More importantly, what does it even matter in the context of AI? I, for one, am not claiming that Melinda is lesser of a singer/performer than the other two, nor am I suggesting that I'm interested in buying any music put out by any AI performer. I'm looking at it solely from the perspective of TV show viewer and what the producers of the show ultimately hope to accomplish. If you're trying to put too much into critical analysis of TV show contestants, you've lost the plot of the show to begin with.

yes yes

I actually do get it. Forced to buy and ticket and watch an hour of someone's show, I would go with Blake first by far, then Jordin, and last Melinda. I want to see a show, a performance, and Melinda brings none of that. Of course, if not forced to buy a ticket, I wouldn't go see any of them perform.

I have left out a discussion of CD sales (the non-visual/non-performance part) because AI is performance contest.

Hadn't heard of this one before. Sounds kinda interesting.

KITTIE Attorney Serves 'America's Hot Musician' Cease-And-Desist Letter - May 21, 2007

An attorney representing the band KITTIE served American Youth Symphony (AYS), producers of the upcoming television show "America's Hot Musician" a cease-and-desist letter for their use of clips from the band's video "All I Always Wanted" in the show's opening theme. "America's Hot Musician" features former KITTE bassist Talena Atfield as one of its three judges. AYS, a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote instrumental music in the MTV/hip hop generation, says it was given permission to use the clips by Sheridan Square Entertainment, which owns licensing rights to the video, and has no plans to adhere to the cease-and-desist request. "America's Hot Musician", the "American Idol"-like competition for instrumental musicians debuting on the Oxygen network in July, was scheduled to begin taping the first round in May, showcasing male and female musicians from all over the country playing a wide range of styles. "America's Hot Musician" will feature clips from each of the judges in its opening theme. National Symphony Orchestra violinist Marissa Regni and Duke Ellington Orchestra trombonist Gregory Charles Royal also have featured clips. New audio tracks have been set to the clips for a cohesive musical theme.

I wanted to post this earlier, but I was laughing too hard to cut-and-paste this!



LOS ANGELES (AP) - Paula Abdul broke her nose over the weekend after she fell while trying to avoid stepping on her Chihuahua, her publicist said Monday.

Abdul was recovering from the mishap and will appear on "American Idol" Tuesday and its season finale Wednesday, publicist David Brokaw said.

"She's a little sore, but is doing fine," he said.

Abdul told the syndicated entertainment TV show "Extra" she tore cartilage in her nose and fractured her toe.

"I took a nasty fall ... trying not to hurt my dog. I bruised myself on my arm ... my chest, my waist all the way down to my hip. All from my little chubby Tulip," Abdul said.

The dog was not hurt, Brokaw said.

You made my day.

Man, I sure hope that David Brokaw is no relation to Tom. "Hey, nice work being Paula Abdul's publicist! Do you have the "Big Book of Drug Excuses" handy? I'm sure Grandpa Tom is very proud of you!"

lol

I'll step on the dog 20 times out of 10 in a situation like that.

FWIW, my experience/reading would tell me that you SHOULD step on the dog in that situation... the dog needs to learn to move out of your way, not the other way around.

A whole bunch of spoiler info from MJ re songs for tonight and appearances on tomorrow's finale. Note this is pretty early for this stuff, so I bet some of this will be revised between now and then.

I wonder what her BAC was when she was avoiding the dog. :)

Hopefully Blake loses so he never has to sing that tripe again.

Is Chris Daughtry wearing eye makeup?

edit: Yes. Yes he is.

Can I have my admiration of him from last season back please?

They have just got to stop making these finalist sing these sappy songs about their journey, time is now, etc. That song killed any chance Blake had of winning this thing. What they need to do is take the last 4 or 5 left in the competition, sit them down with a team of songwriters, and work out their own individual song to sing in the finale. That way they can tailor to vastly different styles like Blake and the more traditional like Jordin. I think Simon said it best, best performance to Blake, best singing to Jordin.

And yes that was Chris Daughtry with eye makeup. What the hell was he thinking wearing that?

Shit.. don't even have to do that. Not like Bon Jovi doesn't have a bank of 1,000 songs to pick out one for Blake.

