Idol Chatter & Voice Views

It took years, but it looks like American Idol will address one of my biggest complaints about the show in Season 12.

That complaint: That some contestants wind up in the semifinals — the first time the public can vote — having received virtually no airtime, while other semifinalists have been featured over and over.

FOX released the American Idol season schedule today and it includes a dramatically revamped Las Vegas round.

You remember how it has worked the last couple of years. The contestants get to Vegas and split into small groups to perform for the judges. Some group performances we see; some we don’t. Some contestants advance, others are cut after singing just a couple of lines.

Then the contestants sing solo for the judges. Again, we see some of those songs. Others are skipped.

Finally, the remaining contestants are summoned before the judges, where they learn their fate. That sets the stage for lots of distressed contestants and an occasionally distressed judge (remember the, ‘Oh, no, Jennifer Lopez is in tears. Can she possibly go on?’ nonsense from Season 10?).

Well, it looks like all of that might have gone the way of a three-judge panel.

This year, 40 contestants head to Vegas. They’ll be split into guys and gals, then split again into groups of 10.

For four consecutive episodes — Feb. 20 and 27 for the guys, Feb. 21 and 28 for the gals — we’ll get to see 10 singers perform. At the end of each episode, the judges will apparently pick five contestants to advance.

Once the field has been whittled to 20, it’s off to live semifinal rounds on March 5 and March 6, where the public will pick a Top 10.

Of course, the press release indicates Idol will enter the finals with a Top 10. We all know there will likely be wild card picks.

Heck, if it works like last year and every judge gets a pick, we could wind up with a Top 14.

Or Idol could capitalize on the judges feud story-line and force Nicki and Mariah to agree on one selection.

That might be fun.

Anyway, the first finals round kicks off Wednesday, March 13. And audition shows, of course, start with two-hour episodes next Wednesday (Jan. 16) and Thursday (Jan. 17).

As for the Vegas round, the new setup sounds like an improvement.

It also means we should not have a Chase Likens or Chelsea Sorrell this year — mystery contestants who suddenly show up in the semifinals without ever having been heard from before. And, of course, fail to advance.

The fact that we’ll get to hear every Top 40 contestant sing solo already makes the Season 12 process seem fairer.