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American Idol Discussion
Topic Started: Jan 6 2009, 04:55 PM (64,942 Views)
Kenny
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Here are some facts/rumors about the new season, which premieres on January 13th. Set your DVR's!

- The producers have added a fourth judge to the panel - Kara DioGarda, a Grammy nominated songwriter.

- Early auditions will be cut down from four to three weeks and feature fewer bad singers. The Hollywood auditions will be expanded from one week to two weeks.

- Instead of just 24 top contestants, there will now be 36. From there, they will be whittled down to the Top 12. The "wild card" round will also make a come back. No word on whether last year's experiment of allowing instruments will be used again this year.

- There will be no "Idol Gives Back" this season. The show will also stick to its Tuesday and Wednesday format with no Thursday shows. More two hour slots are being planned to make up for the missing third day.






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JohnandMarlenaFreak
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Fewer bad singers,oh thank you,my ears always bleed during those.
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Kenny
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JohnandMarlenaFreak
Jan 6 2009, 05:22 PM
Fewer bad singers,oh thank you,my ears always bleed during those.
The problem is that they send the bad singers through on purpose, and the bad singers ham it up in hopes of getting on TV. Too much of it seems fake.
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Kenny
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Rumor has it that this guy made Top 50.



He has a good, but very flamboyant voice, LoL. He's like a gay white boy Aretha or something!
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Kenny
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Can you tell that I'm bored? LoL

--------------------------------------

Meet Kara DioGuardi

Kara DioGuardi is ensconced in the black velvet cocoon of a small home-recording studio, laying down a demo track while warmed by the glow of spice-scented candles. She's crooning a song she co-wrote — an encapsulation of falling in love that involves shooting stars and dancing shadows — in a powerhouse pop voice that lies somewhere between Natasha Bedingfield and Sara Bareilles. Somewhere good, that is. ''She kills it every time she sings,'' raves her writing partner, Jason Reeves. ''He's one of the greatest melody writers I've ever worked with,'' DioGuardi returns.

Sweet, right? So sweet, in fact, that we're starting to worry for DioGuardi, a heretofore behind-the-scenes songwriter-producer who's about to take on the most-watched, most-dissected job in pop music: When American Idol returns to Fox on Jan. 13, she'll become a fourth judge to Randy, Paula, and Simon. It's a job that requires a distinct dearth of sweetness, and a certain amount of, for lack of a better term, Simon Cowell-ness. ''Oh, I'm not gonna be this nice on the show,'' DioGuardi assures us.

In case we weren't convinced, she drops this rant when the subject of Idol auditions comes up: ''A lot of times people will sing a big song that they don't have the voice for instead of bringing out the uniqueness in their tone,'' she says. ''Another thing is, don't cheese me out. It's not a wedding band. And emote. Make me feel like you mean it. Don't just sing the way the song was written. That was Mariah's interpretation. Now what are you gonna do?'' Okay, we're worried again — but this time for the contestants.

That's exactly what Idol's producers are counting on. Heading into season 8, they're hoping viewers will be as rapt with how DioGuardi shakes up Idol's ''dawg''/''beautiful''/''dreadful'' judging dynamic as they are with which singer takes the big prize. And though the show has constantly worked to stay fresh — allowing contestants to play instruments last year, for instance — DioGuardi's new energy comes at a critical time, after last season's ratings took an 8 percent dip from 29.8 million viewers to 27.3 million. Idol actually tried adding a fourth judge once before in season 2, with New York radio personality Angie Martinez, but she quit just a few days in, saying it was ''uncomfortable for me to tell someone else to give up on their dream.'' Producers expect no such trouble with DioGuardi, who regularly evaluates new talent as a VP of A&R at Warner Bros. and co-owner of music production and publishing house ArtHouse Entertainment. She's the kind of 38-year-old who can rock a black leather jacket with leggings and write hits for everyone from Pink to Ashlee Simpson to the Jonas Brothers. ''She's very strong-willed, and we needed that with Simon around,'' explains exec producer Ken Warwick. ''I don't want anybody too benign on that panel. Kara tells it as it is.''
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cubsgirl
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I have been watching on Fox Reality a rerun of last season. It is interesting to hear what the judges had to say about some of the singers especially knowing how things ended up.

