Headlines: More American Idol Reviews, Meet Idol Music Director

Why The Revival Of ‘American Idol’ Might Just Work – ABC will revive Fox’s onetime blockbuster music competition American Idol on Sunday. NPR TV Critic Eric Deggans says the first episode reveals lots of reasons why the reboot was probably a bad idea — including a tarnished host in Ryan Seacrest. But there are also a couple of surprising arguments for why it just might work. – Listen to the report at NPR

The “New” American Idol Is the Same Old Song – ABC has long wanted a hit singing competition series (Duets, Rising Star, I could go on). While they’ve cornered the market on people looking for love in all the wrong places thanks to The Bachelor and Bachelorette franchises, they’ve had no luck launching an Idol or The Voice of their own. So Idol is moving from Fox to ABC, with Ryan Seacrest still the host and franchise newcomers Lionel Richie, Luke Bryan and Katy Perry as the judges. In the two-hour premiere, it’s business as usual as the series travels from New York to Nashville to Los Angeles searching for the next American idol. Read more at Paste

All Hail ‘American Idol’: ABC Revival Saves Television – The revival of “American Idol” might be the smartest thing ABC has ever done. The two-hour premiere coming this Sunday is so great and so satisfying that I did not even feel the need to watch the entire one-hour and 24-minute length of the commercial-free episode that ABC provided for preview in order to conclude that this show has the potential to become the supreme pleasure of the current TV season. – Read more at MediaPost

‘American Idol’ returns — but will it have the same glory – “For the first time this season,” Ryan Seacrest announces, pausing for extra drama before delivering one of his catchphrases, “Kieran, dim the lights … here we go.” It’s the taping earlier this month of the Showcase Round on “American Idol,” the phase of the singing competition where 50 hopefuls vie for a spot in the Top 24, and Seacrest is breezing through his lines during rehearsal at the Hollywood nightclub Academy, where this round is being staged. – Read more at LATimes

American Idol’ review: Revamped series makes a safe, quiet return – MY SAY What will you see Sunday night? Close your eyes and recall what you once saw not so long ago. That should about do it. The three judges are amiable, upbeat and gentle. They’re also incapable of criticism, either constructive or harsh. They’re gatekeepers as opposed to talent scouts. Everyone (or almost everyone) gets a yellow ticket to Hollywood! Prepackaged profiles indicate what they always have indicated — that “Idol” aspirants have dreamed of this their entire lives, and after tilting against the fates or hard luck, they’ve finally got their shot at stardom. – Read more at Newsday

Judges Explain Why the New American Idol Is Going to Be ‘More Compassionate’: ‘We’re Not Taking Advantage of People for Comedy’ #PeopleNow https://t.co/kK2z0Jppp1 pic.twitter.com/lWUZ2jHkev

— People (@people) March 8, 2018

The Business Case For The Return Of `American Idol’, Other Fan Favorites – To be sure, Disney is taking a gamble on Idol. The show was never the same after the departure of Simon Cowell in 2010. The chemistry between the mercurial Cowell, the laid-back Randy Jackson and the goofy Paula Abdul worked. I don’t know why it worked but it did. Recreating the show’s earlier success with three new judges (Katy Perry, Luke Bryan, and Lionel Richie) will be difficult to pull off. Sexual harassment allegations have cast a cloud over long-time host Ryan Seacrest, who many celebrities avoided during the Oscar telecast. – Read more at Forbes

San Antonio’s ‘American Idol’ insider sizes up celeb judges – Ada Vox, the 24-year-old drag queen from San Antonio who is breaking ground as a contestant on ABC’s new “American Idol,” turned into a critic for a day and sized up the show from the inside. “It’s much friendlier” than the original, Vox said during a phone interview. “It feels a little less forced. Before, they were fishing for drama; here, they’re letting it happen more naturally.” She also had plenty to say about new judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan. – Read more at MySanAntonio

Meet the Venezuelan Singer Who Could Become the Next American Idol – Venezuelan singer Michelle Sussett is one of the hopeful contestants on the 16th season of American Idol, premiering on ABC on Mar. 11. Sussett shared a sneak peek of the show with a video post on Instagram that captured her enthusiastic reaction after auditioning before judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan. Sussett is no stranger to music competitions. In 2015, she won $5,000 after winning the Ultimate Miami Voice contest. On social media, she wrote that she bought herself a car with the prize money and gave the rest to her mother. – Read more at People

“Seasons Change,” but “American Idol” remains: Scotty McCreery returns to the show that made him famous – When American Idol premieres Sunday on ABC, you can bet season 10 winner Scotty McCreerywill be watching. “I’ve always been a fan of the show,” he tells ABC Radio, “and every year, I can’t wait to see the new talent. So, should be a fun season.” Just like lots of viewers, Scotty admits the start of the season is his favorite part. “I love the audition process…” he says. “You know, seeing new talent, seeing the funny auditions… I get a good kick out of that. But it’s fun kind of picking your guy, you know, who’s gonna win… and seeing how far they go.” – Read more at ABCNewsRadio

Lauren Alaina Is Grateful to ‘American Idol’ for Jumpstarting Her Career, But … – “I have my career because of Idol,” Alaina told The Boot and other reporters during a recent press conference. “I mean, I would have moved to Nashville after high school anyway, but it happened a little sooner than I expected it to.”
However, Alaina admits that the notoriety she earned thanks to her performances on the television show came with challenges of its own: “I had to work really hard at country radio to overcome the stigma that comes with being an American Idol contestant,” she explains. “People know you. They perceive it as instantaneous success, although it’s not really exactly success, and they think you’ve taken the easy way.” – Read more at The Boot

Losing Sleep: The part of “American Idol” that’s keeping Luke Bryan awake at night – “It’s been every emotion that you can dream up,” Luke says of the experience so far. “I guess I wasn’t prepared for how you would get emotionally attached to the kids and the contestants.” Luke admits he’s even suffered through some sleepless nights after Idol auditions. “I didn’t realize that no matter how you work this thing, you’ve got to tell [contestants] no at some point,” he tells ABC Radio. “But the ability to send them on to the next round is pretty amazing too.” “But, I mean, I have laid awake at night many times so far wondering, ‘God, did I make the right decision about fighting for this one contestant over the other?'” – Read more at ABCNewsRadio

Meet American Idol’s Music Director – “I’ve been working on Idol now for six weeks, with the contestants,” Pooley continues. “There’s a whole set of vocal coaches that are the ‘initial point of contact,’ to work out [music] keys and what sounds best with their voice, technically. Then it comes to me, and we figure out how that translates to a live band, and what kind of arrangement we’re going to do.” And it’s those performances that Pooley has found the most memorable, thus far in the process: “I’m big on logistics,” he admits. “I’m thinking about it in very technical terms—how many hours it will take [to] put this together. But then once you actually start playing music, it becomes a musical moment. All of the other aspects of the show—the competition side, the TV side, all of that—just disappear way into the periphery… We’ve had some experiences recently, where we get done with a song that’s really touching and the band is all teary-eyed. We’re trying to not look at each other, trying to be cool. But it’s a real moment… That’s been very unexpected.” – Read more at D23