maybe, forme, yesterday didnt have the big moments that last year finale, Archie singing his heart out in DLTSGDOM, Cook trying something new with the WIK… and I think people don ´t feel taht conected to this year contestands… and somehow I feel like both of them, Kris and Adam, didnt care that much that they were in the finale…

ETA.
And I wont be watching tonight…. two hours season finale of Criminal Minds…DR. Spencer Reed has my heart…

They NEED to go back to basics next season – no save, no manipulation, less power to the judges, perhaps one less judge, more focus on the contestants.

But you know they won’t. They made every bad decision this year, I’m sure they’ll make some worse decisions next year.

Why would you think that Adam and Kris didn’t care if they were in the finals? That doesn’t make any sense to me. I think they worked hard. They are now becoming the beat up boys because the ratings weren’t high. I’d say it is the show and not the contestants.

I think the ratings spoke only of the finale performance and not the whole season. Week by week, it was rising by 4%.

look at some of the other contestants that were just horrible. Megan Joy, Lil Rounds, Michael Sarver, Scott whoever, come on.

I kinda agree with that, though I wouldn’t put it as harshly. I think this top 12/13 started out promising but many of them under-delivered. It made the competition seem lopsided. I expected way more from Lil, Danny, Anoop and Matt based on their previous work. Anoop was the only one who got better to me and even he never quite matched up to his early hype… it was like he got stuck in boring ballad lane. Megan could have gone either way but she proved to be pretty bad. Jasmine never should have made it in the first place. In the meantime, Allison and Kris were doing well but never could seem to catch a break. I don’t think I’ve ever felt as disconnected to the judging as I did this season. Adam was the only one who came close to living up to his pimpage, and even that got OTT after a while. I love this final 2 but as a season, this has been one of the worst for me.

http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2009/05/20/new-idol-first-single-not-a-hit-so-far/

Tee hee, CNN is reporting on how much people hate ‘No Bound-and-gagged-daries’. OUCH

Wow, season 5 seems to be one of the top seasons.

They have stale music that they continue to make the contestants sing.

I agree with your entire post. Part of what made Kris’ ‘Heartless’ so awesome was that it was a contemporary song from a popular artist. (It also might have won him the entire competition…)

TPTB don’t want to shell out the extra cash for recent hits.

When we hear the same songs sung over and over again each year, it becomes boring. They at least need to get rid of songs previous idols have sung.

But the producers being stingy is only going to hurt the show in the long run. It’s really unfortunate too because I really liked about 5-6 of the top 13 and it could have been a better show than it ended up being.

(I say that as someone who actually liked the season… for the most part!)

Why would you think that Adam and Kris didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t care if they were in the finals? That doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t make any sense to me. I think they worked hard. They are now becoming the beat up boys because the ratings werenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t high. Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢d say it is the show and not the contestants.

First I will said that this was my perception… is just taht I didnt feel the sense that they were giving their all… if you see Kris face during the judge critics, he was like “whatever”… Every finale has a big moment that made us all wonder who is gona win, this year there were no such a moment… this year they were so confortable with each other that there was no surprise… their performance weren ´t bad nut there wasn ´t anything that let me a lasting memory… ten minustes in to Glee and I was over yersterday finale, wishing the kids in the series were singing….

Just a few points…

First, I’ve been watching since AI4 and every single year, people say this year’s show wasn’t as good as the previous year’s. I don’t even pay attention to those kinds of comments anymore. The show is in its 8th year, so, of course, the ratings are going to go down.

Personally, I like this season better than AI7. I was never that much into the David vs David thing and, last year, the winner seemed obvious, unlike this year. Also, unlike last year, I like both of the people in the final 2 (last year, only liked one of them).

My pet peeve is the judges. They pay these people millions. I realize that it’s a long season but you’d think that, for a million bucks or more, they could pay attention for just a little while longer. Is that too much to ask?

The What Not to Sing folks have said all season that this year, by far, had the highest repeat song rate. Some of that may be natural as the show ages, but I think it has a lot to do with interest too. It really is even more karaoke like when you hear the same song sung by multiple people.

Adam made it much more interesting, since he was a new type of contestant. But even he couldn’t carry the whole show, especially with the uber-annoying judges.

I just wish Adam had at some point this whole season sung a song from this decade. They really missed that opportunity last night. On the last night, singing for the last time before we hear their new albums, how in the world so they not have them sing a current sounding song that helps us understand who they are as artists? Drives me crazy every year. At least Cook last year had the opportunity to do it himself with World I know.

CNN is reporting on how much people hate à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹No Bound-and-gagged-dariesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢. OUCH

I sort of want “No Boundaries to the Crappiness” to be the worst selling coronation song ever. Too harsh? Maybe it’ll make them come up with something better next time.

I think the ratings spoke only of the finale performance and not the whole season. Week by week, it was rising by 4%.

Was it rising in share or in number of viewers? I thought the share was going up but the viewership was down, if that makes any sense. I could be wrong though.

I kinda agree with that, though I wouldnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t put it as harshly. I think this top 12/13 started out promising but many of them under-delivered. It made the competition seem lopsided. I expected way more from Lil, Danny, Anoop and Matt based on their previous work. Anoop was the only one who got better to me and even he never quite matched up to his early hypeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦ it was like he got stuck in boring ballad lane. Megan could have gone either way but she proved to be pretty bad. Jasmine never should have made it in the first place. In the meantime, Allison and Kris were doing well but never could seem to catch a break. I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t think Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ve ever felt as disconnected to the judging as I did this season. Adam was the only one who came close to living up to his pimpage, and even that got OTT after a while. I love this final 2 but as a season, this has been one of the worst for me.