Looking forward to the season starting. I hope there is a variety of talent this year. I don't know if last year I bought that whole "best talent every", but if anything it was one that had the most variety in types of performers.
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Kenny
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Michael Castro (brother of Jason Castro) auditioned this season, and I was just checking out his MySpace page. He has a few songs posted, and if I didn't know any better, I would swear it was Jason's voice instead of his. They sound exactly alike!

Michael Castro MySpace
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Kenny
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According to various forums I'm browsing, these two auditioned and have made it to the Top 50, as well.

The guy (Von Smith) is awesome! Wow! He's another white boy Aretha, LoL.

"Yesterday"


"And I Am Telling You"


"Bohemian Rhapsody"


Here's the girl, Felicia Barton.

"No One"



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Angie79
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I heard Donny Osmond's son auditioned.

I am glad they are cutting down on the audition shows. 4 weeks of it was way too much.
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Kenny
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Angie79
Jan 6 2009, 11:26 PM
I heard Donny Osmond's son auditioned.

I am glad they are cutting down on the audition shows. 4 weeks of it was way too much.
Even three weeks is too much, IMO. Two weeks would be perfect, and they don't need to devote an entire hour to one city's auditions.
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Angie79
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Oh, I agree; two weeks would be plenty.
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Miss Rhi
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I'm so damn tired of the auditions for the most part, since most of us know what to expect by now it makes the weeks of auditions really annoying.......

If it hadn't been for David Cook last year I was going to give AI up for good.......

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Kenny
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Rhiannon
Jan 6 2009, 11:45 PM
I'm so damn tired of the auditions for the most part, since most of us know what to expect by now it makes the weeks of auditions really annoying.......

If it hadn't been for David Cook last year I was going to give AI up for good.......

It just annoys me how they show so many bad singers. It's like... we get it. People can't sing.

Meanwhile, there have been people who've actually made it quite far in the competition whose auditions are never even shown originally because the airtime is hogged up by the bad singers. I believe Jason Castro was one of those people last season.

So yeah, I'm definitely happy that the audition episodes are being cut back this year and they'll be showing less of the crap singers.
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Scott
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I haven't watched a full season in awhile...maybe this year I will.
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PhoenixRising05
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My problem with the auditions is the editing. I wish they would just have one week where they show the good auditions and one week where we see all the bad. Stop going city by city and just select the worst singers and the best singers and show them to us. Maybe you can have a special episode where you show some of the worst that actually past the auditions or something. Keep them separate and condense them to two weeks and I think it will work well. I still find the auditions entertaining but they did need to be cut down and I think that if you organize it this way you can properly give airtime to both sides and appeal to fans of the bad and the good and the ugly LOL.

I do like some of the changes being made. Idol Gives Back being every two years is a good idea. I think people can only take so much and in bad economic times it won't work. I like the return of the wild card round and the upgrade to 36 contestants because so often we see some good singers go home in the early round. I just hope the instruments are out. Sorry but I think they took away from this being a singing competition. I think it allowed average talent at best like Brooke White and Jason Castro to get through and I don't want that. It's bad enough every year we have someone supported by Vote for the Worst who slips through the cracks. I felt last year the instrumental aspect led to some unfair early ousters like Micheal Johns and Carly Smithson.

I also hope the show doesn't have a ton of singers who have tried to make it but failed like last year. I'm not saying don't allow them but the show had so many last year that it just stirred up too much controversy. Then again. Idol seems to live off that.

I'm on the fence about the new judge. I have concerns because they already have issues with time and now they have another judge to take up even more time.

One hope I have is that the changes allow for more interviews and profiles of the contestants. I never had an issue but I know many felt the past few years they never really got to know them. I think the changes this year will help that if the show follows through. I read in TV Guide there was an idea concerning showing the contestants backstage before and after performances. They do this a bit in the early rounds . I think Nigel hated it but I would love to see it because it gives you insight into what they are really like. I will say the whole issue of time with the new judge comes into play here too because it giving you less time to play with may chew into time with the contestants, which I don't like.

