From commenting on the under performant in our last blog, we now move on to what has become more a case of being aberrant rather than simply a lacklustre shadow of what it used to be - American Idol. As y'all may have noticed (or not) I have refrained from commenting on AI during its twelfth season in part because it was so unwatchable most of the time, and I simultaneously have so much yet so little to say about it. But you know me, I am so generous, so will attempt to squeeze out a few lines on the subject. Rejoice!
I did warn the producers almost a year ago (this blog, dated 14th July, 2012) that they had lost the plot, but they exacerbated matters considerably, leading to some of the lowest ratings in the show's history. Which bright spark decided that AI should become a vehicle for fading stars (in a few cases) and rescue them from encroaching obscurity and drag them back out onto the boards and the spotlight, all at a huge cost of several million dollars, minimum? Or pay ridiculous amounts of money to established superstars to double market themselves, and even use the show's audience to boost their sales and to hell with the kids on stage?!
Let's talk salaries for a second - here are the numbers. It appears that Mariah Carey is top (of course, where else would she agree to?) with a whopping $18M, then comes robotic train wreck Nikki Minaj at a very cool $12M, with boring Keith Urban more or less in the Randy "Dawg" Jackson bottom end of about $6M. Pop in our boy Ryan Seacrest to the picture ($15M) and we are looking at about $60M just for the five main characters on the show! That is one serious personnel bill and you can bet your sweet you-know-what that it's a given that this kind of price tag comes with some serious ratings expectations. Hell, make that ratings requirements!
The show seems to have an identiy crrisis - are we American Idol, or would we rather be back with Simon a la X-Factor, or better still, can we be The Voice? For Idol to have attempted to create something similar to any show that followed it, and took from it, was a massive error in judgement. AI was biggest and best, for a reason, and even if ratings would inevitably be eaten away as novelty factor (bot not X factor!) faded somewhat, the reasons it was #1 had nothing to do with the likes of Minaj, Carey and most definitely not Urban.
Ratings for the finale between Candice Glover and Kree Harrison were a measly 14.3 million, which staggeringly is the show's all-time lowest performance. Well, I can answer that one right away, and say that there was a finalist missing - Angie Miller. That girl has more potential to be a unique addition to what is out there, than either of the other two, alone or combination. She's cooler, she's hipper, she's younger, she plays an instrument, she writes, and she can sing the lid off a large can of coffee. We've had a Candice before, we've had a Kree before, and I don't see either of them having the necessary star power to make much impact. But my girl Angie has it all, and she is going to prove that, I am sure. You go, girl!
But it raises a point which has become frustrating in the show and that is the apparent desire to almost engineer a win for the chosen candidate, via both judge bias as well as show bias in focus on various individuals. You can begin to sense who they like for the final two, and it's almost a done deal when the jury starts to whip up a frenzy and tells America what to do. I don't think they have any idea what they are doing, quite frankly. They maybe used to have the plot, but it has been lost, clearly. Quite why anyone would see Kree Harrison as more marketable or explosive than Angie Miller is beyond anyone who has any youth remaining in them.
I can see why a Mariah Carey would take for a Candice, for example, because she has a big voice and clear diva potential. But it's not supposed to be about finding the next "me", it's supposed to be about finding an original star with huge marketing potential. Does anyeone even remember who won AI in 2010, 2011 and 2012? If not, why not? Simple - they have more or less evaporated, along with the show's ratings. The show decided to become a drama (which is entertaining) and whip up the tension on elimination nights, but sadly also filling up a full hour show with distractions, before getting down to business. Guess what? Viewers either recorded it, to skip the dross, or worse, tuned in for the last four minutes of each hour to see who was going home. Uh huh. That's not great TV - by a long chalk.
Oh God, where should I start with the judges? It's a train wreck not waiting to happen - it did, very regularly. I am not going to get into the shenanigans that went on, other than to say that the producers' salivatory anticipation of catfights between Minaj and Carey were misguided. It was not fun at all to see the disrespectful utterings of Minaj to someone who is rightfully considered a singing legend in the business (Carey), and even if Mariah is clearly a diva, one still shows the appropriate level of basic respect to one who has achieved more than probably any female star of her time. Minaj doesn't deserve to share a stage (and for her safety, a dressing room for that matter!) with Carey, and I doubt she ever will again.
Which brings me to the main point - and I will keep saying it until AI agrees. This show is meant to be the identification of new talent by record industry professionals, not has-been or wannabe singers. Keith Urban seems to be a nice enough boy, but a legendary singer he sure as hell ain't! So, why would I listen to his opinion on kids who can sing their heads off? It's an irrelevance. Of all the current judges, he is the one who has been quoted as saying "I would come back in a heartbeat!" I bet he would too, but isn't he supposed to have a career of his own, or does being an Idol judge pay more? Uh huh. It came across as almost desperate, begging to come back even as the divorce papers were being signed by the producers.
