Nigel Lythgoe Speaks To The Press About his Return to Idol

On Jennifer Lopez. “She’s had a brilliant career. She has been inspirational to so many kids. The credentials are incredible for her to be able to judge anybody. She is one of the warmest people that I’ve met; she’s done So You Think You Can Dance a number of times now. She knows the business and is tough. She’ll be honest about it.”

On Steven Tyler. “Tyler is a rock legend, and he’s been through the worst part of it, too. I think he would probably be the one I would be interested to turn on to watch, not knowing what he was going to say and where he’s going to come from. As a TV producer, I love that.”

hmmmm interesting way of commenting. Do I take this as a confirmation?

mj In addition to everyone else, I’d love your take on all these comments.

“focus back on the talent and showcase multi-talented performers who can move as well as sing”
WOW! This has been my MAIN beef with Idol for the last couple years! Contestants just standing in one place, showing no “performance” skills, except the voice. For me, all entertainers I love show some versatility.

And for me personally, if they would eliminate ALL guitars, I would like it a lot better! I think I am going to like Nigel coming back!

Nigel “favors updating the semifinals and possibly Hollywood rounds, and says singers should have bigger production values.”

I hope they give the contestants bigger and equal production values to showcase their talents.

I guess “barnacle” has a better connotation than “leech” or “hanger-onner”. Survivor might be a good word for Randy. His comments are so random there is very little substance for anyone to agree or disagree with, I guess. He avoids any controversy.

Nigel seems to be saying the right things, hope they do come back to 3 judges, that’s the one change we almost all agree was bad.

I’m pretty sure they are going back to recruiting ringers (particularly male) to make the season more exciting. Last year contestants were too inexperienced and just couldn’t deliver a good show.

To me, this is the best possible news for a waning Idol. Ken and Cecile tried their “great” ideas for improving a show that didn’t need to be improved and now Nigel can swoop in and clean up the place.

Deleted–Already stated and nvm

I’m looking forward to Season 10 now, lol. Dammit, Nigel. Hopefully he can clean things up, I think it’s sucked since he left (Season 8 was saved by the personalities and talent, the show itself sucked).

I found this quote interesting:

“Where did Ne-Yo or Chris Brown come from? Where did Justin Bieber come from? Where are these kids?” Lythgoe asked. “That has got to be the priority, more than anything. More than the judges’ panel. The judges are there for two minutes; the contestants are there through the entire program.”

Does that lay out who they’re looking for in next year’s winner? A pop friendly young guy with hip hop and R&B tendencies?

Hopefully he can clean things up, I think it’s sucked since he left (Season 8 was saved by the personalities and talent, the show itself sucked).

My sentiments exactly. I think I’m looking forward to S10 now. Maybe I won’t have to use my fast forward button quite as much.

I am still missing comments on the old-fashioned and unimaginative themes and the over-used song book. Get some fresh material in there!

Does that lay out who they’re looking for in next year’s winner? A pop friendly young guy with hip hop and R&B tendencies?

That’s a sharp observation. Nigel was always good with channeling the type they would be looking for. I also notice talking about movement as well as singing–Nigel’s caught that they’ve had ONLY white guy with guitar winners since they allowed in the instruments. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s looking for a way around that without outright banning instruments.

Some other thoughts:
Randy’s a “barnacle” eh? I think that’s a big old message to Randy that he better step up this year now that Simon’s shadow has been removed. Nigel might be as sick of Randy’s uselessness as the rest of us, but I think he’s more likely to cut Kara from the panel to pull it down to three, for the sake of “chemistry.” Randy’s inoffensiveness means he would gel with a panel more easily than Kara.

Sounds like he’s sold on J.Lo as the Paula slot….and it also sounds like the choice of Steven Tyler is still alive because on paper Nigel thinks Tyler could be a really good Simon replacement–with the don’t give a f*ck, don’t waste my time kid, this is rock’n'roll baby and I’m not afraid to tell you you suck. I’m not convinced that what they see on paper will actually be what they get on screen though…..

Lythgoe would also like to temper the show’s reliance on backstories — he’s seen one too many clip packages about a contestant with a rough family life. Focus on the singing, he said.

Hooray!!!! This was one of my biggest beefs last year, The wretched back stories. Thank-you Nigel!!