Nothing really new.. thought he did that several times (If not all the time) during last season. :confused:

Blake for the loss!

I much prefer Blake to Jordin, but for his long term survival as a musician he has to lose tomorrow.

Jordin is the malleable generic pop star type that they can transform into anything they want to. But Blake has a specific style that he excels at, and judging by his potential first single tonight, it would be a horrible disaster as they'd try to bracket him into the generic mold, which he can't do.

So I'll cheer for Jordin to win it all, and I'll buy Blake's album when it comes out.

so, the clip of Jordin singing the 3rd song in the recap was not the same as her live rendition. do they always pre-record those?

and wow, Chris Daughtry has the gayest looking band of all time

That was the clip of her singing from the dress rehearsal. They always do that with the last singer, since they don't have time to edit the clips before they show the recaps. Most of the time you can't tell the difference, but tonight was obvious because of her "verklempt moment."

I hope Pumpy was watching, because when they flashed a shot of Kathy Griffin, I lost it. The exchange between my wife and I went something like this:

Me: "Oh my God, that wasn't...?"
Her: "Yes, that was Kathy Whatshername."
Me: "Goddammit, now I'll have to wait 4 weeks for my next erection."
Her: Solid punch to my stomach
Her: "That was unnecessary!"
Me: "But I looked right at her! It's not my fault she's so ugly!"

Whaa? I missed the KG sighting. Gotta go watch again, and get my solo groove thing going...

they've always done it that way since they have slow editors.

It seems like just yesterday that Amy Krebs and three other extras bid adieu as season six of American Idol opened. It's actually been 90 days, and we've experienced a lot, from Haley Scarnato's daring outfits, the Sanjaya phenomenon, the fated scatting of Leslie Hunt, the goatbleating of Chris Richardson, the rocky rocking of Gina Glocksen and the tired shouting of LaKisha Jones.

The true winner was Melinda Doolittle, who outsung everyone, week after week. She will have a long career, but she failed to grab the audience as is necessary in this competition. I think she would have won the audience vote had she broken out with a Whitney ballad last week, or something a little more in tune with today's youth. That's just the way American Idol works. It's not even upsetting, really.

The people still *want* to see good performances. If it were just about youth popularity, Sanjaya would have been standing next to Blake, and Daughtry wouldn't have been the one wearing the most eye makeup, as he was tonight. I had a girlfriend once who liked to layer that black mascara under the eyes. I never understood that. After a while it starts to cake a bit, and then instead of that intense eye contact, you're distracted by those little globs of fuzzy black stuff, and wondering if you should hand her a tissue.

And maybe that's what happened in season five. Daughtry has always made people a bit uncomfortable - like we always knew some day he would show up for an important performance, and someone would talk him into wearing heavy mascara, or a pink fedora, or an eye-patch, or maybe one of those handlebar mustaches loaded up with styling wax. Or even short-shorts and a halter top like Haley. Thirty years ago, Daughtry would have been the only straight guy among the Village People (at least they knew how to apply mascara).

Yeah, Sanjaya wasn't on stage tonight, nor was his sister. Melinda was in the audience, but that's okay. It was Blake and Jordin's night out, and that worked fine for season six, kind of a weak season overall, but the voters generally did well.

On to the final rankings.

1. Blake Lewis, Song 1 (Reprise of Bon Jovi week). This is Blake. This was his signature performance, where the drum noises are in context and he's producing as well as performing. I don't think there's a whole lot else to Blake, but he does this very well. Score of 89.

2. Jordin Sparks, Song 3 (Song Contest). This is the kind of sappy ballad she should be singing while she learns how to perform. It shows off her considerable talent without forcing the changes that give her trouble. It's a very even, predictable song that shows off her type of voice. Teenagers will find this "deep," and mutter generally approving comments. Score of 87.

3. Jordin Sparks, Song 2 (Country Week reprise). This was one of her best performances during the season. A difficult song that doesn't hit her trouble areas, plenty of power notes. I thought she stumbled a little bit, but was generally solid. Score of 85.