Minaj is about as relevant to a singing competition as a fish is to a biccyle (thanks, Bono!). Mariah can sing the phone book and make you weep, but she has zero experience searching for, developing, mentoring, producing and releasing music from new talent. Why? Again, simple - she only cares about music by Mariah Carey, that's why! Duh! The Dawg? Well, he was on show #1, so he has pedigree, but without Simon and Paula, he's also a fish, but one out of water and already on his bike - he announced his departure towards the end of this season.
The rumor is that all four judges are gone - and that's great news. The ratings hit all-time lows and it is the judging that is central to that outcome. It became boring. My men on the street tell me that producer Nigel Lythgoe might also be out, and I think it's probably the right time; the changes he incorporated into AI have slowly killed it. Sorry, old chap, but you had a good run. However there is one shining star remaining and yes, we all know who that is - the one, the only, the Jimmy - yes, Jimmy Iovine! In my humble opinion, our Jimmy simply has to be brought to the fore, perhaps as the nucleus of any new format for AI. He is the one constant that made the show worth watching, and he is always bang on, in my opinion. Always!
We must move back to three judges, with a true blue indiustry icon like Iovine in the middle. We add in maybe someone a bit like the Dawg, a producer who has also made a name for themselves, say, like a Daniel Lanois, or similar. Wow, that's actually an amazing idea, if he was available! For the cherry on the cake, we maybe can add in a sliver of celebrity, but first and foremost, it has to be someone who can actually sing, and didn't make a name for themseves via hollering or screeching over disco music about Weetabix. AI must be educated that the public loses interest in celebrity panels really quickly, they become a distraction from the show itself, whereas we love to see an unknown professional who has chops, charisma and a lot to say, like Simon Cowell, and get to know them through a season. AI makes them a household name, not the other way around!
Our boy Seacrest center stage. My man Jimmy at the helm of the judges station. A record industry vet-come-celebrity to his left. A singer with real credibility to his right. A no-nonsense-minimal-ego-driven panel, who all want to find the next big original thing. Not a clone of AI winners past, but someone of the future. If we can achieve some of all that, we might just have a show again, people! Oh, by the way, Jimmy, if AI listens to me and all of the above is corrected and transpires, I will expect to take over your role as the cranky uncle to the kids backstage, proferring my words of wisdom to encourage them to not listen to what those nasty judges are telling them! ;) - Kevin Mc
PS Oh yes, there is one other thing sadly missing from the show in recent years, and I am of course referring to our boy Seacrest's curtain call to end each show: "Seacrest, OUT!". Get that back in and we will all feel back on track!
Let's talk salaries for a second - here are the numbers. It appears that Mariah Carey is top (of course, where else would she agree to?) with a whopping $18M, then comes robotic train wreck Nikki Minaj at a very cool $12M, with boring Keith Urban more or less in the Randy "Dawg" Jackson bottom end of about $6M. Pop in our boy Ryan Seacrest to the picture ($15M) and we are looking at about $60M just for the five main characters on the show! That is one serious personnel bill and you can bet your sweet you-know-what that it's a given that this kind of price tag comes with some serious ratings expectations. Hell, make that ratings requirements!
The show seems to have an identiy crrisis - are we American Idol, or would we rather be back with Simon a la X-Factor, or better still, can we be The Voice? For Idol to have attempted to create something similar to any show that followed it, and took from it, was a massive error in judgement. AI was biggest and best, for a reason, and even if ratings would inevitably be eaten away as novelty factor (bot not X factor!) faded somewhat, the reasons it was #1 had nothing to do with the likes of Minaj, Carey and most definitely not Urban.
Ratings for the finale between Candice Glover and Kree Harrison were a measly 14.3 million, which staggeringly is the show's all-time lowest performance. Well, I can answer that one right away, and say that there was a finalist missing - Angie Miller. That girl has more potential to be a unique addition to what is out there, than either of the other two, alone or combination. She's cooler, she's hipper, she's younger, she plays an instrument, she writes, and she can sing the lid off a large can of coffee. We've had a Candice before, we've had a Kree before, and I don't see either of them having the necessary star power to make much impact. But my girl Angie has it all, and she is going to prove that, I am sure. You go, girl!
But it raises a point which has become frustrating in the show and that is the apparent desire to almost engineer a win for the chosen candidate, via both judge bias as well as show bias in focus on various individuals. You can begin to sense who they like for the final two, and it's almost a done deal when the jury starts to whip up a frenzy and tells America what to do. I don't think they have any idea what they are doing, quite frankly. They maybe used to have the plot, but it has been lost, clearly. Quite why anyone would see Kree Harrison as more marketable or explosive than Angie Miller is beyond anyone who has any youth remaining in them.
