FOX CEO Talks Idol at Citi Conference: Idol Audition Numbers Set Records (They Didn’t)

He added that new coaches who can draw the younger à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Idolà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  target audience and a new judge are also part of the revamps for the show, whose season premiere is scheduled for next week.

If he wants to attract the younger audience, try theme night’s that are not the music my grandmother listened to. Give the kid’s some newer material please.

Importantly, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“I am told the talent is terrific,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  compared to what he argued was a pool of contenders with less exciting personalities last year, said Vinciquerra, even though he hasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t seen any footage of this yearà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s talent yet.

I pretty much loved all the contestants last year. They all had great personalities (see AI tour, interns). It’s not their fault if you did not let them be more of themselves on the show nor did you show more of them behind the scenes. D&D together were great. Too bad Idol did not take full advantage of those two. The David’s=Love. Could it be you were wanting tension when the truth was they liked & respected each other?

Idol Audition Numbers Set Records

For the lowest numbers ever, maybe…?

pool of contenders with less exciting personalities last year

Wanna talk about less exciting? How about those tired judges? Tired vocabulary? Tired cliched lingo? Tired personality? Simon and his need for Preparation H therapy? I mean, come on. I think this was a pretty lively group, considering that they were just about dead when the show ended.

Who is this person?

I don’t like the seemingly continued manipulations that seem to me to have gotten worse in the last two seasons. I thought last year was worlds ahead of Season 6 which was a snoozefest IMO. But it seems like TPTB are tweaking every little thing so much it is becoming obvious how manipulated it is.

They better be careful about all this focus on the younger audience- they might lose the middle aged ones and the older ones. If they are going to focus on selecting a successful recording artist I say change the show dramatically. Don’t keep tweaking it to force the audience to pick the one TPTB think will be the most successful. I think people can see through the manipulation.

what he argued was a pool of contenders with less exciting personalities last year

:wallbash_tb:

If comments like these encourage contestants to act like a bunch of jerks and drama queens this season, then I’m out. I LOVED last season because everyone was so nice. It made the show so much more fun to watch.

Now that 300 who showed up to audition in Puerto Rico? Thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s a some sort of record, but not what Mr. Vinciquerra had in mindà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦

ROFLMAO

I knew it was total bs when I read he’d said that earlier. I just didn’t have proof. Thanks for the proof, MJ, and thanks for making me LMAO.

And, gimmeabreak on the personality crap. That guy, Nigel, and Simon — now they’re the personality, charisma police? Heh. Now, THAT’s HI-larious!

There’s a reason I don’t like reality TV. I sure hope the other networks come up with something else to compete. If not, I see me finally whittling down my “to read” list.

season 7 was by far my favorite cast of any season. what are they even talking about? don’t try to blame everything on them.

IMO if all they have are ringers and professional singers, it’s going to be for a dull show. You want some imperfection in the performances and the singing, otherwise, what would you talk about at the water cooler the next day?

I guess because there were no blatant divas (Syeshia was only a mini-diva), dramatic breakdowns ( Brooke recovered quicky enough) or lasting backstage feuds ( or hook-ups) TPTB considered the personalities boring. Simon would have liked to see a little bickering between the contestants, he was disappointed (and disbelieving) that they all got along. It is too bad that this group of talented individuals concentrated on improving their music. Gee, you would think there was actually a life outside of Idol where they have to ply their trade!

what he argued was a pool of contenders with less exciting personalities last year

Less exciting than whom? Simon also called the Season 6 contestants boring so if you are less exciting than them, that’s pretty dull.

These kinds of comments from the producers/judges/execs REALLY annoy me. It seems like kicking puppies. They hold all the cards and the contestants have no recourse. Any contestant that shoots back is going to be called bitter and a whiner and not appreciative of the show.

And what’s more, if it’s anybody’s fault that the contestants are boring, it’s completely the fault of the producers/judges/execs. It’s not like these people won lotto contests to get on this show. There are SEVERAL rounds of intensive auditions. They are subjected to all kinds of interviews which should, if the producers/judges/execs know what they are doing, weed out the terminally boring.

And come on. This show won a freakin’ Emmy for getting a dead person to sing with somebody half the US wishes had a dead career. If they can do that, surely they can give the illusion that the contestants are interesting. Or coach them to be interesting or something. I get completely annoyed when I see some of the clips from that Idol Extra show that is on some speciality channel. There was tonnes of personality shown by the contestants, it just never made it to air on FOX. The best stuff was sent to the cutting room floor so that viewers could ask STUPID questions.

Finally, I don’t think the contestants were boring. I thought the judges were boring. I thought the endless shots of the mosh pitt hand wavers were boring. I thought sticking the Idol band up in the rafters was boring. I thought the themes were boring. I thought the limited song choices were boring. I thought the questions from the viewers were boring. And I thought the results nights were boring.

So, stop this endless blaming of contestants and look in the mirror. Furthermore, your current audience likes the contestants, so maybe stop slagging the people the audience likes (which will likely offend said audience) and own up to your own mistakes. America loves it when people admit they were wrong and pledge to try to do better.

Kirsten,
AMEN. That is all.