4. Blake Lewis, Song 2 (Maroon-5). Blake has such a good sense of what he can do, the only problem is that he is limited to simple tunes because he can't riff like the other top contestants. This was credible, but really shows that his future could be as the lead singer of a band, not as a soloist. Score of 81.

5. Jordin Sparks, Song 1 (Xtina Aguilera). I know why Jordin is drawn to these songs, she can riff with the big voices like Christina's. But she's not mature yet, and she has a lot of trouble with the changes and breathyness when she tries complex songs. There will be a day when she can perform a song like this with anyone. Today is not that day. Only 17, though. The reminder is more a taunt when it comes to a performance like this. Score of 77, still good.

6. Blake Lewis, Song 3 (Song Contest). He tried. Not fair, really. The song was written for a big voice like Jordin's. Blake's attempt just reminded me how crappy these song-contest songs are every year. If he wins, they should wave the requirement of him recording it. Score of 62.

Scores for the night: Jordin 83, Blake 77.

Scores of the season: Jordin 80, Blake 76.

Who should win: Jordin.

Who will win: Jordin.

Good night, everyone. Thanks for listening, and I'll likely be back with the season 7 writeups in February, just as I celebrate ten years in the game-writing business.

Now get back to work on FOF2K8 and the new dynamic coaching staff add-in and combo game with TCY. Thanks. :D

Jim, I've enjoyed your commentary almost as much as your game.




Well, no. That's not true. But they've been entertaining nonetheless. See you next year.

Put me in the camp that feels Blake got screwed by that last song

I can't stand Blake. He ruined a perfectly good Bon Jovi song.

He doesn't deserve to win, since this isn't a "beatbox" competion, or whatever you call that foolishness he did tonight, it's a singing competition, and Jordin is clearly the better singer.

Blake shouldn't have gotten this far. Now, having said that, he'll win, because America seems to enjoy voting for the sucky singers (see: Soul Patrol last year)

This is shaping up to be the most lobsided lost since Kelly roadgraded poor Justin in the finale of season 1. Ironically, there are many similarities to the first season in the most consistent singer (Tamyra = Melinda) being voted off before the finale so that the fan base can have the "simple" distinction between the charismatic guy with a weak voice (Justin = Blake) and the young, out of nowhere marketable voice (Kelly = Jordin). In no way do I think Jordin is as good as Kelly, but the final 3-4 weeks are very similar in theme.

Once again, it's not a singing contest. It's an idol contest.

I hope Jordin wins and she deserves it after putting up a better showing than Blake for the finale. Blake is my favorite contestant and I thoroughly enjoyed many of his performances this season, but he would be better off finishing second for his potential career.

Also, I know she's only 17, but to me Jordin was the cutest contestant all season.

It's amazing how many people don't get that.


All of that being said, I think Jordin will and should win. She had an amazing night and imo outdid Blake even without the sappy song. I've been a supporter of Blake all season, and I felt like he deserved to be here. But, I think Jording should win. And I stand by what I said a couple of weeks ago, I think Jordin could be up there with Underwood and Clarkson in post-Idol success - she just has so much upside.

Edit: Oh, and I also agree that Blake's career is probably better off with a 2nd place finish.

Jim, I've looked foward to your comments every Wednesday morning, and you never disappoint. You've definitely got some Tony Kornheiser in you. ;)

I also agree that Jordin should win, and I think she has great potential as a future Whitney when she gets her vocal skills developed along with her pipes. Blake is a one-trick pony, but he does that one-trick extremely well.

Either way, it'll be kinda sad to see American Idol end. I feel like there's not much to watch on TV now for the next two months until football cranks up again.

Jordin is going to win this in a landslide.

Even before last night, it seemed pretty obvious. Just from snippets here and there of AI fans and local stories about people who watch, it was all about Jordin. Seacrest won't be able to give one of those "After 100 million votes, it came down to a razor-thin margin" comments he's made in the past. Well, he can say that, but he'll be lying.

That contest song was so damn bad. "This is my now." I've already turned this into a catch phrase I throw around for no good reason. After Idol ended, I forget what we were watching, but my wife learned something that I thought was common knowledge, and she said something about not having learned it in high school. So I turned to her and said, "Well honey, that was then, this is your now." And we both had a good laugh.

