Video Beat Extra - AMERICAN IDOL LOST THE PLOT

James Loving - National Radio Text Service

This season AI has placed more salt into their wounds by replacing long time favorite though often memory challenged judge Paula Abdul. They replaced her with a talk show host who some consider a comedian Ellen Degeneres who has a ZERO background in the music business. DeGeneres also has taken the lead in talking too much making more comments than his highness Simon Cowell - Recommended TV Listings

Thursday February 18, 2010

IDOL SCATTERED & BATTERED

Who would have ever though that American Idol would crash and burn? Well its happening right before our eyes as for the second consecutive year the one show to find great singers has turned into a miss mash of poor production decisions sprinkled with young singers hoping to be discovered on a program that featured young talent.

Last season was the turning point for AI as they changed directors. Those who were with the show from inception departed. They added a fourth judge Kara DioGuardi much to the displeasure of judge Simon Cowell who wields a big stick when it comes to decision making and is recognized as being the shows focal point personality. Cowell didn't have a personal problem with DioGuardi but his opinion and rightly so was that there would be too many comments from too many judges.

He was right as they show ran over time in the early stages when they had 13 contestants to be critiqued. The problem reached the point where at one stage they limited a critique of a contestant to two judges in order to save time and bring the show in on time and not run into the following program.

This season AI has placed more salt into their wounds by replacing long time favorite though often memory challenged judge Paula Abdul. They replaced her with a talk show host who some consider a comedian Ellen DeGeneres who has a ZERO background in the music business. DeGeneres also has taken the lead in talking too much making more comments than his highness Simon Cowell.

Her defense of her lack of music business experience of that she knows what it's like and takes to get up in front of an audience and please them. Well good for her but AI was about music and VOICE and she knows neither.

The chemistry and charm of the judges including the bickering back and forth of Abdul and Cowell is history thus the show is now lacking personality and true identity. DeGeneres attempts to be humorous with her comments but they are not so funny or as interesting and the often thought about mystery of who and what was spiked in Abdul's coke glass is missing along with Abdul's forgetfulness. To have a singer who has devoted their lives to their professional future in the music business to be somewhat determined by a comedian is ludicrous.

This season the auditions are way below the standard in previous seasons. The pace is too quick and the editing choppy. A viewer can't get a grip on the personalities of the talent. The contestants are now rushed through like cattle in a stockyard on their way to the slaughterhouse.

DioGuardi's personality has changed into that of a pompous know it all. Last season she had an innocent quality and charm about her in trying to fit in as well as hold her own, establish her identity and maintain her dignity when challenged by Cowell enhanced by his rolling eyes of discontent with her comments and her time consuming critiques. The irony here is that for the most part her critiques were less wordy and more accurate than Cowell's.

The bottom line is that this season American Idol is going into the dumpster by changing the chemistry in what was said to be the most successful television show in the world. Cowell has let it be known that he will leave AI after this season but return to the Fox Network next season with is own production X Factor which he has been doing in England in conjunction with the AI program. Cowell pointed out the X Factor is different in that they don't have the age limit that American Idol has.

Reasons given for his departure is that he and the show creator Simon Fuller don't get along. Last seasons runner-up Adam Lambert who was a guest on Ryan Seacrest's radio show was queried by Seacrest that did he know that he was one of the reasons Cowell was leaving the show. In an edited version of the interview telecast on AXN in Southeast Asia Lambert made a brief comment about then fans voting. As we all now know long shot Kris Allen won the title.

This season the show returns to the 24 competitors to fight it out for the title while last season they started with 36. The repeated changes in the shows format indicate that there are too many cooks in the kitchen spoiling the broth. Will AI survive their reckless changes? Stay tuned……

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TV SCHEDULE

Note: The shows listed are for the Cambodia - Thailand time zone. Check your local listings for time in your area.

NOTE TIMES OF THE SAME TELECAST IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES

5:00 PM - LARRY KING - CNN - Airs daily

7:00 PM - AMAZING RACE - AXN

10:00 PM - AMAZING RACE - AXN

10:30 PM - CLICK (Internet Technology program) - BBC

9:00 PM - UFC (ULTIMATE FIGHTING) - True Sport 2

11:00 PM - AMERICAN IDOL - Star World

8:00 PM - FIRST EDITION featuring Richard Keys - ESPN

6:00 PM - LOCKED UP ABROAD - National Geographic

7:00 PM - AMERICAN IDOL - Star World

11:00 PM - AMERICAN IDOL - Star World

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