How much better would the season have been if we had, say, Felicia Barton, Ricky Braddy, Jesse Langseth and Mishavonna Henson in the top 12/13 instead? Or if others such as Jamar Rogers, Deanna Brown, Leneshe Young, Ryan Johnson and Michael Castro were in the top 36?

I think the ratings spoke only of the finale performance and not the whole season.

I think the ratings for the finale speak for the season. The finale is supposed to be the climax, if people are interested in the season they’ll tune in. It’s the building excitement that makes the ratings for the last two episodes.
Now, I wouldn’t be surprised if people turned off by middle of the episode too. It just didn’t feel like a finale, but more like some random episode by middle of the season.
And I don’t remember the ratings going up. Looks like last week they went way down.

I sort of want à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“No Boundaries to the Crappinessà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  to be the worst selling coronation song ever. Too harsh? Maybe ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ll make them come up with something better next time.

I expect it to be by far the worst selling coronation song ever, worse than most or all runner-up’s songs even.

Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢d say it is the show and not the contestants.

Partly, it’s the show. But, the Davids were beloved last year. There just wasn’t that palpable sense with this year’s finalists.

I have nothing personal against your boy(s), but the sooner whichever one of them wins tonight tanks, the sooner Simon Cowell jumps ship, and the sooner this gaping-hulled Titanic sinks. Idol introduced us to some nice folks, and produced three superstars. But, when you think about it– that’s kind of pathethic, considering what the show’s stated purpose is.

There’s a few others– the Davids and Jordin– who could get there and maybe even one of this year’s guys. But, in the entire time it’s been on, Idol has only produced three artists who are guaranteed to have mainstream relevance after their first album, and one of them didn’t even win the competition. As I said, that’s sad. AI is way, way, way, way, closer to being a purely cheesy reality show then it is a musical star maker.

The show, format, judges, songs and Ryan have just gotten old and tired.

There is a lot of evidence that AI’s ratings would have been far lower without Adam. Love him or hate him, he was the center of the only really interesting thing about the season — and that is the problem. This one story couldn’t carry the season alone. And once Danny was gone, there weren’t any obvious enemies.

Frankly, the judges should have encouraged Adam to be theatrical. It would have been good for ratings. Instead, they told him not to be so OTT.

The manipulation was too transparent. The judges were unfairly nasty to some of the contestants: Anoop, Jorge, Alison come to mind.

I really like Kris and he seems real nice but he is not that interesting. And he was essentially ignore and discounted until the Top 3 show. The had a lot of other talented people who got lost early. I still think that they should have promoted Alexis Grace more. She should have made it further.

They seemed determined to use the Culture War story and get one of the “Christians” — Danny, Michael, Lil into the final. I think that Kris and Matt were their last choices of the 6 finalists who they originally thought they could cast as the Christian in this storyplot.

Wow, season 5 seems to be one of the top seasons.

Yes, Taylor had himself a lot of fans. Too bad it hasn’t paid off for him much.

Idol introduced us to some nice folks, and produced three superstars. But, when you think about ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s kind of pathethic, considering what the showà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s stated purpose is.

I actually think it’s pretty incredible that a TV talent show has produced as many Top 40 artists that it has. Not a bad success rate at all considering these were all people passed over by record companies (for the most part).

itsalleternal, that post hurt a little. I wish the judges/producers had been more concerned with talent than casting.

If those numbers were based on last nites finale, I believe it. That show was such a let down, period.

Im sure tonite will have some good numbers, just to see the stars and who wins!

:clap_tb: Adam Lambert For the Win!!!! :clap_tb:

I beg to disagree but the finale does not speak of the whole season. Maybe it was just they assume that Adam will win over Kris so why bother to watch. Kris made himself more exciting only towards the end of the game. From the start, it was a Danny towards Idol victory but little did we know that there was an Adam waiting to unleash his talent.

I think a Gokey/Adam finale would have done better.

ITA. I think that Danny and Adam would have been a better finale, because I think that Danny would have really fought against Adam and made it more of a competition. A Kris and Adam finale was boring. They are definitely not the best top two, IMHO, even though they have been hyped by a lot of people as such.

I think that Allison/Adam, Matt/Adam, Anoop/Adam, Danny/Allison and some other combinations that don’t involve Kris would have all been better finales than the one that we got last night. Adam and Kris were both lackluster, and their “I don’t care, pick the other guy” attitudes, wasn’t exciting.

I understand that they are close, but there have been other final two’s in the past, who were close but still were competitive and gave IMO, much better finales, (Ruben/Clay, Bo/Carrie, The David’s)

The show felt cheaper this year. Even the mentors didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t seem top notch: Quentin Taratino, Jaime Foxx wtf

I agree this season does feel cheaper than other past seasons. And some of the mentors didn’t seem top notch(Even though I liked Jamie, and I thought that Quentin gave good advice to Anoop).

And overall the themes weren’t this good this season either IMO. Other seasons have had had better themes.

In their pursuit of finding exciting personalities who werenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t as boring as last year, they missed the fact that last yearà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s boring personalities actually connected with the audience and made people care and actually want to tune in.

Their talents [season 7] were diverse and interesting and they truly seemed viable in the marketplace.

This.

Last year was so much more exciting. The excitement level just isnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t there this year. It seems like people were way more invested in the Davids than they are Adam/Kris.

As cheesy as the boxing set up was, it made it seem like it was special. Last night was just boring same ol same ol and the two guys didn’t act like they even cared.

I felt that the two David’s weren’t in competition either long before the finale. The difference was that David A came on to prove to himself that he could do his best and left it all on the stage. Cook also put a lot into it as evidenced by his tears after his last song.