I don’t understand all of Nigel’s comments. What he’s saying sounds good – but hasn’t he done a pretty good job of screwing up SYTYCD with: 4 judges; manipulations with dance styles & partners & pimping; putting personality over dance skill? Hasn’t SYTYCD gone way down in popularity as well? Little bit of pot calling kettle black if you ask me.

I’m looking forward to Season 10 now, lol. Dammit, Nigel.

I know right. I was all ready to walk away.

Barnacle? That can’t be good.

it also sounds like the choice of Steven Tyler is still alive because on paper Nigel thinks Tyler could be a really good Simon replacement–with the don’t give a f*ck, don’t waste my time kid, this is rock’n’roll baby and I’m not afraid to tell you you suck. I’m not convinced that what they see on paper will actually be what they get on screen though…..

Yeah, that.

What does he mean by “production values”, exactly? Are we going to get back up dancers and the kids doing choreography during their 1:30? If so, I do not like that idea at all. It’ll be just like X-Factor then. I know Idol will have to compete with XF, but they should do it on their own merits, not copying another show.

I do kind of like the idea of the UMG guy, Iovine? being a sort of mentor, as long as he really has the kids best interests at heart, and not be another Clive Davis.

I still think I’ll watch next year, just to see if it will all work, but I think I’m done voting. It might actually be fun to watch, and not feel like I need to vote for anyone for a change.

Are we going to get back up dancers and the kids doing choreography during their 1:30?

I doubt that, mostly because the kids can rarely dance–half the time they can barely execute the blocking on the group numbers. I’m not sure where he’s going with this exactly as much as I’m sure of where it comes from–the stillness of the singer standing there with the guitar. As much as Crystal was great last year, and people really enjoyed Lee, the visual of the singer statically standing there week after week, and the corollary of their uncomfortableness when the guitar was put down, was a huge factor is giving viewers the impression that Lee and Crystal just weren’t that good.

But then think to the week Lee put down the guitar on Big Band night, and he suddenly turned into the solid front runner, just by a bit of comfortable strolling while he swang? I think what we will see is a push to get those with guitars to put them down earlier and be more showman-ish, and an emphasis on promoting the kids who are more adept at working the stage, rather than the ones who “hide behind the guitar” as Simon would say.

I don’t know if bringing Nigel back is a good idea because I don’t like the changes he has made on SYTYCD. Getting rid of Mary and replacing her with Mia. The All-stars with the contestants which has allowed the judges to have even more power and let them eliminate contestants up until the top 4. The judging has so turned me off that I just fast forward past them. The judges have made it all about them and not the contestants.

Lythgoe is a douche. I’ve always felt he was all about trash TV, and this is proven out by his idiotic “ideas” to solve the problems facing this aging show. More Paula? More Randy? Steven Tyler? Four judges if the “chemistry is good”? Wants us to know LESS about the contestants? Wants them to be song and dance performers?

I predict within two years Idol will be DOA, and we’ll all be blogging about X-Factor.

Oh come on! Idol format was designed to search for great singers that are charismatic and have great stage presence. Really, do you think it was designed to find guitar playing singer-songwriters? Nope, it was designed to find pop stars. Singer/performers. In season 9, singer/songwriters were positioned as frontrunners and the season was proclaimed to be the worst one ever. So, it’s no surprise that they want to move away from this. Plus, they want to find different artists.

And yes, 4 judges on the panel can work very well. The original Pop Idol had 4 judges and many other versions of Idol also had 4. American Idol started with 3 because they couldn’t find the 4th judge when the first season began and because Randy-Paula-Simon panel worked so well, there was no need to find anyone later. But over the years, the panel got painfully stale and predictable. So, they brought in Kara. Yes, the chemistry was ruined because the original judges were unable to get used to another judge and Kara as a newbie was green compared to the original judges. But at least someone new was on the panel.
But yes, it’s possible to have a great panel with 4 judges. I personally love the judges on British X Factor.

I personally think that TV Shows like Idol need some changes every few years. I think that was the problem with American Idol. The judges stayed the same for 7 seasons and people and the original judges were so used to it that it was hard to accept a change. I mean yeah, the original cast worked well – but things got very stale and predictable.

