By RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com, originally filed Dec. 15, 2014
Ryan Seacrest confirmed this week that "American Idol" is dropping the results show for sure. This follows the death of the results show for "So You Think You Can Dance" a couple of years ago and "Dancing With the Stars" last year. The reality is competition shows like this are not nearly as hot as they used to be. Why take up precious time with what is usually lots of time killing for a few minutes of actual results?
This tidbit was mentioned earlier this year but only confirmed recently. It makes sense. The show hit new lows last year in ratings and the results show never drew the ratings of the performance shows. Integrating results into the performance show hasn't hurt "Dancing With the Stars" in my mind.
Given that the show debuts January 7 and is expected to run through May, the reduction in shows may largely be due to the results show elimination, not a shorter season per se. At least that's how it appears now. But Fox has not given "Idol" a season finale date. And Ryan Seacrest said there will be only a top 10, not a top 12 or 13. That would imply a shorter season. We'll see.
And in a nod to "The Voice," the judges will coach the singers more than they have in the past, especially during the Hollywood/Green Mile portion. For its entire run to date, the producers kept a deliberate wall between judges and contestants, especially after Corey Clark claimed he slept with Paula Abdul that year.
Harry Connick Jr., who has been a great mentor in the past, lamented during the past season that he couldn't help the contestants more, that the best he could do was throw in quick soundbite bits of wisdom each week from the stand. Sadly, Randy Jackson as mentor was abysmal working with the likes of Sam Woolf and C.J. Harris to improve their stage presence.
I anticipate this new mentor Sam Borchetta of Big Label Machine will be very helpful as well. Seacrest said more former "Idols" will come back to mentor, which makes sense. We will get Adam Lambert for one audition city, too.
Seacrest thinks these moves have improved the quality of the top 24. We can only hope!
***
And here's something I've never heard about before on "Idol": violence!
UPDATE: And it's false. MJ, which broke the story, said the source fooled her big time. The story about "Idol" contestants Josh Sanders and Qaasim Middleton being booted from "Idol" after a fistfight, the "Idol" blogger wrote, is false and apologized. So I apologize for running the story. She is usually reliable and this was an unusual situation when she was not.
***
This dude gets kudos for being ballsy, asking to slow dance with J. Lo while singing 'Stay With Me." I anticipate we'll be hearing that song more than once this year along with that John Legend song "All of Me."
***
Carrie Underwood's "Something in the Water" has entered the top 5 on the country chart. No surprise there.
Scotty McCreery's "Feelin' It" just peaked at No. 12.
Daughtry's "Battleships" ended up peaking at No. 19 on the Hot AC chart.
Colton Dixon's "More of You" peaked at No. 8 on the Christian pop chart.
Kelly Clarkson's "Wrapped in Red" is No. 3 on the Christmas chart.
It's a beautiful original Christmas song.
Here's the video of the song. I hate to bring it up but there is some obvious editing to hide her post-baby weight gain:
About the Author