I have to admit, I was bored to tears watching last nightà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s show and the only reason Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ll be watching tonight is to hopefully catch a glimpse of David A in the audience and to hear Cook sing Permanent.

THIS

We can thank the wonderfully stupid producers for this. after 8 seasons, they still dont have a fucking clue what to do:

NO MORE REPRISALS

NO MORE SHITTY CORONATION SONGS

good Lord, is it that fucking hard to realize?!?!! I mean, CMON!

Last night would be a million times better had one thing happened: Producers say, “let them pick their 3 songs that they want and we can get cleared that represent themselves.” and.. TAA DAA, we have a fantastic finale.

Fucking ridiculous. I’m so fed up with their ignorance.

Kris will probably win based on complete default- there was nothing to really judge last night other than the second song.

Just anecdotally speaking, I havenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t talked to anyone in RL who has been terribly excited about this season.

Same here. I think the post idol career of these two guys will actually be more interesting than the idol season itself. As far as idol winners go, they are both unique so I’m curious so see what heavy label backing and promotion can do for them. Apparently the press weren’t that excited about this season either (according to Jim Cantiello):

http://www.mtv.com/videos/news/393180/live-from-the-idol-press-room.jhtml

But, by definition, these were people who weren’t able to achieve anything more than minor musical success without the help of telvised artifice. And most of them have now disappeared from public consciousness. A few have shown to have staying power.

But, AI is supposed to be the search for the next music superstar. In other words, it should produce a minimum of one per year. As I said, so far it’s 3/7, and one of those didn’t even win the season he competed.

Yeah, last season I felt I knew the contestants and had a personal connection with them, for some reason. This season, I felt only the same way towards Anoop and the Top 5 minus Danny, who I don’t find as likable as anyone else in the top 5. I think the season improved as it went along and knocked out the less talented people. Top 5 and Top 3 week were both intensely amazing, I thought. Top 4 and Finale, not so much. Adam and Kris almost always had the best performances of the night, so they were an appropriate finale, but the coronation song blew all sorts of chunks. I’m glad I don’t remember it. But the good thing about it is that it puts me in somewhat of a win-win situation.

If Adam wins, he does very well despite being stuck with that song, and Kris doesn’t get to do that song. If Kris wins, my favorite wins but has to sing the song, although I think he’ll rearrange it at some point if he does get stuck with it. I can deal with those losses (My favorite losing or being stuck with the coronation song).

The thing, though, is that I didn’t really like Felicia Barton or Jesse Langseth. Ricky was okay and I don’t remember Mishavonna. One change I would’ve made was put Ju’Not instead of Jorge.

I actually think ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s pretty incredible that a TV talent show has produced as many Top 40 artists that it has. Not a bad success rate at all considering these were all people passed over by record companies (for the most part).

The star-making champ is still Star Search. Here’s just a few of the people who were contestants:

Aaliyah, 1990 (singer)
Christina Aguilera, 1990 (Singer)
David Archuleta, 2003 (Junior Vocal Champion)
Drew Carey (Game show host for “The Price is Right”)
Dave Chappelle (Comedian)
Destiny’s Child, 1991 (Singers as Girls Tyme)
Jon “Do-Knock” Cruz (Member of Super Cr3w, champions of America’s Best Dance Crew Season 2 )
Diana DeGarmo
Dennis Miller
Alanis Morissette 1988 (singer)
Rosie O’Donnell, 1984 (Comedian)
LeAnn Rimes
Adam Sandler
Britney Spears, 1992 (Singer)
Tiffany, 1985 (Singer, second place finalist)
Justin Timberlake, 1991 (Singer, as Justin Randall)
Usher

Last year’s finale showdown was heaps better. David and David could choose so much more variety. WHY did they change so much this year? Ugh.

Partly, ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s the show. But, the Davids were beloved last year. There just wasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t that palpable sense with this yearà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s finalists.

Hey, I flove one of the Davids myself, so no arguments there, but I don’t think we were ever given a chance to get to know any of the contestants this season.

Aside from Danny’s recent tragedy, who did we get to know over the course of this season? Kris and Allison were never given any decent screentime until they clawed their way into the top 13, and Adam, for all the OTT pimping, is still pretty much the same mystery to me he was when the season started. Most of what I know about any of them is from the Internet.

AI is way, way, way, way, more of a purely cheesy reality show then it is a musical star maker.

It’s always been a reality show as much a star maker, but I’d argue the show has creaed a lot of “stars,” just not a lot of “superstars,” but stardom, along with the average American’s attention span, is pretty fleeting.

But, AI is supposed to be the search for the next music superstar. In other words, it should produce a minimum of one per year. As I said, so far ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s 3/7, and one of those didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t even win the season he competed.

I’m seriously not trying to be a bitch, but I think it’s really naive to think this. The music industry hasn’t been doing well for a long time and there’s a HUGE discrepancy between what America likes on a reality show and what they like on their albums that they shell out $15 for. The audience doesn’t even represent the majority of America; like Taylor, if an Idol doesn’t fit a popular niche there’s only so much that can be done (not that they did much for him, but that’s another conversation). I think given all of the factors at play the show hasn’t done too bad at all.

Thank you Jim Cantiello for confirming what many said in this thread. Last year, even the media was excited and pumped. This year not so much. This year equals no emotional connection. I really don’t know what that will mean for future careers. Hopefully the winner and runner up will put out good music and have label support.

Low rating #s are the result of a myriad of factors and to put the blame on the hard working contestants who gave their all to this silly reality show is grossly unfair.

We are in the middle of possibly the second biggest recession this country has ever seen. Everything is down, from tv viewership to recording sales.