So now that Fuller finally realized that AI is in trouble, they are completely rewamping the show. New judges, new label, new band, …

I am still missing comments on the old-fashioned and unimaginative themes and the over-used song book. Get some fresh material in there!

Perhaps the new partnership with UMG will allieviate that problem. I’d imagine they will be able to clear different songs now. At least, I hope they will.

As for the new judges, I actually get the impression that JLo will be more ruthless than Steven Tyler. I may be alone on this one, but I see her as a Simon and Tyler as a Pauler. Maybe JLo has been waiting to unleash her bitchiness, and Idol will will be the perfect platform in which to do so. Bwahaha!

Also, Randy=barnacle? Round & crusty, with a big gaping hole up top and hollow insides. Yep, sounds spot-on to me.

The key to making Idol a success – find talented kids with talent, personality and charisma. Find new songs for them to sing, instead of the stale material that’s forced upon us every year. Find singers that represent different genres – rock, hip-hop, country, blues, pop. That’s one of the reasons Season 5 was so successful – it was truly was a competition because there was so much talent and diversity. Kept you on edge because it was so close – never sure who would be leaving.

The judges are there to critique and judge – period. They are not the main focus of the show, but they do need judges that have chemistry. Kara and Ellen just didn’t fit in. Poor Ellen was like a fish out of water.

It does sound like Lythgoe has one eye on the upcoming US X-Factor: production values are big on that show!

Which is not necessarily a bad thing, but I hope they recognise that there are different kinds of performer and that you don’t need to be able to dance and sing to show charisma. Move and use the stage and engage with the audience and the song, yes!

Oh – and I know it’s been said before and it might as well become a mantra – but guitars and songwriting do not automatically equal a lack of singing ability or charisma (ETA: or performance) …

ETA: without any shadow of a doubt, they need an updated database of songs for the contestants to choose from. That – along with getting the judging chemistry and balance/talents of contestant styles right – will be key to whether the show can re-generate itself.

I think Nigel knows what’s what. focus on the contestants but have a decent judges panel. find a winner who can sing but also has charisma. sounds like he’s in it to compete with x-factor, and that can only be a good thing. Go Nigel!

Hmm..Sounds to me that Nigel Lythgoe is hoping for more dancing/singers, with less emphasis on instruments or even voice this year. I am just not sure if he is gonna find allot of that through the audition process in place right now. I mean they almost would need to start by teaching contestants some basic dance moves before they even advance to Hollywood week, and have them sing their audition song with the dance moves!! By the time Hollywood week comes along its kind of too late to figure out if any of the contestants can sing and dance..seems to me that most of the contestants in the past really could not dance well at all. If you look at Bieber, Ne-Yo and Chris Brown, there was never a doubt about their stage presence and they all could pretty much dance from the get go..personally I am so glad that Lee and Crystal auditioned this year, cause it does not sound like they would have even made it through if we were in AI10, and that would have been a shame IMO.

Oh – and I know it’s been said before and it might as well become a mantra – but guitars and songwriting do not automatically equal a lack of singing ability or charisma (ETA: or performance) …

Well we hear plenty of the opposite mantra, so keep it up! Nothing turns me off more, than performers with those ear microphones doing choreographed dance steps like Usher and other guest performers did this season. Just totally stripped of soul and emotions. Tim´s sliding didn´t do it either. If a performer is capable of giving a song some life with real emotions, phrasing and soul along with a good voice to match that moves me, I don´t care if a guitar or piano is part of that routine. I´d also like AI to be closer to what the Rockstar Supernova show looked like. Great backup band to interact with and good song selection. Only AI would obviously need similar good song selections for all genres apposed to only rock as in the Rockstar Supernova show.

Nigel American Idol: Searching for the next Ke$ha.

I think taking Nigel’s quote “Idol needs to turn its focus back on the talent and showcase multi-talented performers who can move as well as sing” to mean he wants dancing is reading a little too much into it LOL.

I just think he wants people that aren’t always tied to one spot on the stage. Not that it isn’t effective, occasionally, with the right song and performance. But when the majority of the contestants, the majority of the weeks, simply toss aside one of the weapons in their performance arsenal, their stage moves, there’s some entertainment potential lost.