I agree that they need more current music and mentors. I just hope they choose people that can really sing and have a decent songbook to choose from or represent a genre of music rather than just their hits. I shudder every time Simon expresses his desire to have Britney on!

Exactly Kirsten! This past year they even made them do themes in the semi finals. If they *must* do mentors… why Neil Diamond?

Finally, I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t think the contestants were boring. I thought the judges were boring. I thought the endless shots of the mosh pitt hand wavers were boring. I thought sticking the Idol band up in the rafters was boring. I thought the themes were boring. I thought the limited song choices were boring. I thought the questions from the viewers were boring. And I thought the results nights were boring.

YES, YES, YES! I hope the producers are reading this. And by the way, just in case you need more convincing that the AI judges are boring, go to YouTube and find clips of last year’s season of Canadian Idol, and check out the judges’ comments. What a difference from the AI judges! They had four judges who almost always had something relevant, unique and appropriate to say about that specific performer and performance. They make even Simon seem superfluous. The AI judges really should be forced to go through some kind of training to remind them of what they are there for—which should definitely include Canadian Idol clips!

Contestants = Usually fresh and often fun.

Judges = Boring and trite

Idol, the Show = Desperately in need of a jump-start

One more week to see what’s up with this whole shebang.

:clap_tb: or :flush_tb: ?????

Season 1 had the lowest audition count, about 25,000 people. But the show was new at the time so that was understandable.

As for personnel changes, the first thing I would do is hire our own mj as the ultimate producer, and Kirsten as the publicist. Others on here would be hired to key positions as well.

Kirsten, everything you said. Ditto. I think it’s pretty cheap to blame contestants who are no longer on the show and no longer in front of the audience instead of casting real blame on the people returning year after year after year.

As for the claim of record numbers for the auditions this season, what gives? Is he flat out lying or just completely unaware? Or commenting about something he has no knowledge of? I don’t get it. This is a show trying to make changes for the better but the fox exec just makes stuff up?

What a load.

Word to your whole post, Kirsten, but especially this:

I get completely annoyed when I see some of the clips from that Idol Extra show that is on some speciality channel. There was tonnes of personality shown by the contestants, it just never made it to air on FOX. The best stuff was sent to the cutting room floor so that viewers could ask STUPID questions.

This was the first season I got invested enough in the contestants to seek out additional clips and interviews outside of the aired show, and I was surprised to find such a wealth of behind the scenes clips, interviews, Idol extra shows and the like– and also that the contestants had great personalities! I had NO idea Michael Johns was such a goof, or that DC wasn’t smug but just had a bit of a wise-ass sense of humor, or that Carly was really funny and likeable! And they were such good friends and had such a great rapport– that I would’ve liked to see. I hope the coverage they show in the mansion is less Real World/Big Brother fighting/drama, and more a behind the scenes look at what it’s like for these contestants to prepare each week, their challenges, etc.

I loved the results show if he is talking about the final one. Perhaps because David Cook won, but I loved bringing back the top 12. I loved the group numbers with Bryan Adams and George Michael. I loved the duet between the David’s and both of their songs with One Republic and ZZ Topp. All in all I thought it was a great show and I have probably rewatched it a 100 times since May 21st. However, they could cut out the horrible performers from the try outs. I would not miss the guy singing I am Your Brother along with the UCLA marching band. Yuk!.

But if they are talking about the weekly results shows even though they first stated it in singular :à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Idolsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  results show was à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“very boring à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦ to be blunt about ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  last year,,,”. I liked the results shows because I enjoyed the Ford commercials and the group numbers. I think we got to know the personalities of the contestants. I didn’t find them one bit boring.

I’ve been a AI fan since season one and I truly believe the top 12 this past year was the best of any season of Idol so far. They were far from boring in my opinion.

i don’t know if this is a good place to post this…but here’s a short interview with kara about the new season…

http://www.tvguide.com/American-Idol/Idol-Judge-Interview-1001350.aspx

Blah, blah, blah. The numbers went down again because they trend downward like all reality shows. All these tweaks and excuses are just ways to justify the suits drawing a salary.

What a load of bs. There were plenty of great personalities last year. What you had was a failure of the lousy production team to showcase the individuals. The talent was great, the weekly shows that were thrown together were a mess.

Wow, the nerve calling last year’s contestants boring. What a slap in the face to that talented and likable group. Can’t wait to see what he considers not boring. Oh right, Britney. The best fix would be to ban ancient mentors and bring in more contemporary and recognizable performers, as long as they have actual talent and a track record. Or completely forget mentors and have genre weeks.

Kirsten, bravo! Great post. I also think the judges are boring, and it is the producers’ faults if the results shows are boring, not the contestants.

If they can’t find a way to make the results shows interesting, they should cut them to a half hour.

One thing I liked is when they had them go to premieres, red carpets, or on outings like to the beach. I like the offstage, unscripted bantering and joking around. That wouldn’t bore me. Dancing with the Stars does a great job of that each week, showing the rehearsals, and highlights from the week. It’s Idol’s fault if they can’t be more creative.

DWTS also manages to have a great show without pitting the contestants against each other, or making them feel worthless (as Simon likes to do). The Idol producers are bloodsuckers, sucking the contestants dry and then throwing them aside when they’re no longer useful. Grrr.