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American Idol

1/8: What are we most looking forward to this season?

2:45 pm January 8, 2009, by Rodney Ho

Not a huge amount of news in the pipeline so let’s ask a question with just four days until season eight’s arrival:

What are you looking forward to most this season? What are you hopeful for?

Here’s some food for thought:

Season four winner was a country singer (and would become a superstar). Season five winner was a soulful crooner (who would become Teen Angel on “Grease”). Season six became a pop star. Season seven is a rocker. What do you think we might end up season eight? Are we due for something fresh and new?

We’ll be watching for how Kara DioGuardi (yes, I’m finally able to spell her name now without googling it first) interactds with Paula, Simon and Randy. Will she throw the dynamics off or add some fresh blood into a tired routine? Will she be Paula’s BFF and gang up on Simon or will she simply steal Simon’s thunder with some constructive criticism?

During auditions, Simon will be the tiebreaker for borderline contestants. He might actually get a kick out of that new power.

Will the “wild card’ shows improve the quality of the top 12?

How will ratings look? I expect them to drop 10% year over year early on. If the changes are boring and contestants uninspired, I see it dropping 15 to 20 percent. I consider a best-case scenerio at 5 percent later in the season if it’s like season five in terms of interesting talent and controversy. My prediciton: te show will start around 28 to 30 million the first three weeks, drop off to 25 million midway through and if the contestants are even passable, 23 to 25 million the rest of the way. Right now, the top shows are averaging around 19 million viewers this fall (e.g. “Dancing With the Stars” and “The Mentalist”)

The press conference with DioGuardi is at 5 p.m. EST. I will try to post after that.

-I didn’t watch the People’s Choice Awards last night. Is that show even relevant anymore? Carrie Underwood won favorite artist under 35, favorite female singer and favorite country song. Jordin Sparks won Favorite Combines Forces with Chris Brown for “No Air.”

Pop Justice says Kelly Clarkson’s song “My Life Would Suck Without You” will make it to radio next week. Can’t wait!

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42 comments Add your comment

Lara

January 8th, 2009
3:16 pm

Is there a category for favorite artist over 35?

KPH

January 8th, 2009
3:42 pm

That is one corny album cover Ms. Clarkston bad song title also. I mean with the sucker in her hand ….Geez! is that creative or silly?

War Eagle

January 8th, 2009
3:58 pm

I would really like “American Idol” to keep it “AMERICAN” this season.

harrietth

January 8th, 2009
3:58 pm

But, doesn’t she look amazing?

JTesla

January 8th, 2009
3:59 pm

What am I looking forward to: several weeks of bad auditions to make me laugh, then when I tire of that, some Hollywood drama, followed by audience voting and the claims that contestant X is destined to win or contestant Y was never given a chance or both? So, I’m basically looking forward to the whole zoo that is Idol.

I gave Jennifer Hudson grief for the obviously photoshoped, and therefore corny, album cover, I have to do the same for Kelly Clarkson. Kelly is a natural beauty, she doesn’t need to be dolled up and airbrushed beyond recognition. With that said, if she were coming over to my place I would ask that she wear that lipstick.

harrietth

January 8th, 2009
4:02 pm

LOL @ JT!!

rho

January 8th, 2009
4:24 pm

Jtesla–on target as always!

kelly&carriefan

January 8th, 2009
4:33 pm

LOL, JT! That’s hysterical. I’d prefer a smile instead of all that crap. ;)

On an unrelated note:

Dear Atlanta Braves,

I quit!

Signed,
Kelly&carriefan

KPH

January 8th, 2009
4:50 pm

It doesent even look like her it looks more like Carrie with too much makeup on. Kelly&Carriefan I hear ya about Smoltz it just is not right. I dont like Frank Wren I want Schuerholtz back!

kelly&carriefan

January 8th, 2009
4:54 pm

KPH, agreed. Wren has turned this offseason into a nightmare. :(

harrietth

January 8th, 2009
5:09 pm

Bye, everyone. It is late and I’m gonna go out for awhile, then settle in for a last night of college football!

Deirdre

January 8th, 2009
5:17 pm

Hey everybody. I just got home from spending the day spreading Amdro over fire ant hills in the pasture. I HATE ants!!!!

What am I looking forward to most during this season? To be perfectly honest…the great time we have AFTER the show here on the blog, typing our likes and dislikes, agreeing and agreeing to disagree, listening to hilarious opinions about the truly awful ones and swooning opinions about the really good ones. I enjoy the after-party as much as I enjoy the show. I even take notes during the show so I remember who’s who and who isn’t…….

