New producers brought changes to American Idol in Season 13.
Some worked, some didn’t.
Ryan Seacrest, Randy Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, Harry Connick Jr. and Keith Urban celebrate American Idol’s 500th episode. (FOX Photo)
But some of the improvements were long, long overdue.
Here’s my list of the 10 things that worked on American Idol in Season 13.
Oh, and congrats on making it to 500 episodes, Ryan and company.
See also
10 reasons Jena Irene should win American Idol
A look back at Jena Irene’s Idol performances
A look back at Caleb Johnson’s Idol performances
10 things Idol did wrong in Season 13
1. Vote limits: It took 13 seasons, but Idol finally put voting limits into place. No more feeling like you have to spend hours texting or calling to impact the results. In fact, thanks to an agreement with Google, casting 50 votes for your favorite was never so easy.
2. The judges: I’d stop way short of calling them great, but when you replace Randy Jackson, the master of cliches, with Harry Connick Jr., and Mariah Carey, the worst Idol judge ever, with Jennifer Lopez, you can’t help but get better. I did miss the brutal honesty and spontaneity of Nicki Minaj.
Back to the Start week on American Idol gave Jess Meuse a chance to perform a wonderful original, Blue Eyed Lie. (FOX Photo)
3. The themes: Remember Season 12, when several cast members complained about being forced to sing songs they’d never heard? Well, the Idol themes got a major makeover this year. No more forced Beatles. No more Rat Pack tunes. In fact, most of the themes weren’t even genre restrictive. The result: Much more current music.
4. Fewer crazy auditions: Yep, gone were most of the folks who would dress in crazy costumes for the auditions just because they wanted to be on TV for a couple of minutes. Though it seemed cruel and self-serving when Idol decided to make an example of one 28-year-old, who got an on-air verbal spanking from Harry Connick Jr. for “disrespecting the process.” Hmm, so Idol disrepected its own process for years and years.
5. Shortened results shows: Former executive producer Nigel Lythgoe used to tease us by saying it might happen. Finally, it did. Several of the Thursday night result shows were reduced to just a half hour. No more watching 55 minutes of filler for 5 minutes of drama. Though I imagine only a handful of Idol-obsessed still did anyway.
6. iTunes charts: For the first time, Idol allowed contestants’ downloads from each week to show up on the iTunes charts rather than hiding how well or poorly they were doing. The Voice whipped Idol on a weekly basis. But remember, a download counts as a vote on The Voice; it doesn’t on Idol.
David Cook, shown with Sam Woolf, was one of the guest mentors to work on American Idol in Season 13. (FOX Photo)
7. Guest mentors: They were back in Season 13, but in a very pleasant surprise, some were past Idols, including Adam Lambert, Chris Daughtry and David Cook (apologies now if I missed anyone). David seemed to dole out particularly astute and contestant-specific advice. Of course, with Randy Jackson as your regular mentor, help was needed.
8. The originals: Hooray! Finally, Idol allowed contestants to perform originals on performance night. So we were treated to “Unbreakable Me” by Jena Irene. “Fairytales” by Alex Preston. And my favorite of all, “Blue Eyed Lie” by Jess Meuse, a song that deserves to be a hit on country radio.
9. The Voters: Idol gets absolutely none of the credit for this, but Idol voters did a splendid job of picking off contestants in a sensible order in Season 13. Oh, Ben Briley might have left a tad too early; M.K. Nobilette hung on too long. But all in all, Idol voters earned an A. They even put Jess Meuse in the Top 4, despite a clear anti-Jess bias on the judging panel.
10. A splendid top four: Idol managed to find some top-flight talent again. Caleb Johnson was entertaining every time he took the stage. Jess and Alex Preston should have a bright future as singer-songwriters. Jena Irene is a potential female pop-rock star. And America will have 41 chances to see them perform on this year’s Idol summer tour.
American Idol’s splendid Top 4, Alex Preston, Jena Irene, Caleb Johnson and Jess Meuse. (FOX Photo)
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3 Comments
I think Judges did a good job for the most part. I didn’t understand their obvious dislike for Jessica. I could use less Jlo face time…what’s up with that. I like the Idol mentors. Cook was great. I think it was difficult for Adam and Chris to mentor 30 contestants, especially knowing, if they did know, that a third of them wouldn’t even compete. Great idea for workshop, just define it more, and get a female mentor.
I disagree with the shortened results show. I miss the cheesy group numbers, the Ford videos (from the earlier years), seeing Idol alumni come back to perform and having superstars like Katy Perry, or Gaga or Beyoncé perform which gave the show some credibility (Especially since our contestants could often out-sing the superstars). I even liked the way Ryan would have 3 contestants stand at a time and recap what the judges said before revealing who is safe or in jeopardy. I know the actual results can be revealed in a 3 minute show but I found the other 57 minutes entertaining.
Agree on some of the opinions above.
Of the guest mentors, David Cook is the only former Idol, the two others are Idol alumni – they didn’t win, David did. And yes, he was a great mentor.
I totally disagree about the half-an-hour results show. The reason is that I want to see former winners and contestants perform during it, which happened earlier. Bring back longer results shows with former contestants – even though I don’t like all of them… David Cook should have performed this year also!
I really wanted Alex to win this year. I wish Dexter wouldn’t even have been in the Top 13, and he was there for way too long. I even muted my TV when he sang.
I wish Alex and Sam a great future in music. Jena is very good, but she will surely record music that I don’t listen to. Caleb and Jess are good singers, but I don’t really know what kind of an artist Jess wants to be and Caleb’s rock is a bit too rough for me. I may buy Alex’ album, I liked him that much.