AI is is its 8th season. It no longer is the “most exciting show” on the block. It’s formula, for many is old and stale. Like every show that has ever spent much time on TV its viewership will rise to a peak and then slowly and steadily decline. Unless someone can prove that any TV show keeps increasing viewership over the years it is just the nature of the beast. I would hazard a guess that AI probably hit its zenith at about year 5, held steady for a few years and will now head slowly downhill until its demise. There might be blips on the screen and a couple of episodes might show a small gain but it won’t be the norm.

To most AI viewers this is just reasonably good entertainment. They don’t really become invested in any of the contestants. If they did then all of the Idols would be selling millions of albums to match the millions of viewers that watch the show. Also, every year there are more and more people who have switched to cable or satellite TV and are no longer held to the confines of the big 4 networks. With the advent of on demand, as well as reasonably priced pay-per-view as well as $1.00 downloads for movies the core audiences become less and less.

The Nielsen ratings really have little measurable value. Market research and surveys carry much more weight with advertisers than the Nielsens. I just think it is so silly that “the blame” seems to be placed on the miniscule rather than on the overall picture.

I would hardly blame Adam for the low ratings. Him or Kris. They have been the only contestants this entire season that totally put it out there every week. I think this season has been lackluster, but not because of the contestants.

I think the viewers have been feeling more irrelevant. They are not giving us what we want. Not enough singing. They whittled 36 to 9 and then added 4. Not our choice really. The save might have created a moment, but it was stupid. 3 judges are enough, yet they brought in another one, and one whose talents were not one display enough throughout the season or even in her wheelhouse as a songwriter last night.

Too much judge, not enough contestant. I say between the save, the top 36, the wild card, and the 4th judge this season actually rated better than I thought it would in general. The thing is in taking away so much out of the viewers hands, why stay invested in their finale. I also say there was a bit of a Danny factor. He had his fans, and they are livid.

Last year I felt as if I was ‘hanging out’ with the contestants. To me, they had so much more personality, and seemed to be closer. BUT then again I haven’t watched this season as religiously at all.

I am sooooo glad that this show is over. I came across Adam singing RoF one nite while channel surfing. I was hooked from then, but only by him. There has been very little talent on this show from Season 1. Watching the judges back pedalling these last couple of weeks has made me ill. They have had very little to say about Kris until very recently, when they knew that America was about to crown him and they don’t want to look like idiots. Kris has been spotty at best. I am going to guess that after Kris’ crowning tonight, that next year’s ratings will tank even further. America votes them in and then there is lots of nothing – it is really very boring.

I think AI is still making money despite of low ratings because of their ads. If you see, there’s more time for advertisement than the show itself.

The star-making champ is still Star Search. Hereà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s just a few of the people who were contestants:

If we’re going by numbers of stars produced, then I don’t think it’s really fair to compare a show that’s been around since the 80s to American Idol which is only 8 years old. Secondly, if Diana de Garmo and some guy from America’s best Dance crew are considered stars, then you can basically count at least 2 idol contestants per season as stars. Lastly, Star Search didn’t make Archie a star, American Idol did. Interestingly, he’s the only person on that list from the 21st century.

Dang, is the Gokey backlash? Gokey did have fans!

Teehee.

Interestingly enough, this season as a WHOLE for me doesn’t rank as one of my favorites. I didn’t have as many favorites in the competition as I did say last year, but I had a bigger over all favorite this year.

I like Jason Castro and he was my horse last year, but that doesn’t even remotely compare to the fangirl attitude I’ve adopted towards Adam…

But that’s just Adam. On a whole I’ve liked a lot less of the contestants this season than I have in the past, and a lot of the times I’ve just tuned in for Adam’s performance alone. I do love Allison but I wouldn’t keel over if I missed her or Kris’s performances at any point in the season. So out of the season of 12(sorry 13) I’ve liked lukewarmly liked two?

This season has just irked me and it lost pretty much all of its magic for me. It’s lost a lot of its magic in the years, but this year they just about killed it for me. If it wasn’t for Adam… I could have probably let this season go.

I blame Kara! I blame her for EVERYTHING wrong with this season, and the worst CRAPTASTIC song EVER.

Secondly because of this rating drop and I do feel that everyone is contrived to believe that this has been, in some senses, “The Adam Lambert Show” are expecting an Adam Lambert win, and I personally do feel it should be an Adam win, but why watch when you know it is going to end? I do feel that was a lot of the drop in the viewership.

I do feel, over the whole season, that Adam has performed most consistently but I’ve seen the most growth in Kris. Adam has been great out of the running gate, but I’ve seen the transformation from guy who plays a coffee shop to a contender for the title in Kris.

I still say Kris has this in the bag. AI needs some gossip and while I feel Kris would be a worthy winner, I do feel Adam deserves it, but both of them deserve NOT to sing the damn song!

I don’t think it has much to do with what happens to them after idol. I don’t think many people care that much for their careers after the show. If they listen to them on the radio, great, if not, whatever.
IMO people tune in on AI to be entertained during those 50 minutes. I think the fact that last year’s finale had so great ratings and beat Season 6, even if the show overall was down is a good example of that. People were somehow excited for those two guys, it was about the Davids and not the superstars Idol had or not created. They were the entertainment factor.
After 8 years it’s natural the show’s ratings are declining, it still is the most watched TV show. But for a finale, these numbers are a bit disappointing.

One change I wouldà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ve made was put Juà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢Not instead of Jorge.

I would have picked Ju’Not instead of Michael Sarver. Based on the little that we saw of Ju’Not, he had a great voice. He did one of the best SF performances and they didn’t wild card him. But he did mention getting the cortisone shot in his ass earlier in the day — I think his thoughless remark was why they passed on him.

