http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/latest/2008/08/24/x-factor-simon-cowell-says-stop-all-the-sobbing-115875-20710175/

The thing that I love about Idol is something that even Simon canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t control. I love the unexpected. The contestant that comes out of nowhere. The contestant that Idol is not expecting and there is absolutely nothing they can do to stop them. The contestant that causes such a sweeping wave of support across the nation that it is a beautiful thing to watch. I LOVE when Idol is outsmarted, outplayed and does not get the winner it wants to fufill their current marketing strategy.

Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s a good thing, lol.

Season 5: Taylor Hicks! :clap_tb: :wub_tb: :thumbup_tb:

Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m remembering JD in the bottom 3 at the very beginning of the show, and the Farrisà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s making a big show of giving him a reprieve. No? Maybe he was almost the first person the Farrisà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ eliminated?

Ohhhhhh, my bad, totally forgot about that. I think that was the first show, and the procedure was different? Wracking my brain and coming up blank, but I do remember he didn’t have to sing an INXS tune until fairly late in the game.

And to segue back to the original topic, as long as there’s talk of improvements, can they get the House Band from Rock Star? Those guys were kickass musicians, and, well, really hot. (Yeah, I know, it will never happen.) I would love more current music, though, and original songs. Again, probably not what Simon has in mind.

It’s a good thing, lol.

I think they need to revamp/shorten the auditions. Make Hollywood week twice/three times as long and go back to groups. Hwood week is my favorite because you pick up on the personalities. I like the “green mile” myself.

I also think dropping the top 24 format isn’t a bad idea. They need to jazz up the middle with double eliminations, voting people back into, something.
They need to find a perfect combo of reality TV and talent show. I’m actually a bit interested to see how they change the show up although they’ll probably ruin in.

I’m sure everyone has a Season they think is the ultimate one. I’ll still go with S5 because it was Idol’s ratings peak (so far) and had the best combination of interesting personalities and talent I’ve seen yet. But finding the compelling back story plus legit talent that Daughtry, Elliott, Pickler etc. had ain’t easy.

I think this was only important to Castro fans and Idol worked its magic and buried the issue. It should have outraged everyone but again, ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s entertainment.

I’ll have to disagree here. I think it was reported in every major entertainment magazine, and the issue got a lot of press. Just about every dj on a top 40 radio station that reports on idol talked about it the next morning. I think it’s the single largest amount of buzz Idol has received in years.

There’s a reason that Simon and the show felt the need to issue statements that Paula wasn’t being fired.

Is it possible that Nigel was the one holding the show back? Could it be he wanted his other project to be more successful?

I don’t think so. Nigel loves success. I don’t think he’d ever deliberately sabatoge any of his shows. AI has made Nigel a very rich man. I’m sure just like with any other show-runner, he made decisions thinking they’d work. Some did, some didn’t. But, I believe they were all made to make the show more successful, regardless of how they eventually turned out.

And Lavender1960, I’m totally with you on the 1/2 hour results show. There’s no need for it to ever be longer than that. I also agree that giving them another 30 seconds to sing would be a great idea.

I’m also in the camp with everyone else that they should get the opportunity to sing more current songs. I think with obvious iTunes magic that AI can work on a single, we’ll see more current artists releasing their songs for the contestants. Idol is such a huge money-maker that really, unless an artist is adamantly opposed to having their song on AI, 19 should be able to afford any rights they want.

I say if all of the artists today have no qualms about releasing their songs to 10 year olds for that horrid Kidzbop cd, they can’t all of a sudden find their artistic integrity to say no to idol.

My suggestions, some stolen from Canadian Idol:

1. Get back to the half hour result show – now word was this is going to happen already and I applaud that change.

2. You can do group numbers that are not cheesy – see Canadian Idol results show – some of us were discussing this and we think the cheesy dance numbers were on the insistence of Nigel the Dance Man Lithgoe.

3. Let the contestants sing longer than one minute and 30 seconds, again on Canadian Idol they get at least 2 minutes 30 I believe, more time to prove their chops and it seems they get more time as the numbers dwindle,
I would let the poor kids do at least 3 minutes and just cut the blather.

4. I would love someone to have the guts to let the Idols do original songs one week and the coronation song, while improved from years past, just has to be something less cheesy – not sure what the options are there but something has to be done.

I will say that on the whole the Ford Commercials were actually very well done and highly amusing – the result of a young hip director and smart on Ford’s part to retain same. Could be hard to match next year.

Give all of the top 24 a backstory BEFORE the top 24

Don’t limit it to 12 girls and 12 boys

Bring back the group sings (one of my favorite parts) and two shows for hollywood — skip the “green mile” (most boring part of the whole season) and just show us the “dork dance” video of the top 24.

Will Simon do this –well, he might bring back the group sings because he likes a good fight between the contestants, but other than that — no.

I just expect more contestant humiliation/rumors/manipulation and badgering, except now he won’t pretend to hide it.

Show more back story – real, interesting backstory not all KLC and her horse or horribly tragic circumstances, but stuff like Elliott, Chris Daughtry, etc (can you see which season I liked best???)

Hollywood Week – deserves at least two full episodes, if not more. This is when a lot of drama occurs, and when you get to know the personalities of contestants. In past seasons this was some of the most fun of the show and the past two years they’ve shaved it down to one measly episode, bigtime bummer IMO.

Continue to have just a few mentors (one thing this season did well) but PLEASE have the kids sing something current. Neil Diamond? Please.

If they’re going to really screw with the format, I fear this is the year AI jumps the shark, and how sad that will be!

I have to disagree with the water cooler moment on season 7. It was Paulagate and Jason Castro

I really wish this were the case. I think this was only important to Castro fans and Idol worked its magic and buried the issue. It should have outraged everyone but again, it’s entertainment. No one wants to picket a studio or even change a channel. And everyone did know it was going to be a David/David finale. That’s why buzz was necessary. Idol is always stuck between a rock and hard place on this. They have to pimp the good singers to make sure they make it into the finale and that robs the show of a lot of the surprise, so you got to create it artificially.