American Idol Season 9 Hollywood Week Will Move to January

By On 09/11/2009 · 35 Comments · In AI Season 9, American Idol

Share on TumblrShare via email

Amongst all the hoopla around the announcement that Ellen Degeneres signed a 5 year deal to be American Idol’s new 4th judge, is an interesting little soundbite from Idol producer, Cecil Frot-Coutaz. From a recent NY Times article on the addition of Ellen:

An array of guest judges will fill the spot vacated by Ms. Abdul for the audition episodes that take up the first few weeks of the season, which begins in January. But it is possible that Ms. DeGeneres will be on hand for ‘Hollywood Week,’  where the top 200 or so performers come to Los Angeles to compete for a spot among the final 36.

In past years that week has taken place in November, but this year it has been moved to January, Ms. Frot-Coutaz said, and Ms. DeGeneres ‘should be there’  if logistical arrangements allow.

I’m sure moving Hollywood Week to January from November has more to do with squelching spoilers, which typically leak shortly after Hollywood Week completes, rather than accommodating Ms. Degeneres’ busy schedule.

If Hollywood takes place in January, I wonder if it will be completed before the audition episodes begin airing–so that TPTB have time to edit the episodes for maximum pimpage. Heh.

Damn you, Idol, for ruining our spoiler fun! Now, just tell us you’re going back to the Top 24 format this year, and I may forgive you…

Tagged with:
 
← Older Comments
  • http://www.wholisticbirthways.net austinmidwife

    maturin
    September 11, 2009 at 3:32 pm
    If they had used the Top 24 format this year, we could have had three more performances each from Kris, Adam, and Allison!

    Weeps aloud.”

    and this would have been soooo good.

    “If they had used the Top 24 format this year, we could have had three more performances each from Danny Gokey!

    Weeps (in a different way).”

    LMAO!!!! All I can say is “Dream On” and aren’t you glad we didn’t have to suffer more.

  • Sassycatz

    The early weeks are just about who sucks the least, instead of the top 36 were it is a focus on who is the strongest and and the excitement of a contestants first performance.

    Strongest contestant based on what? Is it only talent or is it attractiveness or luck with a song choice or judge’s influence/begging, i.e., Michael Sarver?

    I know we focus too much on Season 7, but it’s the the last season where you can make a radical contrast since it had a very, very different early format and even a different later format, considering the new judges’ influence as well as the poor time management issues.

    Think about this, for instance, during the top 24 round in season 7, when the “boys” first sang in their group of 12, David Cook was rated by “What Not to Sing” as the 6th best. Michael Johns, Jason Castro, David Archuleta, Robbie Carrico, and David Hernandez were all rated higher than Cook. What’s interesting about that is that all of the guys who rated better than Cook made the top 12. Robbie did not. And on the same night Chikezie, who also made the top 12, was rated as one of the worst.

    Now, granted there were no girls in Cook’s group, but if we throw in the ratings the first group of girls got, six scored better than Cook and only three of those women made the top 12. In fact, one of the women we would have lost under that system is Brooke White.

    But, back to Cook, if we used the season 8 format — leaving aside that there are only boys in his first performance group — he would’ve been gone immediately — especially when you consider what he looked like. All the message boards were commenting on the fact that David wasn’t a bad singer or that his stage presence wasn’t bad, but his hair and pudgy mid section was dooming him right off the bat!!! He wasn’t immediately pretty like Archuleta or Johns or Castro.

    The second week — top 20 — Cook moved from number 6 in his group to #3. Just behind David Archuleta and David Hernandez.

    The third week — top 16 — Cook moves to — guess where? — number 1! Highest rated guy of the night. He steadily moved up (and in a few weeks, he would take over the entire competition.) Suddenly, on week three of the semis, Cook not only sings well and has stage presence, but he’s HOT, OMG, EEEE! LUV!

