Time to mix things up on American Idol

I don't normally blog about American Idol, but after watching last nights episode, a series of thoughts crossed through my mind.

- For starters, what is the deal with Simon and that Kara. Enough it enough. These two should get a room or something, since they are all but pawing each other throughout the show. Simon has his arm on her chair the entire show, they touch shoulders, she lays her head into his chest etc. Playful TV crush? Perhaps. Me thinks more Jesse James/Tiger Woods action (and yes, I did start that sentence with the word Me).

- While I have never liked the judging, it was refreshing in the past to have a different judge start their commentary each time, so the order is always different. Currently its robotic, and always starts with Randy. Randy throws a few "Dude, Dawg, Dude, Pitchy, Dawg" comments, then Ellen and Kara follow suit, rarely differing their opinion from what Randy said, minus the Ebonics. Then of course the T-Shirt chimes in with his own spin. Had the Dawg not started, how might the commentary have differed? At the same time, if they start with Kara, they would likely have to extend the show longer while we wait for her to finish talking while fawning for the camera.

- What would happen to the voting if instead of voting for the person you like, you vote for the person you do NOT like. I trust the end results would potentially be the same, but some people who went far (see Adam Lambert or Sanjaya) would likely get the boot much sooner. Those hometown people, trying to protect their own shrill tone-deaf kid would now have to spread their voting over the remaining contestants. More revenue for the telephone companies, and a more realistic end result to each episode - where good singers don't drop for unknown reasons.

- Similarly, what would happen if they did not have the judges for an episode, or perhaps the judges provided their feedback off camera to see if the audience and viewing public can agree. My guess is it would not be even close. Some of those losers who the judges like would plummet, but the ones who sound good to you and me would likely stay. If FOX wanted to mix it up, it would be an interesting experiment. No doubt in my mind the judging influences how the audience votes, and that is really wrong, "if I'm really being honest with you of course".

- I recall a few seasons back, David Archuleta crashed and burned singing some song, then actually cried into the camera that it was not his song choice, but ultimately, a song chosen by the producers. Of course, the whole episode was quickly smoothed over, and the audience was left to believe the kid was complaining out of frustration. Yet I believe this to be true. Do you really think these kids want to sing some of the songs they sing? I don't. At the same time, I don't want to hear every kid sing Miley Cyrus or Black Eyed Peas which is all they know. If the production staff are helping these kids pick, can't they do better than Shaka Khan or Huey Lewis. At least let them pick songs that were truly good when sung by the original artist. What’s next, Right Said Fred or Milli Vanilli?

- Lots of criticism about the calibre of the guest mentors this season. What do Miley Cyrus and Usher really know about helping the Idol kids? While I don't disagree, is it any worse than some of the mentors from past seasons, like Barry Manilow? While Barry had a great career, he is not even remotely current, and its hard to imagine a kid appreciating his style today. I would love to see them be mentored by some of the best vocal coaches in the world, who can help them with their pitchy issues and work on their upper register (or whatever other weird Paula-isms they always seem to be told they fail in). At the current pace, I fully expect Justin Beiber to be a guest mentor in one of these episodes. He is a star after all, and Justin needs more reasons to wear his "Free Scooter" t-shirts.

- While I get that this show is all about advertising and revenue generation for FOX, there has to be some kind of cost-benefit analysis done on the show length. At a stout 2 hours, how many people actually watch each and every second of the 2 hour show, including commercials? Raise your hand, guy in Wisconsin, you're the only one. The rest of us fast forward 90% of the show, or if watching live, take those 20 minute intervals between singers to do practical things like file taxes, get root canals etc. So Mr Advertiser, and you know who you are, you are paying for America to fast forward or ignore your spot. Can you name an advertiser on last nights show besides Coke and the car company (is it Ford?) who they do those wacky commercials for? Me either.

Time to be quiet now.