Season Preview

It's Season 9! Lots to discuss...

Let's start with last year...Season 8 was a strange one. The highlights / lowlights included

-A new judge (Kara) who started off really good and then turned into an equally annoying version of Paula and whose presence made the show run too long. She wasn't good by the end of the year, hopefully with Paula gone this may change.

-An extraordinarily short Hollywood (on TV at least). It felt like it started, and then was over. It was like 4 hours in total.

-Much more polished contestants. With the removal of the Boy/Girl 6/6 restriction, it allowed the best 12 to be brought in. Despite that, the boys out shined the girls to a ridiculous degree.

-The "big twist", the judge's save and the Top 13. Due to the way the show is formatted, a real twist can't really occur as it would screw up the show, so this wound up being anti climatic by necessity. Since the "save" will still be around, a new "twist" won't be necessary I would think.

-A surpise ending, with the underdog Kris taking home the crown. Neither he nor Adam is compelling pop star, so I wonder how much they will get pushed on the show this year. (Kris is just a non persona, and Adam released some so-so pop music and seems to be revelling in being a personality rather than a talent, which is a bit of a shame.)

-A real lack of "moments" and some shows which just dragged on and on endlessly.

-The biggest surprise last year was the fact there was a consistent build, in ratings, in interest, despite the fact the individual shows really weren't that compelling week to week. It's become almost like sports, the season can be awful, have scandals, and yet when the playoffs (Top 4, etc.) roll around everyone can't turn away.

-Last year suffered from contestants who were very 1 dimensional, and also from contestants who seemed to not care (more than usual) that they were in a competition. They were just showing off who they were for their record deal, not taking into account that being on idol and finishing #7 doesn't guarantee anything except a spot on the tour. Adam did his Adam thing (historically bad at one point, when he did Ring of Fire), Kris did whatever he thought he should for the week, Danny did his tribute song of the week, etc.)

What to expect this year...

The big change (if you've been under a rock) centers around the judges this year. Paula Abdul was (and deservedly so after years of bad judging, seemingly be high and drunk on stage, judging contestants based on rehearsals and having a scandal with a contestant) fired. I don't think this requires much discussion, she was terrible for a long time and I'm not sorry to see her gone. But, Ellen? Ellen DeGeneres (in the words of Idol) offers her "unique perspective" on the contestants. I am not big on this at all. Those I know who like her; like her for a reason that wouldn't translate to Idol. She's likable, she would actually be a decent replacement for Ryan if it was needed. But as a judge, I'm afraid she will fall back on cracking jokes instead of critiquing the contestants. And as far as judging a singing competition, is she qualified to do so in any way more so than you or I? I don't get why she was hired, and I think this could possibly fail pretty badly.

BTW, Idol Gives Back is tentatively scheduled for April 21st of this year after skipping last year as a separate show.

Other than that I haven't heard of any other real changes this year in the format, etc. Usually right before the season some slight changes are rumored, announced - but not yet.

Other than that, I'd expect a focus on finding good and marketable female talent. Last year had very few good women in the Top 12 so it suffered. Also, I would expect a focus on more varied artists. There are always a lot of one-trick ponies in Idol, and last season had even more than usual. Unfortunately, I also expect them to focus more on the other judges, especially if Simon is really gone after the year. And that will definitely be a negative for me, as there are always entire shows which go by without Randy or Kara saying anything even remotely interesting or important.

One Last thing - The Elephant in the room...

Much like the NFL approaching a capped year, Lebron planning his big move as his team chases a title, Idol faces the possible end to it's good times as Simon plans a possible move to X-Factor in 2011. Basically, Idol would get a new judge to replace him (effectively killing it, whether fast or slow is the question) and X-Factor would get a huge initial boom that would phase out really quickly when people got irritated how blatant the judge manipulation was. (Judge manipulation is fine, but it can't be that openly done.) Is he really moving? Or is this a contract ploy of some sort? It's a huge question that will hang over the season. If things get testy between him and Fox during the contract negotiations, it could definitely trickle to everyone's attitude on the show.

Can't wait! Just one more week...

JUAN