Rocker gone.

A lot of Taylor fans were turned off by the show’s treatment of him after Season 5 ended and stopped watching the show. That’s when AI experienced the biggest decline in viewership, between S5 and S6.

Idol will always be successful because its after the holidays and in the dead of winter. Nothing to do, nothing on TV and most importantly, nothing opposite it.

It may not have the numbers that season 5 had but still, the numbers its pulling are far better than anything else on.

I think one problem is the overly controlled environment the contestants are in from day one. It feels robotic, forced, not spontaneous, way too scripted and too carefully orchestrated, at least the personal connection that seems to be missing. I know they feel they must protect the “competition” aspect so it doesn’t deteriorate into nothing more than a popularity contest, but that is fueling the disconnect many feel, and Idol is showing it’s wear as a result, in my opinion.

Let the contestants open up to the media, let them control themselves and their mouths. If they come across cocky or arrogant, they are only shooting themselves in the foot. Put them out there for interviews, let them sell their product, publicize what they are singing; stop the themes, let them sing whatever they want.

Take them out of the AI bubble and let them interact like normal celebrities in the real world, with all the ups, downs, bravos and pitfalls that entails. Make them seem like real people, instead of manufactured and packaged goods.

Again, as I have believed for the entire season, the Davids PWN these two boys by every objective measure. And come next year this time, we’ll compare their cumes with the Davids’ cumes at the same date the year prior (right now), and I’m confident that they’ll still be PWNng them.

A lot of Taylor fans were turned off by the showà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s treatment of him after Season 5 ended and stopped watching the show. Thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s when AI experienced the biggest decline in viewership, between S5 and S6.

Say that’s true… What does it have to do with declining ratings for the finale of Seaon 8?

:huh_tb:

Tess a great point:

The Nielsen ratings really have little measurable value. Market research and surveys carry much more weight with advertisers than the Nielsens. I just think it is so silly that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“the blameà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  seems to be placed on the miniscule rather than on the overall picture.

Good point but I disagree. Media buyers, planners, agencies and clients still depend on the Neilsens AND most TV contract rates are based solely on Neilsen #’s. The networks also use the Neilsens as a key decision factor in making programming decisions.

There is a real problem with comparing Nielsen rating from previous years to 2009. For years, Neilson had people report TV viewing in paper diaries. Advertisers knew that people were lying because in research studies many people had no recall of the content of the shows that they said they watched. Starting in late 2004, Neilson started to convert to electronic “people meters” that measure what people are watching, but there is a flaw. When you go into a room with a TV you are supposed to push a button so the meter knows that you are there. According to Neilsen the change is causing 8% of the drop in network TV viewship. Some stations have had a 50% drop in AI viewership when then people meter conversion occurs.

Setting that aside, AI is losing share of the audience, at risk of no longer being #1 in the US and, if the highly desired 18- 49 segment continues to decline, the show is headed for some issues getting the ad $ they are used to seeing.

I actually thought the show last night was extremely entertaining until the final song entered into play. While I would be the first to defend Kara’s judging this season, her song was not suited for either Adam or Kris. I definitely think she may have had Danny in mind, and even possibly Allison when writing. It was painful to watch (and listen) to two truly talented singers have to suffer through that mess. On a different note, does anyone here put any stock into the zabasearch site that predicts the winner? I know they seemed to be pretty dead on last season, so I was just wondering…

The show is really sinking. Adam and his fans better hope he loses tonight. He needs to get in the studio and get out something really pop and more his style pronto. He needs to jump on this publicity. It’s not sounding like America and the media will remember much about this season for very long. Also, Adam (like all of them) need to catch the non-idol audience. Only way to do that is with a great radio single. (Why I’m not too worried about equating success with ratings. The only superstars were the 3 that put out huge radio hits and gained new fans)

I loved the interview with kradam above. They are so cute. And Adam is right. He said every pop concert he’s been to lately has smoke, costumes etc. He needs to jump on that.

It’s all about the radio hit to become the superstar. Adam cannot have Boundry as his first single.

On a different note, does anyone here put any stock into the zabasearch site that predicts the winner? I know they seemed to be pretty dead on last season, so I was just wonderingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦

zabasearch are unreliable. For one thing, they’re notorious for changing their prediction after the fact to fit the correct outcome. I didn’t follow them last year (Dial Idol were spot on for most of the season so I didn’t seek other sources) but I do know that for the finale, they originally predicted Archie and only changed their prediction to Cook late the following day.

Paula asked this question via her twitter
Who do guys think deserves to win? Who do you think will win?

To me this sounds like some of the judges may be expecting a Kris victory tonight>

Paula asked this question via her twitter
Who do guys think deserves to win? Who do you think will win?

To me this sounds like some of the judges may be expecting a Kris victory tonight>

How much better would the season have been if we had, say, Felicia Barton, Ricky Braddy, Jesse Langseth and Mishavonna Henson in the top 12/13 instead? Or if others such as Jamar Rogers,

That’s a good start right there. I’d add to Kristin McNamara to the list too who, at least based on the semifinals, was one of the best singers this year. And Ju’Not Joyner. And Joanna Pacitti should have been in there too, controversy be damned. If America didn’t like her, they could vote her out. But, even if you take her out, your finalists (in no particular order) should have been:

Felicia
Ricky
Jesse
Mishovonna
Jamar
Kristin
Ju’Not

And then the ONLY current cast members I would have kept would have been:

Adam
Danny (on potential, though his performance didn’t ultimately justify it)
Alison
Alexis
Matt (because he brought something different to the table)

Cue Ryan Seacrest: “There you have it America. Your Top Twelve” (Screw having a top thirteen.)