    Under the new system, none of that would’ve happened. Under Season 8′s format Cook would’ve been middling, definitely not one of the strongest and definitely not the most “exciting” on the stage because he hadn’t yet found his footing. There would’ve been no opportunity for that, because he would’ve been out and sent back to Missouri/Oklahoma immediately. And we would’ve missed quite a ride.

    Link for “What Not to Sing” season 7:
    http://www.whatnottosing.com/seasons.asp?id=7

    These contestants have gone through auditions and hollywood and most of them are not exactly green to the music industry, so I see no reason why they need even more time to feel comfortable on stage.

    Very, very few of these contestants — none of them, really — have ever performed on live TV in front of 20 to 30 million people. Many of them admit to being nervous, let alone their possible careers hanging on the results…. No pressure, as Michael Myers aka Guru Pika said.

    To me that means people are just thinking about how season 7 was an enjoyable season and season 8 was not, and they are placing the blame on the format when it was really just poor contestants.

    The format was a big part of the process that selected the contestants.

    Also, who are these great females from last season who didn’t make it?

    Well, I’ll name three that were at least better than both Lil and Megan, and comparable to Allison in my opinion: Jesse Langseth, Mishavonna Henson, and Felicia Barton. But women were hurt greatly by this format and Simon and Randy’s hormones. OOOH, Megan, you’re such a hot … package!

  • will

    gangreen29 I’m someone who loathed the Top 36 format mainly because it allowed the producers far too much control. There isn’t even a semblance of fairness when the contestants are given only one shot to make an impression on America, and some have been featured extensively in auditions and Hollywood Week, and some are appearing on our screens for the very first time. (See the individual in my avatar for a case in point.)

    The Top 24 has its drawbacks as well, no system is perfect, but as far as fairness goes, it’s far superior IMO.

    ETA: I’m using a bit of hyperbole when I say “for the very first time” — I’m sure we’ve seen them before at some point, but it’s their first time in the solo spotlight.

  • mandabutter

    Top 24 format is far superior. I didn’t find the 36 weeks fair at all. The producers weild a large amount of manipulation, from how they cast/separate the singers week to week and we know from past contestants the singers rarely get their first song choice. I agree with the poster above who said Season 7 would have been substantially different had they used the top 36. I think starting w 12 girls/12 guys offers a unique balance. Yes of course it leads to the argument what if there are 8 talented boys and only three worthy girls…

    We can only speculate but if they had done the 24 format this year, the top 13 or top10 would have shaped up differently. And, two of the singers that were given a spot from Week 1 were gone in the first three weeks (Alexis and Michael) So I’m guessing thats the opposite of fatigue some fans may feel…they were completely forgotten about!

  • Sherena

    The discussion on the different formats has been really insightful. Thank you everyone for explaining things so nicely. I understand the differences between the formats now, I think. One question: so in top 24, how many weeks does it last? There are three rounds for both boys and girls– does that mean six weeks or three weeks?

  • http://www.last.fm/user/RemusL/ RemusL

    One question: so in top 24, how many weeks does it last? There are three rounds for both boys and girls’“ does that mean six weeks or three weeks?

    Three weeks. 2 guys and 2 girls are eliminated each week.

  • anijsch

    These contestants have gone through auditions and hollywood and most of them are not exactly green to the music industry, so I see no reason why they need even more time to feel comfortable on stage.

    I think even from this years top 10 there are two, who come to my mind that would have done better with the old format: Matt and Lil.
    Both would have done better if they had more chance to build up confidence.

    i don’t think last season worked out as planned from TPTB, so I hope they maybe see the advances of the old format.

  • Sassycatz

    And if a forced gender split in the beginning still bothers anyone, remember that once the group reaches the top 12, that’s all abandoned and people are just voted off no matter how many of the same sex are left.

    The first two voted off in a row could be two girls or two guys, thus making the top ten, who go on tour, six of one gender and four of the other.

    I just keep thinking about who are the great people that we missed who could’ve grown over those three weeks and might have even won.

  • mking49

    It really dosen’t matter that there starting in janurary. I think the sooner the better.

  • ruru
← Older Comments