Nigel Lythgoe speaks! After laying low for weeks, (barely a peep from him until the last couple of days) he tells Zap2it that the judges’ panel got off on the wrong foot (with the Nicki/Mariah panel) and never developed chemistry. Via Zap2it
“That got off to a bad start and that didn’t help anything,” Nigel Lythgoe tells Zap2it of the friction between judges Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey.
“The guys themselves are, goodness me, I don’t think you could find two nicer men,” he says of judges Randy Jackson and Keith Urban. “Randy is loved by America, and Keith is the nicest man you could hope to meet. Individually, every single one of them has something to offer.”
Collectively, however, he says, “for me it is a bit like a jigsaw puzzle that doesn’t quite fit.”
“I don’t think we have good chemistry with the judges,” he says. “And that saddens me. They are good individually, but I miss the camaraderie we have had in the past.”
The falling ratings have been his least favorite aspect of the season, not surprisingly.
“And it has been really difficult because it has been a good season of talent,” Lythgoe says, “That is always very sad, and everybody of course has an opinion as to how we can stop falling ratings. They all become producers.”
Oh, to be a fly on the wall at FOX headquarters. When the honchos get together to assess, it’s gonna get ugly, I suspect
Oh. And what many of you have suspected is confirmed by Nigel:
“FOX books the judges and has the last few years,” he says.
Well then. The chuckleheads at FOX ARE to blame for mucking up the judges’ panel.
As far as the talent that still remains in the competition, Nigel isn’t picking favorites.
“It’s been an incredibly brilliant for talent,” he says. “The five girls we are left with now — I jump from one to the other saying, ‘You are fantastic! No, you are fantastic. You are brilliant.’