Bye bye:

Anoop
Lil’
Megan
Michael
Jasmine
Jorge
Scott

(I’d be ok with subbing him for Ju’Not, if TPTB REALLY had to have the heart-warming story.)

Kris

(I’m not saying he doesn’t deserve to be where he is at now based on who did end up in the finals, but originally, no he shouldn’t have made it, considering those who didn’t.)

ETA: I just noticed that my suggested group of finalists would have returned the male/ female balance to 6:6, instead of this season where we were subjected to the comical pretense that the boys had far more collective talent.

zabasearch are unreliable. For one thing, theyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢re notorious for changing their prediction after the fact to fit the correct outcome. I didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t follow them last year (Dial Idol were spot on for most of the season so I didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t seek other sources) but I do know that for the finale, they originally predicted Archie and only changed their prediction to Cook late the following day.

Thanks. I know they have been predicting an Adam win since last week, and just a little while ago they posted that with over 100 million votes, Adam wins with a 56% to 44% margin. Seems interesting to me…how they would be able to know one way or the other. I sure hope they are right though!

agree w. what Tess said above….ratings have been down across the board for all tv shows. there is talk that the Nielsen’s are no longer relevant in today’s high tech world, when shows can be watched on dvr, hulu, itunes, etc.

however, the producers are still to blame for:

-wasting hollywood week on the likes of bikini girl (really?), norman gentle and tatiana del crazy

-top 36 format…yes, it forces the kids to shine given only one performance, however, it gives us less time to know them going into the top 12

- 4 judges format…really dragged down the pace of the show, especially since their comments are so often predictable and at time, incomprehensible (yo yo yo listen, for me, for you, you know what im saying? ummm no randy, we dont know what the F you are saying and why the F you get paid millions to say it.)

-finale format (ive said it before, will say it again….if you must keep the coronation song, let the finalists choose their other 2 songs….producer choices are often out of date much like the theme nights)

But we must also share some of the blame, as we did vote in both Scotts and Jorge. The only time we got it right was Group 2 (Adam, Kris and Allison)

Regarding making a “superstar”….its tough to say how that is possible in the current marketplace. Even talented guys like Jason Mraz or John Mayer (pre jennifer aniston) are not considered “superstars”. In today’s TMZ/Perez Hilton/US Weekly crazed world, popularity is rarely reflective of talent or singing ability. Example: Miley Cyrus.

I think AI has been able to produce some solid talents: Kelly, Fantasia (still on broadway, no?), Clay, Carrie, Daughtry (despite not winning, he was pimped/favored to win, so we are to blame for his loss), Jordin, Hudson, Cook (how well has Archie done in sales? i only hear cook’s songs on the radio here in LA)…..and hopefully Adam, Kris and Allison. Overall, not bad….when you realize their success hinges on multiple factors (producers, management, state of the market at the time of their ablum release, etc), you must give them credit for being able to gain some level of credibility.

I’m actually surprised the show has been able to maintain its popularity/ratings for 8 seasons. It might not pack the same punch, but trust me, networks are still looking at Idol as the top dog in the money making world.

Joesplace is reporting Carly will host the Adam viewing party

Season 5 was one of those magical seasons where the personalities and talent seemed so perfectly eclectic that people couldn’t help but watch. There was Kelly Pickler who I personally found annoying as hell, but many loved, the first legitimate rocker in Daughtry, the heartthrob in Ace, the lovable and talented Elliot, and his amazing mother…and love him or hate him (I love him!) but Taylor was great entertainment, and had a nice backstory as well. Since then, I think its been hard for the show to find that right mix.

Interesting….Kara was just on Access Hollywood trying to put her own spin on the coronation song. She implies that it was Kris and Adam’s fault the song didn’t go over well when she says “To their credit, they only had a few days to learn the song”. How does she not know it’s simply horrendous. No melody…too high. God awful. This is an unfair reflection on Kris and Adam. She then goes on to say “I’m just honored they chose to sing mine.” Does she mean they actually had a choice? :bigsurprise_ee:

I think it’s safe to say Kara will not be back next year. I’m sure we’ll find out that the problem this year was adding the 4th judge, using the judge’s save and the constant focus on the judges throughout the season as opposed to the contestants. Terrible, terrible season…but Adam saved it.

Simon suddenly calling it for Kris tonight scares me. He backpeddled last year when (I’m convinced) he knew the results and apologized to Cook before they were revealed. It’s that same feeling I’m having tonight..that he already knows the outcome, hence his comment about Kris all of the sudden.

Again, as I have believed for the entire season, the Davids PWN these two boys by every objective measure. And come next year this time, weà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ll compare their cumes with the Davidsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ cumes at the same date the year prior (right now), and Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m confident that theyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ll still be PWNng them.

From your lips to God’s ears….

Another reason why the rating were down is there was a huge NBA basketball game on at the same time. Like it or not the Lakers are a huge draw.

I, too, am surprised AI has lasted this long. Pimping has gone on since the beginning. Simon pimps different people on a daily basis, if you look at his interviews or t.v. appearances. That is his way, like it or not.

The viewers are to blame for Daughtry getting voted off: complacent voters which is why Simon said to vote if you want Adam to win, not just think that because during the Top 3 the other three judges had just said that they would see Adam in the finale.

This is my last year viewing. Unless they find another gem like Adam. I like to be entertained when I see someone sing and to this day refuse to go to a concert if all the band/singer does is just stand/sit there. I WILL pay to see Adam and will be throughly entertained by his performance. I’ve seen enough acoustic guitar performances in my lifetime, if I never have to sit through another one I’ll be happy.

Interestingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦.Kara was just on Access Hollywood trying to put her own spin on the song. She makes it sound like it was Kris/Adamà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s fault the song didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t go over well when she says à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“To their credit, they only had a few days to learn the songà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ . How does she not know ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s simply horrendous. No melodyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦too high. God awful. Then she goes on to say à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m just honored they chose to sing mine.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  You mean the actually had a choice?

Haha. I actually think the only coronation song that wasn’t total crap was the song Fantasia sang season 3. But I was anticipating something a little less horrific when I learned Kara was a cowriter…simply because she has some decent songs in her repatoir. Maybe the producers might want to begin thinking about an alternative to this nightmare the viewers, as well as the finalists are presented with each year…or at the very least, let them sing that song first to get it out of the way, and then start the real show.

Jolene–There are many reasons the viewership is down. DVR’s have changed a lot of viewing habits and even though ratings look at those who watched the show when on and those who watched the show the same day…they don’t take into account those who watch the show later in the week.

IMO many people are turned off by the show’s manipulations–telling Adam and Danny they would be seen in the finals, putting cannon fodder on the show who clearly weren’t as talented as some they passed over, turns people off. This season more than before, people seem to be onto the show’s blatant pimping and agendas.

Simon and other judges were on talk shows 2 weeks ago telling people that Adam was going to win. If Adam wasn’t someone’s cup of tea, then why watch?

Kris was someone the show spent very little time on (ever notice that when Kris was given comments that was the time the judges would distract from him by getting into it with each other), and even when America spoke to the show week after week by keeping Kris on the show the judges still tried to overlook him and told everyone it would be Danny and Adam in the finals.

Last night Simon still reminded people that he thought of Kris as not worthy to be on the stage but now he’s rethought that. That arrogance and obvious agenda is turning viewers off.

I also agree that the show doesn’t allow for enough new music, needs to have more, younger current acts. I’m guessing that the Sony connection has something to do with who does and doesn’t get on the show. Why do they want to promote acts that compete with Sony’s labels stars?

Another reason why the rating were down is there was a huge NBA basketball game on at the same time. Like it or not the Lakers are a huge draw.

lol…. my dad was watching… my lil sis was so mad at him …

abbysee
May 20th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
I would hardly blame Adam for the low ratings. Him or Kris. They have been the only contestants this entire season that totally put it out there every week. I think this season has been lackluster, but not because of the contestants.

I think the viewers have been feeling more irrelevant. They are not giving us what we want. Not enough singing. They whittled 36 to 9 and then added 4. Not our choice really. The save might have created a moment, but it was stupid. 3 judges are enough, yet they brought in another one, and one whose talents were not one display enough throughout the season or even in her wheelhouse as a songwriter last night.

Too much judge, not enough contestant. I say between the save, the top 36, the wild card, and the 4th judge this season actually rated better than I thought it would in general. The thing is in taking away so much out of the viewers hands, why stay invested in their finale.

I vote that we each print out a copy of this post and mail it to 19Whatever.

Another reason why the rating were down is there was a huge NBA basketball game on at the same time. Like it or not the Lakers are a huge draw.

Something tells me there’s not a lot of audience crossover between the NBA and AI.

So much for Adam as the savior of the Idol finale. *eyeroll* I’m not subscribing to the culture war bs either. I just agree with those who believe this season was poorly produced, and also think that’s Adam’s star isn’t quite as big as the media would like it to be. Even if people thought the winner was a forgone conclusion you’d think they’d at least tune for 15 minutes to catch a performance or two.

Given that, I’m pretty sure, Daughtry aside, the most successful post-Idol contestants came from lower rated years. I think this is good for them both. I do think Adam got screwed by a lot of his hype and press, and he deserves more than that. He has tons of talents, and deserves a fair shake without all that baggage – whether he wants that baggage or not.

I guess I just really hope the blame doesn’t get thrown onto the contestants, as they usually try to do, and acknowledge that they made mistakes. Kinda like they did after season 6…oh wait, that was Lythgoe who was mature enough to acknowledge the mistakes, and Cowell who tried to blame the contestants. Never mind. Everybody’s screwed. *eyeroll*

Even talented guys like Jason Mraz or John Mayer (pre jennifer aniston) are not considered à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“superstarsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ .

John Mayer was a superstar Even before Aniston. The usual rule is that of you can say just one half of the name (first or last – assuming it’s not too unusual) to to 6/7 out of 10 people and have them know who you are talking about the person is “A list.”

As far as Idol, Kelly and Clay would qualify. I think Jennifer has a chance too. Carrie and Fantasia are superstars in their genres, which is no small feat.

For those who’ve missed earlier posts, zabasearch changes their results once the real results are announced. They’ve been doing it for years. There is no statistical evidence that they mean anything. Dial Idol, on the other hand, has actual statistical evidence to back up their predictions. You may not like the margin of error, but don’t fault their math because of it.

Kara is going where Gokey is going i swear! She adds nothing and its her fault that our boys didnt create a moment for the single.She can go to hell after tonight.I really hate her.She better not come even close to the idol stage next year.

Lastly, Star Search didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t make Archie a star, American Idol did.

One clarification about star search. I believe David was 12 when he did this. I read that people were interested in him after star search but they didn’t really know what to do with a 12 year old white boy with soul. Shortly after star search is when he had the vocal paralysis for a while and he was only starting to get stronger when he decided to audition for AI. Of course, he has changed his style since star search– toned it down to fit more into pop.