I guess the music industry is comforted by knowing that when the current generation of shlock writers dies off, there are more waiting in the wings.

Yep. I'd never heard that song until last night, but I thought she was terrible in the middle of the song. I don't know if it was the song's phrasing, her inability to keep up with the melody and catch her breath or what, but that was a mess.

I hope you'll come back for the AI band search show. That starts up in the fall. Something tells me it's going to fall flat on its face, though. But I'll take what I can get.

Damn, I was watching, but I missed Kathy Griffin. I'm usually pretty good at picking out people in the crowd, too. Dag nab it.

With someone that ugly, you don't pick her out. She picks you out.

IF YOU KEEP DISSING KATHY GRIFFIN, I'M GOING TO COME TO YOUR HOUSE

BRING IT ON. JUST DON'T BRING HER.

With Idol's constant parading of past losers (Elliot, Daughtry, Kelly Pickler, et. al), they are all but admitting that the competition in and of itself is meaningless. Just getting into the final 10 is enough to make you a star - provided you have some talent.

And did anyone see Melinda in the audience when Jordin was singing the last song? She was standing in front of Chris, and she looked like a zombie again - pretty much the same as last week when Maroon 5 was performing.

Interesting thought from a buddy of mine who does a funny as hell summary of each AI show on his blog:


"Now, the Songwriting Winner. Ladies and gentlemen, the fix is in. Scott Krippayne and Jeff Peabody have submitted “This is My Now”. Now, keep in mind everyone thought Melinda would make the finals. Also note her background in singing backup on Christian records. Note that Jordin has toured with Michael W. Smith. Note that Phil, Chris Sligh, Melinda, Jordin, and LaKisha have all cited, sang, or mentioned a church music background.

Scott Krippayne is a Christian singer/songwriter who has performed for years. He has written for numerous other artists as well. Seems a little too coincidental, no? Also recall the rumors that the contest was flailing not even six weeks ago. Furthermore, didn’t we hear there would be a song written for EACH finalist? I know I heard that somewhere…I guess Krippayne is on the “E” list, since he’s seated behind Kathy Griffin."


I also thought his take on Jordin was pretty dead-on:

"Jordin Huxtable is next, with Christina Aguilera’s “Fighter”. At first, I think it’s a good choice – she hasn’t really nailed a modern song yet. The song is a bit too fast for her, she’s trying to keep pace with it throughout. She doesn’t quite sell the attitude it needs, but she comes close. It’s weird, she’s like a combination of two previous top 12 performers – she’s half Lisa Tucker, the precocious 17 year old wunderkind, and half Mandisa, the likeable, pretty, big girl who has a gospel voice. Randy says “the voice was stellar”, Paula echoes that, and Simon states “it was great for you to choose a younger song, but a bit shrieky in the middle – round one to Blake.” "

I intend to watch. I never watched the Rockstar show, but this one intrigues me because it is whole bands rather than individuals.They show Sligh in the previews, I wonder if he is eligible to bring his band on the show?

Updated spoilers for tonight. Not all of these can be true, and dear God, I hope the Sanjaya rumor isn't!

EDIT: I'm updating the rumors here, instead of posting them separately. Some of them are contradictory, as more info (or new false rumors) appear.

Look at the jump these songs took!


Songs featured on Idol this past week:

1 Maroon 5 “Makes Me Wonder” 163908 (25%) 715397
41 Maroon 5 “This Love” 20913 (365%) 855512
183 Thicke “When I Get You Alone” 6223 (999%) 18566

This really isn't a spoiler, so I'm just going to post it here:


ETA: Somebody gave me the heads up: They are pre-taping one of the bands today, it looks to be a last-minute deal. From the email:

We are taping a performance by a VERY special, surprise band and tickets are FREE. This pre-tape will be aired as a segment of tonight’s finale.

The taping is at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood and the arrival time is 1:30 PM.

omg, the Stone Roses re-formed for AI?!

So when did the Idol final day turn into an awards show? Pretty elaborate. But I guess with all of those folks watching...it makes sense.

Last year.

At least the second best won this year. Unlike last year.

That Jordin girl is really....tall?

