By Susan Young, Film.com
Last week, the audience numbers were down about 9 percent when American Idol stormed the stage in the season premiere last Tuesday to the lowest number for an Idol season opener since 2004.
BOO FRIKIN HOO
Things perked up by Wednesday, with the numbers just 2 percent lower than the second night a year ago. But then the competition isn’t quite as steep on Wednesday as it is on Tuesdays. We’ll chalk it up to all those viewers more attracted to crime time darlings NCIS and The Mentalist than a bunch of tone-deaf singers and a smattering of talent.
As for the ad-friendly 18-49 demo, they represented an 8 percent drop in ratings from last season’s second night. Still, American Idol emerged as the big ratings winner, keeping Fox afloat in these unstable times. That’s swell and all, but could this just be the start of bigger erosion?
Watching the auditions just didn’t spark my engine like past seasons.
At least in the past, there were some flashy no-talents. That glitter has largely fallen off this season, leaving us watching people like the constipated, high pitched singer who looked like he was one white suit away from a straight-jacket and the delusional bleach-blond boy with bad teeth teetering on a one way trip to crazy town.
While Randy and Simon still employ junior high level giggles and heckles, it’s clear that the judges have toned it down in this go-round. Paula’s mental balance seems to be in the normal-for-a-celebrity range. She’s not quite as entertaining now that she’s fortified by her good buddy Kara DioGuardi. A lot of people have taken to DioGuardi, but she hasn’t done anything yet that make her stand out as a potential show saver.
Although she does seem to do a pretty good job of shielding Paula from the acid-based life form known as Simon.
Stop it. I joke because I love. Simon’s still the only reason to watch these increasingly dull auditions. But even Simon can’t conceal what he clearly feels and the audience knows: The auditions aren’t quite as entertaining as they once were. The camera crew still frantically searches for the next William Hung, ending up instead with people like banana boy and bikini girl.
It’s a sad season when the most talked about item from the Idol premiere is a modest singing talent clad in an immodest outfit. Katrina Darnell used her best asset to move forward to the Hollywood round, and sealed the deal by planting a kiss on Ryan Seacrest near the pool.
The producers have acknowledged the flawed strategy of placing too much emphasis on odd auditioners and judges heaping humiliation on the low hanging fruits. Instead, American Idol is cutting back from four weeks of audition coverage to just three, moving on to the Hollywood round more quickly.
This appears to have been turned into a sort of Real World experience by moving the singers into a shared home environment rather than allowing them their individual quarters.
This year the semifinal rounds will include 36 rather than 24 contestants. The singers will perform in groups of 12, with the top singers moving on to the next rounds. The show’s also trying to get away from the half-boys, half-girls division by moving on a third of the top vote getters no matter what their gender. The show’s also putting through some wild cards the judges think are good, but might have had a bad night when the voting took place.
It’s all a little too complicated, but at least American Idol is trying to fix the wobbly wheels before the money train comes off the track.
Last Wednesday, American Idol only had to face Lost reruns and CBS’ less mighty procedural Criminal Minds. But tonight, Lost roars back with a promising new season that hard core fans won’t want to miss, fans that reside in that ad-friendly demographic.
Will fans remain true to Idol? Unless they come up with some compelling characters once they land in Hollywood, there could be a slight crack in the Idol armor that could make it more vulnerable this year.
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