I can see why a Mariah Carey would take for a Candice, for example, because she has a big voice and clear diva potential. But it's not supposed to be about finding the next "me", it's supposed to be about finding an original star with huge marketing potential. Does anyeone even remember who won AI in 2010, 2011 and 2012? If not, why not? Simple - they have more or less evaporated, along with the show's ratings. The show decided to become a drama (which is entertaining) and whip up the tension on elimination nights, but sadly also filling up a full hour show with distractions, before getting down to business. Guess what? Viewers either recorded it, to skip the dross, or worse, tuned in for the last four minutes of each hour to see who was going home. Uh huh. That's not great TV - by a long chalk.
Oh God, where should I start with the judges? It's a train wreck not waiting to happen - it did, very regularly. I am not going to get into the shenanigans that went on, other than to say that the producers' salivatory anticipation of catfights between Minaj and Carey were misguided. It was not fun at all to see the disrespectful utterings of Minaj to someone who is rightfully considered a singing legend in the business (Carey), and even if Mariah is clearly a diva, one still shows the appropriate level of basic respect to one who has achieved more than probably any female star of her time. Minaj doesn't deserve to share a stage (and for her safety, a dressing room for that matter!) with Carey, and I doubt she ever will again.
Which brings me to the main point - and I will keep saying it until AI agrees. This show is meant to be the identification of new talent by record industry professionals, not has-been or wannabe singers. Keith Urban seems to be a nice enough boy, but a legendary singer he sure as hell ain't! So, why would I listen to his opinion on kids who can sing their heads off? It's an irrelevance. Of all the current judges, he is the one who has been quoted as saying "I would come back in a heartbeat!" I bet he would too, but isn't he supposed to have a career of his own, or does being an Idol judge pay more? Uh huh. It came across as almost desperate, begging to come back even as the divorce papers were being signed by the producers.
Minaj is about as relevant to a singing competition as a fish is to a biccyle (thanks, Bono!). Mariah can sing the phone book and make you weep, but she has zero experience searching for, developing, mentoring, producing and releasing music from new talent. Why? Again, simple - she only cares about music by Mariah Carey, that's why! Duh! The Dawg? Well, he was on show #1, so he has pedigree, but without Simon and Paula, he's also a fish, but one out of water and already on his bike - he announced his departure towards the end of this season.
The rumor is that all four judges are gone - and that's great news. The ratings hit all-time lows and it is the judging that is central to that outcome. It became boring. My men on the street tell me that producer Nigel Lythgoe might also be out, and I think it's probably the right time; the changes he incorporated into AI have slowly killed it. Sorry, old chap, but you had a good run. However there is one shining star remaining and yes, we all know who that is - the one, the only, the Jimmy - yes, Jimmy Iovine! In my humble opinion, our Jimmy simply has to be brought to the fore, perhaps as the nucleus of any new format for AI. He is the one constant that made the show worth watching, and he is always bang on, in my opinion. Always!
We must move back to three judges, with a true blue indiustry icon like Iovine in the middle. We add in maybe someone a bit like the Dawg, a producer who has also made a name for themselves, say, like a Daniel Lanois, or similar. Wow, that's actually an amazing idea, if he was available! For the cherry on the cake, we maybe can add in a sliver of celebrity, but first and foremost, it has to be someone who can actually sing, and didn't make a name for themseves via hollering or screeching over disco music about Weetabix. AI must be educated that the public loses interest in celebrity panels really quickly, they become a distraction from the show itself, whereas we love to see an unknown professional who has chops, charisma and a lot to say, like Simon Cowell, and get to know them through a season. AI makes them a household name, not the other way around!
Our boy Seacrest center stage. My man Jimmy at the helm of the judges station. A record industry vet-come-celebrity to his left. A singer with real credibility to his right. A no-nonsense-minimal-ego-driven panel, who all want to find the next big original thing. Not a clone of AI winners past, but someone of the future. If we can achieve some of all that, we might just have a show again, people! Oh, by the way, Jimmy, if AI listens to me and all of the above is corrected and transpires, I will expect to take over your role as the cranky uncle to the kids backstage, proferring my words of wisdom to encourage them to not listen to what those nasty judges are telling them! ;) - Kevin Mc
PS Oh yes, there is one other thing sadly missing from the show in recent years, and I am of course referring to our boy Seacrest's curtain call to end each show: "Seacrest, OUT!". Get that back in and we will all feel back on track!
No comments:
Post a Comment