KPH

January 8th, 2009
5:18 pm

Right K&C fan. We need someone who can close the deal and he obviously lacks that skill. I hear ya harietth I hate to say it but GO GATORS! (damn that was hard) represent the SEC well young men!

rho

January 8th, 2009
5:21 pm

Plug ins to enable me to embed video may not be ready til the end of next week at the earliest. Our developers are busy launching something else and don’t have time. Wish I could just do it myself!

linny@home

January 8th, 2009
6:21 pm

Rodney — so just who do they think **THEY** are, anyway!!!! Don’t they know we’re the most important, vibrant, personable, friendly, successful, enjoyable, um … sexy? … people in town? or out!?! Hmph. Indeed, just WHO do they think THEY are!!!! ;)

seriously, this is so much better than the bog before that even waiting for videos won’t be SO bad!!!

obsessed? naaaaaah. just very very involved, right???? ;)

Songluvr

January 8th, 2009
9:56 pm

Hey people! This is my first pop-in this year, and I feel kinda lost. Could someone summarize for me the changes here pleeze? Hope everybody’s doing well!

JTesla

January 8th, 2009
10:28 pm

Welcome back Songluvr. The changes are a week old, so you didn’t miss much. Same crazy people, new and improved blog that is still improving.

JTesla

January 8th, 2009
10:30 pm

New item for the wish list: a way to edit your post.

Harm

January 8th, 2009
10:38 pm

Hey Songluvr!!! Welcome Back!!! I’ll leave the summarizing to someone who knows whay they are talking about! All I know is that this post much faster and you have to delete Enter your comments here everytime you post! We also use alot of smiley faces :-)

Mike S. War Eagle and myself are grandparents. I have a 9 day old grandson, Nana has a little itty bitty poodle named Memory ( there is a bittersweet story to go along with the new puppy)

Harm

January 8th, 2009
10:42 pm

Songluvr, we hope you are planning on attending the nightshift next week. :-)

Songluvr

January 8th, 2009
11:42 pm

Hey – Thanks for the info, JT and Harmony. Great to see familiar faces. ; ) Soooo, speaking of faces, how do we do that here? (I just tried, but I doubt it worked.)

Songluvr

January 8th, 2009
11:43 pm

;-) ???

Nana

January 9th, 2009
7:21 am

Good Morning. We finally made it to Friday and I for one, am sooooo happy about it. This has been a week from he**!

Today’s quote: “Anticipate the alternatives, and prepare for anything.”

First let me give a welcome back to Songluvr. Glad you let us know that you are still around and hope you stay to add your thoughts.

Kelly’s cover………….hummm – not to sure I care for it. If any of you remember Tanya Tucker, Kelly’s picture looks alot like Tanya at an earlier age.

What am I looking forward to this season? That the mosh pit is gone, Randy uses Dawg less, Paula doesn’t act like so ????????? (can’t think of a good word here), less bickering between Ryan & Simon, to not hear the phrases “sounds like karaoke”, “You should do good on a cruise ship”, and less of Simon touching Paula. The main thing I would like to see is more of the contestants and the entertainment they will offer the public. Oh, and of course the biggie: Ryan not dragging out the names and making us all sweat over who is staying or going. That really gets on my last nerve. He can draaaaaag the results longer than anyone I know of.

As like Deirdre, from the get go I keep a written record of the contestants and make my notes on each one. I even give them a score! Now how crazy is that? :-) :-)

Anne

January 9th, 2009
7:27 am

Mornin everybody! It’s Friday – whoo hoo!!! Last nite, I watched the rerun of AI from last year that was on Fox Reality. David Cook did Billy Jean and it reminded me that this was the week I really became a DC fan (instead of MJ)! Just before he started singing this last year, I’d walked into the kitchen coz I didn’t really like him…then heard this start….thought “ok, not bad”…then heard him take off on the middle of the song and ran back into the living room, just stood there w/ my mouth open! WOW!!!!! From that point on, it was Cookie for me all the way. I thought it was cool, the way all 3 judges said he “might” just make it to the top. Had to smile at that one last nite :)
Can’t wait to see what we’ll get this year!
Everybody have a great weekend!

Deirdre

January 9th, 2009
8:04 am

Morning!

Songluvr!!! Welcome back. Hope to hear from you a lot this season.

Anne, thanks for the memories! I think it was Billie Jean that finally got my attention, too. But that didn’t stop me from still wishing Michael had gone further. I haven’t been watching Fox Reality’s recap of last season. Poor hubby had to put up with me watching it the first time around! :-) He is(as you might guess) NOT a fan of Idol

Deirdre

January 9th, 2009
8:20 am

For those interested, mj has a snippet of Kelly Clarkson’s new song. Scroll down to Kelly’s picture.

harrietth

January 9th, 2009
8:37 am

Good morning all! D, which blog is MJ’s? I can’t find it, or do not know what I am looking at.

