Season Nine Speculation

[TopCatDC]

Two news items have me thinking about what the new season of Idol will bring. The first, of course, is adding Ellen DeGeneres to the judges table. How do you think that will change the show? What are they trying to accomplish in bringing in a well-known outsider? What will be the unintended consequesnces?

Second is this blurb at the end of the NY Times story on hiring Ellen:

An array of guest judges will fill the spot vacated by Ms. Abdul for the audition episodes that take up the first few weeks of the season, which begins in January. But it is possible that Ms. DeGeneres will be on hand for “Hollywood Week,” where the top 200 or so performers come to Los Angeles to compete for a spot among the final 36.

In past years that week has taken place in November, but this year it has been moved to January, Ms. Frot-Coutaz said, and Ms. DeGeneres “should be there” if logistical arrangements allow.

Rescheduling Hollywood Week to happen while the audition episodes air is a huge change. This means that when they edit those audition episodes, they can't pimp semi-finalists like they have done in the past (especially last year). At that point the only thing they know is who got a "golden ticket" to Hollywood.

Does this mean that the producers have given up on their efforts to dictate a pre-selected slate of finalists? (Last year every finalist, except Kris and Allison, was a producer selection complete with extended audition scenes and usually a backstory package at home with the family.)

Have TPTB learned their lesson that talent will always rise (Kris, Adam, Allison) and dreck will always sink (Megan, Jasmine, Jorge) no matter how hard they try to sell the audience?

Or do they have some other plan up their sleeve?

[norealityhere]

Have TPTB learned their lesson that talent will always rise (Kris, Adam, Allison) and dreck will always sink (Megan, Jasmine, Jorge) no matter how hard they try to sell the audience?

This is American Idol and, with very few exceptions, talent does not seem to rise.

[MsFroggy]

Have TPTB learned their lesson that talent will always rise (Kris, Adam, Allison) and dreck will always sink (Megan, Jasmine, Jorge) no matter how hard they try to sell the audience?

This is American Idol and, with very few exceptions, talent does not seem to rise.

But this past season talent rose and after the show, during the AI tour, it did in an even bigger and more eloquent way. Just read any review or audience member account from any city where the tour stopped to get a crystal clear picture of that.

Talent can still emerge from this show but not because of it; more like in spite of it.

[Doug123]

Neither Kris or Allison was particularly impressive in their audition, so other reasons might apply. AI Extra aired both auditions and they were just ok. Plus you have overlapping stories that affect airtime. Megan, Lil, Alexis, Jesse, Felicia, and a number of others had children and you can only tell so many of the same story. Others like hippie girl and danny's friend got big exposure, yet didn't make the show.

[photoshopgrl]

Neither Kris or Allison was particularly impressive in their audition

I disagree. Maybe it was the song but I noticed Kris immediately and put him on my "one to watch" list. My friends all thought I was psychic when he won. I know the audition was seconds long compared to the others but being a Yamin fan, that song stands out for me so I was pissed that's all we got from him. Then I found some of his stuff on youtube after Hollywood and I was hooked.

Allison, however, took until well into the finals for me to really notice her.