ETA: And that doesn’t preclude instruments at all either, there were times David Cook srsly rocked the stage with his guitar, and if a piano player did what Matt Giraud did on tour with Hard To Handle, that’d be a helluva performance as well.

Nigel American Idol: Searching for the next Ke$ha.

You´re probably right, I remember how Nigel was impressed with Shakira when she performed on SYTYCD. At least, you can´t hide your voice and singing behind an instrument, but you can to some degree with a lot of movement, distract from poor singing ability

Isn’t the IICD house Nigel Lythgoe’s brain-child? If so, I shudder to think what he’ll do to Idol upon his return. Idol hasn’t been perfect the last two seasons, but I lay blame more on the contestants than the judges. All of the things he’s saying sound wonderful on paper, but I just worry about how they’re going to translate on screen. I wasn’t going to watch season 10 but I may have to tune in once or twice out of curiousity. Which I guess is the point after all: if they can get some ex-viewers/lapsed viewers to give the show a chance this season then all of the changes will have been worth it. They just have to make sure that they don’t squander that good will otherwise peeps are going to tune right back out again.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS, Nigel’s back-everything he says sounds AWESOME to me EXCEPT no guest judges or mentors–i really like them.

Isn’t the IICD house Nigel Lythgoe’s brain-child?

No, that’s Simon Fuller’s baby.

Eh, you can have all the hip-hop, r&b, alternate genres on the show and I still think that if there’s a cute boy who plays guitar, that’s who the AI audience will vote for. AI doesnt have the audience demographic anymore to have an Usher, Chris Brown, Jason Derulo type to win the show, much less a gaga, Katy Perry or rhianna type. It is what it is and I’d love to be surprised, but definitely not expecting to be.

It does sound like Lythgoe has one eye on the upcoming US X-Factor: production values are big on that show!

I’m thinking Nigel just wants another platform where the SYTYCD alums be called on to dance in the background. Heh. I know they’ve done it before on Idol Gives Back and, of course, the finales, so he may want more opportunities for that.

I just think he wants people that aren’t always tied to one spot on the stage. Not that it isn’t effective, occasionally, with the right song and performance. But when the majority of the contestants, the majority of the weeks, simply toss aside one of the weapons in their performance arsenal, their stage moves, there’s some entertainment potential lost.

ITA there…the fact that the majority of last season’s contestants didn’t seem to have a clue as to what to do on stage certainly didn’t help the season, neither did the fact that they didn’t learn what to do with it and that some (including the winner for goodness sake!)looked scared to death every time they appeared right up to the final…

I predict within two years Idol will be DOA, and we’ll all be blogging about X-Factor.

Yep.

CindyM:
08/05/2010 at 1:59 pm
Eh, you can have all the hip-hop, r&b, alternate genres on the show and I still think that if there’s a cute boy who plays guitar, that’s who the AI audience will vote for. AI doesnt have the audience demographic anymore to have an Usher, Chris Brown, Jason Derulo type to win the show, much less a gaga, Katy Perry or rhianna type. It is what it is and I’d love to be surprised, but definitely not expecting to be.

I completely agree, the demographic just isn’t there. (hello X Factor) Adam & siobhan (these are just the ones that come to mind right now) were the closest to an out of the box singers. Adam’s ring of fire was considered at the moment shocking.. which now in hindsight is pretty mild and certainly mild compared the the current pop scene. I was pleased to see Siobhan continue to go against the grain this past season, too bad she went a bit off the rails.

I don’t know that X Factor is going to do any better than a weakened AI. JMO. Some might say the format of a TV singing talent competition has peaked and it’s not going to be where the desired demographic goes to discover superstar new talent anymore.

CindyM: I still think that if there’s a cute boy who plays guitar, that’s who the AI audience will vote for.

Which is why it’ll be VERY interesting seeing if they even put a HAC white guy who plays guitar in the top 24.

I like the Ideas of what Nigel is saying, I just have a hard time believing it will be what he really does on Idol, as on SYTYCD the focus is not on the contestants as much as it should be. It is more on the Judges and choreographers. (and this year the All stars which even took more time away from the contestants) The only reason the focus was brought back to the contestants this year was all the injuries.