Oh heavens....this bothers me. A lot.

so who won? blahh

I forgot about the time differences and how it's over in other places already. Oh well.

I haven't seen who won, since it's not over in Wyoming yet. But I've read other places that it's done. I'll just wait.

she is effing huge.

Well, I get that her dad played in the NFL..so she's doomed in that way. But...yeah. She's cute in a Disney Channel kind of way. But...umm...yeah.

Is this Taylor guy like 50? He looks like a wedding singer in the form of an American Idol.

I'm glad that, after watching this show for the first time since its first season tonight..that I don't make this a regular habit. What tripe.

I was really hoping he would sing "When I'm 64"

I'd never seen this Jordin sing before. She looks pretty comfortable on stage, which is surprising for these folks usually. (Idol folk..they usually look uncomfortable. That Taylor sure did...)

I think she must've taken some lessons from the Jennifer Hudson school of poise.

so umm, who won? My fucking TIVO cut off the end of the show!!

How can having 30 people singing at one time all freelancing work well?

That Blake guy looks really, really..umm...gay?

We missed the last 2 minutes due to it running over. My wife is not happy.

Conspiracy Theory: The lost revenue from TV Networks due to TIVO giving viewers the ability to skip commercials have caused TV stations to routinely have their shows run long to mess up TIVO and other DVR devices to force viewers to watch the actual broadcast.

likewise

Wow, long show to browse through just to see Ryan standing there with Jordin and Blake and then have the recording stop. What a letdown.

It's such a ridiculously easy thing to fix too. For whatever reason Tivo refuses to put in a soft padding feature. The Microsoft DVR had it. If there isn't a conflict then just record 5 minutes before and 5 minutes after the show. If otehr shows are already scheduled then stick to the exact time block. Problem for the most part solved.

So really... you're going to not watch the show all season and then watch the finale that is COMPLETELY different than the rest of the show and knock the show, it's contestants, and anything else you can think of...

really?

Wait a minute...are you trying to tell me my crappy DTV DVR has a feature your TiVo doesn't? Or are you saying you can set it to do that, but you want it to do it automatically? I just set every one of my recordings to start 2 minutes early and end 5 or 10 minutes late. Especially with something like this, basically a live awards show, I knew it was going to run over and had it set to record until 10:15. We caught up to live TV by 9:45, though, so it wasn't necessary.

Went to dinner for my daughter's birthday, so forgot all about it. I was glad I had a season pass thingy setup, but boy did I screw up for not knowing the 2 hour fluff show would go overtime. They lull you in with cutting the departing singers off to finish in time all season long, then wham! they get you at the finale.

But the end was the least interesting part of an pretty uninteresting show. Honestly, there wasn't anything to it - they announced she won, she sang, credits rolled. Pretty anti-climatic, really. I'm glad we recorded it and got to fly through Clive Davis, Tony Bennett, Green Day (I don't like them anyway, but that song was interminably long and boring)...what else? The show was pretty boring. The "awards" part of it was terrible. That big bird-looking chick was annoying the first time and worse this time. I would have paid money to see the serial killer guy from Seattle, but I think he was boiling some heads and couldn't make the show.

I'll post more comments if I think of any, but a few things come to mind at the moment:

1. When the girls sang before Gladys Knight came out, Haley looked like she was still trying to win votes with sex appeal. She was practically grinding on one of the other girls, and the other girl (I think Stephanie) looked really uncomfortable.

2. The old Big Bird lady's kiss on Ryan cracked me up. Jeez, I used to want to be a TV show host when I was a kid, but that moment made me glad that I didn't pursue that career. Gah.

3. Constantine Maroulis looks really, really creepy. I kept seeing him in the crowd, and he was giving me chills. I thought he was just gonna go nuts and start killing people at any second.

4. Seeing Gwen Stefani in "performance mode" last night reminded me of how good she looked when she had a more "normal" appearance. Jeez, she looked about 10 years older when she was all made up on the stage last night. I understand that that's her shtick, but she is such a pretty woman, and the stage look ruins it. She doesn't look bad on stage, but she's just prettier than that in reality.