One suggestion I do have is that I wish before they went with the fourth judge that they considered bringing on former Idol contestants as guest judges or as advisers. They can probably still do this (although maybe as advisers since 4 judges are enough as is). I think that could be interesting and they could do it once they reach the performances shows. Have a different one appear in each episode and try it out for a season. Former contestants would bring an interesting perspective and I'm sure they could work with schedules. They spend enough time working out schedules with guests.

One thing I do hope is that they make the themes more broad and contemporary. They got way too old last year. It's ok to have one or two weeks of stuff like Neil Diamond or Broadway but they also need to make it broad. They got far too specific, letting them only sing the stuff of whoever was guest that week like Dolly Parton or whoever. Go back to making it just Country week or Rock week, not Dolly week or someone else's week. It allowed for more variety.

I like the promos I've seen. The Cook one rocks and let's hope the right person wins for the third year in a roll and that we have very few "mistakes" in the way of people who don't deserve to go home being sent home. I also hope for better judge commentary. Simon is usually good but the others better step up.

I'm excited to see how the new judge and all the changes work out. The contestants Kenny posted seem interesting and decent and I look forward to seeing what else the show has to offer. I was pleased overall with last year but it still could've been so much better and I hope it will be this year.

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Kenny
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:sheep:

Phoenix! This is an American Idol thread and you still write novels! LoL.

Let me go grab a drink and a snack before I read, then I'll be back in half an hour to respond to the book you just wrote. :P
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PhoenixRising05
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Kenny
Jan 7 2009, 12:24 AM
:sheep:

Phoenix! This is an American Idol thread and you still write novels! LoL.

Let me go grab a drink and a snack before I read, then I'll be back in half an hour to respond to the book you just wrote. :P
Of course I do! :laugh:

Remember last year? All my posts are long usually, no matter where I post LOL.
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PhoenixRising05
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Scott
Jan 6 2009, 11:53 PM
I haven't watched a full season in awhile...maybe this year I will.
You should.

IMO people should watch shows like this from the start. I think it's hard to start midstream or at some point after because it hurts the investment and makes it hard to care about anyone.
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Kenny
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PhoenixRising05
Jan 7 2009, 12:23 AM
Stop going city by city and just select the worst singers and the best singers and show them to us.

I just hope the instruments are out. Sorry but I think they took away from this being a singing competition.

I also hope the show doesn't have a ton of singers who have tried to make it but failed like last year. I'm not saying don't allow them but the show had so many last year that it just stirred up too much controversy. Then again. Idol seems to live off that.

I'm on the fence about the new judge. I have concerns because they already have issues with time and now they have another judge to take up even more time.

Simon is usually good but the others better step up.
I think they show the city-by-city auditions because people enjoy the whole "hometown pride" thing and want to support the people that they know come from their neck of the woods.

Regarding the instruments... eh, I don't really care. While Idol is a singing competition, it's obvious that you need more than just a great voice to make it far on the show. You also have to have marketability and the ability to perform -- not just stand there and sing. You can practice perfecting your octaves all day long, but if you're only mechanically good, people will lose interest. You have to connect with the music, and I think that the instruments helped with that in some way.

As for passing talent that's not really amateur (such as people already having albums last season), that did bug me. Part of the show's appeal has always been watching your average girl or boy next door going from nothing to a superstar, but when you start throwing people in there who've already had albums out, it sort of kills the excitement, IMO.

I have the same worries as you regarding the new judge. They've had issues with time in the past, and adding a 4th judge to critique the talent will only soak up more airtime. Does anyone pay attention to what the judges say, anyway? LoL

Simon... meh. He thinks a guy is going to win this year, and I believe his predictions are usually right. He said that there were alot of exceptionally talented men who made it to Hollywood.
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Kenny
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PhoenixRising05
Jan 7 2009, 12:28 AM
IMO people should watch shows like this from the start. I think it's hard to start midstream or at some point after because it hurts the investment and makes it hard to care about anyone.
True.

I like watching the journey of each person right from the start. It adds alot of emotional investment. Which is why I still get all verklempt everytime I watch the clip of David Cook winning on YouTube, LoL.

Scott, do you normally watch the first half of each season or the last half? Or do you just watch randomly all throughout? Did you get a chance to see David Cook's amazing win last season? :)
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