I don’t see Idol ever finding a Bieber, Swift, or Ne-Yo, Katy Perry, Shakira, Drake, or “Chris Brown”…First of all not to be too mean I don’t think we need any girlfriend beaters on the show. That is a back story that I don’t believe will be too endearing. I also don’t think Idol really wants singers who only can sing when Auto-tuned or give a great show only because they are lip sinking. That is the only way you are going to get talent like these mentioned. :mrgreen: Snark aside I personally think the show had some really great seasons with a myriad of diversified talent. Season’s 2, 5, 7, and 8 for me had the best talent and the most diverse groups. I liked season 4 because I love Carrie but it was too lopsided it was always going to be either her or Bo. Same with season 1 the talent was too lopsided. Kelly for me was the star from the beginning. But IMHO Season’s 2, 5, 7, and 8 where so entertaining and exciting because most of the top 10 were great and in each of those season’s IMHO there were at least one outstanding performer and in most cases more then one.

The change that needs to be done is to put the talent through don’t look for a type. I think that last year suffered the most because of this aspect. They were looking for the next Taylor Swift. (at least it seemed that way in the beginning) Its not possible. I personally don’t want another one. ( ;-) ) Last year was too forced. I also think that is what Paula brought to the table because there were many contestants that would have been let go in years past but Paula fought to keep then and they wound up being some of the better contestants. Simon wasn’t always that great at choosing the best talent. I think Season 9 was heavily influenced by Kara and possibly Simon. Again I think the real contribution that Paula brought to the show and that was lacking big time this year was her ability to find talent. Her actual judging was not the factor, her ability to choose true talent was her biggest asset.

So all in all I hope what Nigel is saying can really be applied to the show and carried though successfully without some of the factors that helped bring success to the show in the first place missing from the mix.

I think Jennifer Lopez could be Paula 2.0. She basically took over Paula’s place in the music industry as the Latin Queen of Pop. J-Lo came on the scene pretty much after Paula had to step away due to injury. I don’t know what I am really trying to say here but I think it somewhere along the lines that J-Lo seems to fill in the void whenever Paula steps/or is pushed away. :-)

I am not on team Steven Tyler I don’t think he will be a good fit for Idol and I think he will get bored of it all. Though I think he would be a great choice to help pick the talent for the show say the top 24. I think we would get some really interesting talent chosen by him. :mrgreen:

Nigel Please don’t be blowing smoke up our bums I really loved this cheesy show at one time and want to again.

welcome back nigel!

Find singers that represent different genres – rock, hip-hop, country, blues, pop.

I agree summertime – AI needs variety of singers . Early on there were too many “belters”& lately too many guitarists!! Its not about one being better than the other its about diversity, which attracts more viewers – so hopefully they look for that again as they did in season 5!!
If Nigel is truthful about bringing the focus back on the singers- then give them a bit longer time to sing than 1 1/2 minutes[ less judges comments] . This is why a performance is often lacking & why in concert the singers seem better – because they can sing a song in its entirety without it being chopped up!

Nigel knows what he is talking about. There was very little movement this year. Not good.

Hoping he is referring to during the actual contestant performances, and not some silly group numbers. They so have to go. No one wants to watch that hot mess. Lip Syncing and stage blocking. Pathetic.

I like that AI now includes singer songwriters, like they have in the past couple of years. But I do think that vocal and performance ability need to be stressed more. I don’t think that someone playing an instrument is boring if they have the peformance skills to carry it off, and not just standing there looking like a deer in the headlights. So I agree with what Nigel is saying.

I do think that maybe they should not allow instruments as early in the competition, though. Maybe allow it only in the last round of Hollywood week, so judges could see what kind of artist you are, and maybe notagain until the finals. This way, the contestants with weaker voices and performance skills would be weeded out before the final rounds. You could still have singer songwriters, but they will have strong vocal skills. Also, they can still do their own arrangements without necessarly playing an instrument, because the ones that have been sucessful at this could work with the band to come up with the arrangement they want.

I also think that they should stop looking for a certain type when casting, if it is true they are really doing this. They should just look at who are the best, and also try for more diversity in type of performer.

Again, I don’t think that playing instruments on the show is a bad thing, and it isn’t necessarly boring if the contestant has the right vocal and performance skills.