5. Hey, Gina. Good to see you again. Really good to see you again. :cool:

Yeah, Gwen Stefani, that was the other one we FF through.

Constantine looks like he's ready to be the Kato Kaelin of this generation. No discernible talent, just a hanger-on, looking to mooch off of anyone he can.

I laughed really hard at this.

And then I had visions of Big Bird lady going to town on you...and then laughed even more.

Frickin' Rangers fans!!! :mad: :mad: :mad:

Marty Brodeur would have laughed too.

Of course, Jacques Lemaire wouldn't. That guy is stoneface.

No kidding... :)

Too bad they gave her a freakin' potato sack to wear in that one group song... :(


Oh, and for someone who "has gained it all back, with interest" (or something to that affect), Kelly Clarkson looked pretty damn good last night...especially during the Beatles thing except for her silly hop-hop-hop dancing/

No no Tivo can do that as well. That is called hard padding though. You define a certain amount of time before and/or after you want it to record. Other DVRs (UltimateTV and Replay at least) have a soft padding feature in which if it doesn't cause a conflict it automatically records a few minutes before and after for you. To avoid these type of problems. It is soft padding thoguh because if you have two other shows recording in the next hour it will cut off when scheduled instead of pushing a few extra minutes.

I don't know where my wife read this, but she told me that Blake had wanted to wear a "Vote for Jordin" shirt during some part of the finale. The producers shot that idea down. I can understand where the producers are coming from, as they'd like to present performers who want to win. Still, I thought Blake looked genuinely happy for Jordin when they announced her as the winner, and I can believe that he would've preferred for things to turn out as they did, on a personal and professional level.

In the past, I've really only enjoyed the show during the first few episodes, with all the bad singers and junk. This year, I enjoyed it pretty much all the way through. The only lull for me was the two weeks during which they cut from 20 contestants to 12. Once they got to that top 12 though, I was into it. That's saying a lot, considering that I don't watch much television at all.

You could tell he either didn't want to win or knew he wasn't going to win when he deferred the coin toss to her. If you want to win, you go last. He gave her the choice, and she chose wisely. I was a little put off by how he didn't really want to win, but then again, I'm not the one who'd be stuck singing This Is My Now.

I'm with Pumpy...this is the first time I've ever watched the show from beginning to end, and I really enjoyed it. I'm sure I'll be back in front of the tube every Tuesday and Wednesday starting next January for season seven...

Interesting view. I thought he wanted to win (a million dollars is plenty of motivation.) I saw his deferring the coin toss as a tactic. He appears to be a very nice guy by doing that and maybe garners some more votes.

Haley would be a lot hotter is she stopped making those goofy doublestop faces

I think it was more of strategic move designed to make sure he didn't win, frankly. Even reading the comments from over the weekend, he seemed to be going out of his way to talk about how she was one of the two (along with Gina) who he thought would make the finals from the start. Whether he was being objective and honestly believed she should win over him and that's why he was doing all of that, I don't know. But I think he benefits from not winning, and he had to know that.

It's the Marie Osmond in her. As Randy Jackson knows, "Girl can't help it."

And Sanjaya tries to extend his fifteen minutes... :rolleyes:

Dola-

Speaking of Sanjaya, I LOVED that they got the crying girl back in the audience for the finale...and that she was freakin' crying AGAIN.

NEW YORK (AP) -- The best days may still be ahead for Jordin Sparks, but the same may not be said for "American Idol."

The 30.7 million people who watched Sparks win on Wednesday was a sharp drop from the 36.4 million people who saw Taylor Hicks in last year's finale, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Industry observers said chances are that the 2006 season will stand as the peak for audience interest.

A lackluster pool of contestants, the general malaise among viewers this spring and the simple laws of TV gravity are all factors.

"People are getting tired of it," said Marc Berman, an analyst for Media Week Online. "I know I am."

Mind you, most TV shows would kill for this kind of "bad news." The Fox phenomenon was still TV's most popular program this season. Barring a major surprise, it likely will be again next year. (Watch Jordin Sparks talk about her thrill )

Fox executives cautioned against counting "Idol" out. For the season as a whole, "American Idol" ratings will be slightly down or even identical to last year, when DVR viewing is taken into account. To some degree interest is driving by the personalities involved, and a whole new cast of characters join next spring, said Fox's Scott Grogin.