Something tells me thereà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s not a lot of audience crossover between the NBA and AI.

maybe, maybe not….a lot of families watch idol together, i can see many dads taking control of the remote (my dad was wise enough to play it in the other room).

plus the “casual viewer” that drops in during the finale, might have been swayed over to the game (it was a tight one!)

and LA is the second largest market, with the lakers playing at the same time, many of us just recorded idol on our dvrs ( i know most of my friends and coworkers did)

Personally, I like this season better than AI7. I was never that much into the David vs David thing and, last year, the winner seemed obvious, unlike this year. Also, unlike last year, I like both of the people in the final 2 (last year, only liked one of them).

I totally agree! I like this season better because I prefered the talent better of the Top 5. Some of those David vs. David fans were not nice to each other and put a damper on last season for me. I’m thankful that the Kradam fans showed the love, especially because Kradam = Love.

And who cares which season has the higher season? It doesn’t make it better than the current season.

Last night, there seemed to be a lot of must see TV. The season finales of Dancing with the Stars and the #1 non-reality show, The Mentalist plus the Laker playoff game!

Well I guess it is Adam Lambert bashing time again.

Well, for two months or more, the media– to say nothing of his fans– have been preaching to all the world that he practically walks upon water. As such is the case, we should be able expect miraculous results– not excuses.

Now he has failed to deliver miracle-ratings this season. By this time next year, we’ll bear witness whether or not he can conjure up those miracle sales numbers in every corner of the earth that his flock of disciples have been incessantly prophesying….

Okay MJ I have kept my mouth shut and respected your harsh comment’s all season, But I am DONE! You obviously have way too much time on your hands. The blog u posted about Gokey and Michael’s video has sent me over the edge. You obviously know nothing about Gokey, so here goes. Let’s see last years ratings were higher HMMMM MAYBE IT’S BECAUSE DAVID COOK IS ACTUALLY ” THEY ” MOST ORIGINAL, GOD GIFTED, SINGER. ” THEY BEST MUSICIAN & SONGWRITER WHICH ALL ADS UP TO DAVID COOK BEING “THEY” BEST ARTIST EVER TO STEP FOOT ON IDOL. OH AND MAYBE IT COULD BE BECAUSE DANNY GOKEY “THEY” BEST ARTIST & PERSON THIS YEAR GOT BOOTED OFF LAST WEEK. KIND OF STRANGE HOW MANY SEASONS THE BEST WENT OUT ON TOP three WEEK. EVERYTHING ABOUT DANNY GOKEY IS INCREDIBLE, AND I AM SO SICK OF YOUR RUDE, SMUG, INHUMANE COMMENTS! SEE PEOPLE LIKE U BLOG THINGS ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE BEING COCKY, SMUG AND RUDE WHEN REALLY YOUR JUST TALKING ABOUT YOURSELF! YOU REALLY NEED TO MAYBE HAVE YOUR HEARING CHECKED, BECAUSE GOKEY’S VOICE IS PASSIONATE AND VERY SEXY. AND WELL FINALLY LAST NIGHT YOUR FAV GOT CALLED OUT ON BEING OFF KEY, WHICH WAS MOST DEFINITELY NOT THE FIRST TIME! OH AND I LIKE ADAM AS A PERSON, BUT WHEN HE SINGS EVERYONE I KNOW HIT’S MUTE. COME ON KRIS!

Don’t blame the contestants. The show has become virtually unwatchable. The judges. The features. The false suspense. Seacrest. The lip synch group medleys. The hoary old mentors. The ghastly “stars” who have “performed” this year. How can anyone watch that?

Fast forward to the singing, dump the rest.

maybe, maybe notà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦.a lot of families watch idol together, i can see many dads taking control of the remote (my dad was wise enough to play it in the other room).

This is 2009, and there is not a single person I know– even among the list of my most far-flung acquaintances– that doesn’t have at least two TVs.

Someone above seems to have missed their scheduled medication….

smileyj333
May 20th, 2009 at 7:04 pm

IMO, that post does make Danny fans look a little crazy!

mj can post whatever she wants. This is HER blog! She’s more objective than some of the other blogs!

Last year I felt as if I was à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹hanging outà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ with the contestants.

Agreed. The focus on drama fodder in the hollywood rounds, the focus on pimpees in the semi-final rounds, the focus on mentors in the final rounds and the focus on other recording artists on Wednesdays never gave us a chance to ‘know’ the contestants.
We were deprived of the pre-performance videos, behind the scenes on the ford commercials and two extra performances each this season.

If we don’t ‘know’ them, we can’t ‘care’ about them.

and i know plenty of folks that only have one tv (and some people that dont have cable….ahh, the horror!)

A public show is not only for AI fans\teenager\twentysomeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦,The extar number of audience is just for killing time to watch AI. They may even don’t know much about music nor fashion.
So, probably they just can’t bear Adam’s screech

Kris

(Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m not saying he doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t deserve to be where he is at now based on who did end up in the finals, but originally, no he shouldnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t have made it, considering those who didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t.)

So you said if America didn’t like Joanna they could have voted her out? Well they voted and they voted the first chance they got for Kris.

Heart
May 20th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
Personally, I like this season better than AI7. I was never that much into the David vs David thing and, last year, the winner seemed obvious, unlike this year. Also, unlike last year, I like both of the people in the final 2 (last year, only liked one of them).

I totally agree! I like this season better because I prefered the talent better of the Top 5. Some of those David vs. David fans were not nice to each other and put a damper on last season for me. Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m thankful that the Kradam fans showed the love, especially because Kradam = Love

Nope, not me. I’ll take the David Cook trajectory any day over the ‘sprang fully-formed star” like Adam, and the pimping that surrounded Adam and Gokey. Although I did enjoy Kris’ consistently good performances.

So much for the theory that Adam was here to save the franchise. And I’m quite sure that if the ratings had gone up, many of you would have credited Mr. Lambert.