Another (yawn) season of American Idol

[Sideshow Spock]

Idol used to be a show I could sit down and watch with my reality-obsessed wife, but I'm really struggling with it now that Simon's gone. Last season was pretty brutal, and this one looks to be worse yet. I'm not really talking about the talent, more the overall dynamic of the show now that Simon's bitter pill has been removed.

12 male performers last nite, none of them exceptional, some barely mediocre, and yet nothing but syrupy praise oozing from these useless, brain-dead judges.

[Figuremod73]

I keep hearing that this might be the last season. I use to be really into it but have lost interest as well. They havent uncovered another Underwood the last few years so alot of people have grown tired of it. Of course, im starting to get tired of Dancing with the stars, as well. X factor is pretty cool last year, dont know if i will be able to get into it this time.

[megomania]

We used to watch it all the time...now, zero interest. I turned it on last night out of curiosity and some kid was banging on a set of stand-up drums and screeching into the mic. I lasted about 30 seconds and moved on. He sounded and acted terrible but I can only imagine the praise he got.

-Chris

[Adam West]

It's an interesting perspective. My wife thinks American Idol is much better without Simon. I also noticed last night's show was nothing but gushing even over singers who normally be slammed. My guess is that the judges aren't going to rip contestants apart out of the gate since half of them will be voted off anyway after one show, but will become much more critical once it is down to 12. I also noticed that the audition shows strayed away from showing too many horrific performances and mostly stuck with the ones that made it through or those that weren't good but not off the wall horrible either. It's possible that the show is trying to reposition itself against the X-factor...they will be the abusive show while American Idol is generally leaning more positive. Like I said, my wife likes that the show is going in this direction.

[madmarva]

I'm still a sucker for the show because I like to hear the music. The house band is good and I like to see musical performances, even if they are bad. With a DVR, it's pretty easy to buzz through all the background story crap, but you guys are right, without Simon there really is no criticism to help the performers improve. Last night the only thing halfway constructive said to one kid was that he made a mistake in playing with the melody of Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight. To me the guy was an above average Dave Matthews knockoff.

12 people performed and 6 of them will be dropped Thursday night based on viewer votes, but by what the judges said, all of them were great.

If Idol wants to continue, it should talk Simon into dropping his show and come back with some true judges that aren't concerned about winning a popularity contest.

That said J-Lo is lovely and worth keeping around for the eye candy.

[toys2cool]

it's alright for me , I'm more into the reject episodes

[megoapesnut]

This was a never miss family event for us till the past few seasons. We haven't watched one episode this season.

[kingdom warrior]

Eh, I watch it for the auditions and JLO good enough for me......

[Hector]

I watched it religiously until last year...where it became practically unwatchable.

Simon was the heart (some say heartless) and soul of American Idol...the ONLY judge who would be brutally honest, and told it like it was.

But he was not mean for the sake of being mean...he was hard...because that only helps people...why tell someone with no or little talent that he/she is going to be a success down the road...that would be unfair to everyone involved...plus Simon was BY FAR the most accurate of the judges...he would almost always be right...he might not had the best personality, but he was the best judge by a mile.

Without him, it's all candy and sugarcoating. J-Lo is probably the best judge right now (that's not saying much), Randy is just a broken record with his 'dawg" references and basically he was never been that good of a judge anyway...and Tyler is just a dirty old man hitting on girls younger than his own daughter...and does a disservice to everyone by saying everybody is perfect and beautiful...plus a senior citizen still dressing like a teenaged Madonna...well...that's just ridiculous, lol.

But not only the judges...but the contestants have been awful...and again...this boils down to not having Simon...now any hack can easily advance...I barely finished watching last season...it was by far...the worst lot of singers I've ever seen in American Idol...aside from the country singer kid who eventually won (and I don't like Country music, but can appreciate a good voice regardless)...the rest were mediocre at best...and some downright awful.

The Voice is the one I watch now...it's way better...more fun...better concept...and the contestants are far more seasoned...reason being...this show is for singers who have already had a bit of success...or have not gotten that big brake yet...but you can see how more polished they are than the American Idol amateur singers...and the ratings are a reflection of that...it's even starting to beat American Idol in the ratings already, lol.

Plus there's no age restriction in The Voice (unlike American Idol)...so even one of us could give it a go there...

I don't watch the X-Factor...I don't like singers competing with juggling acts and magicians, lol.