This year's finale compares to the 30.3 million who watched in 2005, and 28.8 million in 2004. The showdown between Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard in 2003 attracted 38 million viewers, Nielsen said.

For the first half of this season, ratings outstripped last year. When water-cooler favorite Sanjaya Malakar was voted off in April, much of the interest left with him.

"The competition down at the end didn't have the excitement that it had in years past," said Tim Brooks, author of "The Complete Directory to Prime-Time Network and Cable Television." "It's kind of a rehash to viewers."

Producers have tweaked the show each year to keep it fresh, this season adding a songwriters' contest and charity drive for those starving in Africa. In past years, famous musicians were brought in to work with the singers.

The long hiatus each year has also kept interest keen. "American Idol" won't be back for new episodes until next January.

However, producers have agreed to make a spinoff for Fox, a band contest instead of one for individual singers, that will air Fridays in the fall.

While Berman said it's likely to fail in the same way that "American Juniors" did, the spinoff still represents a risk in diluting the brand.

"I would steer clear of it," he said.

Two things about that article that worry me: (1) they're already expecting the band show to fail, which I was afraid of; and (2) since Sanjaya was so popular, we're likely going to see more contestants like him, and eventually the show is going to be populated with freak shows and other outrageous/controversial personalities to try to gain back audience who don't want to watch purely for the singing competition of it.

can't they just make it a little shorter? to me it goes on for far too long maybe causing that dullness at the end.

I couldn't tell who looked happier when they announced the winner, Jordin or Blake. That guy was so relieved to hear he didn't win. Probably because he didn't want to record that abomination of a song the winner has to record.

1) The band show? It's too difficult to judge a band based on 90 seconds. And the audition process would be unwieldy.

2) They control the casting. If they want freak shows, they will cast freak shows. If they want singers, they will cast singers. With 100,000 auditioning, and reports of many extraordinary singers not even getting past the first table, they can have exactly the show they want.

I think they lose audience because they run too many commercials and they mis-manage the results shows. I wouldn't be surprised to see a huge decline next year as well over the Idol Gives Back borefest and non-elimination show.

I started losing interest once they got to the final four. I was fine with any of them winning and so didn't really have a rooting interest to make me follow along, especially since I'm not going to buy anything they put out anyway.

I definitely agree with this. I thought it was ridiculous that they had to speed through the performances nearly every week, not really giving much in the way of background of the contestants or allowing Simon to talk for more than 10 seconds most of the time because of time constraints. And then for the results shows, they changed from the 30-minute shows to a full hour, and jam-packed that hour with garbage. It's the most popular show on TV - you'd think that, like WstS, when they need an extra 15-45 minutes to properly showcase the talent, they could squeeze it in their crappy schedule.

I remember Jordin mentioning on one of the recent shows that she didn't make it as far as she hoped for in LA. I wonder if she even got past the first table - that certainly seemed to be the implication to me. Interesting that the eventual winner was close to being kicked out of the competition before it started.

Fixed that for ya

I've always said that my interest in the show is inversely proportional to how many contestants are left. The show is definitely too long - they should probably do a top 8 or something along those lines. After about the first 2-3 weeks of top 12-10 competition, we already know who has no shot. No sense in bringing them back week after week.

The point, though, is that they may feel forced to have more freak shows to sustain the viewership levels of years' past. Until now, they've largely been content with letting the freak shows' rule the auditions. But Sanjaya's popularity, combined with the lower ratings, may change that.

I also thought the themes this year kind of sucked. I really miss how they would do actual decades and such in the past. This year was just the same sort of mishmash every week thematically IMO. Give me a 40's week again dammit!

What they've done is tried to tie-in artists to the show too much this year. Between the artist-specific themes and the taped performances of artists having nothing to do with AI on the results show, they lost a lot of momentum. They didn't even have the typical "pick a song from the current charts" week this season, did they? Talk about losing sight of the forest for the trees. No, instead we'd rather have Melinda sing 30- and 40-year old songs for 10 weeks.