Lara

January 9th, 2009
8:38 am

I always find it kinda interesting to look back at what the judges have to say after we know who the winner is.
Oh, good morning fellow blogsters! TGIF!!!

Deirdre

January 9th, 2009
8:54 am

harrietth, its mjsbigblog.com. That should get you there. Just scroll down the first page and you’ll see Kelly’s picture.

Deirdre

January 9th, 2009
8:56 am

Lara…have you noticed that they changed the description of the blog? We’re no longer obsessive. Little do they know! :-)

harrietth

January 9th, 2009
9:06 am

I like it! I really like Kelly’s new song. Thanks, D.

linny ,,,=^..^=,,,

January 9th, 2009
9:19 am

Mornin’ all. Songlvr it is SO good to see you back! I see you figured it out on the smileys … they can’t be next to other punctuation, and the : and ) or : and – and ) all have to be typed in a group… unfortunately we only seem to have smiles, winks, and frowns at this point: :) ;) :(

kelly&carriefan

January 9th, 2009
9:43 am

Hey y’all! TGIF! And even better…Kelly album cover and a snippet! This is such a tease. I can’t wait to hear the song in full because that snippet sort of drowns her voice. I would hope that doesn’t happen the whole song ’cause she can sing as we know. :)

linny ,,,=^..^=,,,

January 9th, 2009
10:35 am

Oh and I guess it would be fair to say in response to Rodney … I’m looking forward to a new batch of talent, some great, some not-so … I’m looking forward to the blog entries here and elsewhere with honest, straightforward and yet respectful opinions — i’m REALLY looking forward to our after-show posts, because with this format it will be more like a conversation in our crowded little room… one can almost hear the clink of glasses in toast to great talent, the moans in response to some of the losers that will inevitably be there … and the sighs and moans in response to the again inevitable bickering between Simon and Ryan, the picking of Simon on Paula, and Randy’s “dude…dawg…pitchy…man” repetitions! Like Nana, I really would love a way for us to get together somewhere (they have sports bars with tons of TVs…. someone somewhere should have an American Idol Tuesday and Wednesday Bar with tons of TVs, nice speakers to listen to the auditions and competition… and plenty of camaraderie !!!

ah well, i guess the virtual version will have to do for now — i’ll bring the virtual wine if someone else will provide the virtual beer and the virtual chips and snacks!!! ;)

harrietth

January 9th, 2009
10:53 am

Well, linny, I guess the next best thing is if we each bring our own beer, wine, vodka(in my case :) ), and snacks, then propose our toasts via the blog! I plan to be a part of the after-party this year. With the new format, even my slow dial-up system at home should respond quickly enough for me to dive in. I have already told my “friend” with whom I share sports on tv lots of nights, that Idol nights are no longer in the picture. I don’t want to have to worry about being rude while on my computer. ;) :)

harrietth

January 9th, 2009
10:54 am

Oops. smiley face too close to the parenthesis.

linny ,,,=^..^=,,,

January 9th, 2009
11:11 am

RODNEY! Did you get to do the interview with Kara? Looking forward to any responses/reactions you might have gleaned (or heard)… ;)

Negativo

January 9th, 2009
11:22 am

This will be a great year for Idol. No more of that hideously boring, phony, self-righteous Idol Gives Back crap; a new judge to provide freshness to the tired, stale, predictable cast; bringing back the Wild Card for a fun twist in format; last year’s fantastic finale, and the early success of Idol winner David Cook compared to duds like Taylor and Jordin, adds a jolt of legitimacy back to the show’s brand again, too.

Finally, in a bad economy anxious people are looking for fun and levity to turn to for entertainment instead of heavy dramas, so Idol should be perfectly positioned for a great season. The Negster has spoken.

rho

January 9th, 2009
11:26 am

Kara DioGuardi interview blog entry up!

Deirdre

January 9th, 2009
11:32 am

I’m thinking the Negster is probably right!

linny speaks and Rodney jumps! :-)

linny ,,,=^..^=,,,

January 9th, 2009
2:22 pm

i owe you for that one, D, LOL!

;)

Justin

January 9th, 2009
3:14 pm

My thoughts exactly. I always thought about that- that each Idol winner is different. it seems like each falls into a certain category… so it makes sense that each season from now on will fall in one as well.

Season one we have the “all american girl” who became a huge recording artist

season 2: black male R&B singer

season 3: black female singer

season 4: country

Season 5: white male soul

season 6: teen pop artist

season 7: rocker

season 8: ?

so who’s next, folk singer? teen male pop? or just a good male singer, or a big powerful black singer….. i get a strange lil’ vibe that the top 12 this year will once again contain no “large” black female singers. dunno why… but we’ll see!