The Hawaii shows were the last pre-taped episodes of American Idol and will likely be the last time the cast gets together for Season 18. (ABC Photo)
American Idol will air the second part of its time-buying “This is Me” special Sunday night.
If you watched part one last Sunday, you know it will be more rehash than new material.
But this week comes with a wrinkle: The show will reveal whether Grace Leer or Lauren Mascitti gets the final spot in the Season 18 Top 20.
Regardless, my excitement about the talented cast Idol has rounded up for Season 18 has evaporated.
As in: It’s completely gone.
That’s because the biggest Idol news of the week is the show’s plans for the rest of Season 18.
With live filming on hiatus because of coronavirus, the show has decided to have contestants perform from their homes and have the judges judge from theirs.
That leads to all sorts of questions and fairness issues.
My guess is that some contestants are much more prepared to record performances at home than others.
I also know some contestants — the singer-songwriters — can probably excel in a home performance.
But what about the contestants whose stage presence — a Jovin Webb, an Olivia Ximines — reflects the “total package” Idol always claims it’s looking for. How can you demonstrate stage presence without a stage and without an audience?
Still, forget about all those fairness issues and performance questions for a moment.
Consider instead, the format Idol has announced for the rest of Season 18.
A Top 20 show will air on Sunday, April 25. Then Idol will wrap up Season 18 over the following three weeks.
In other words, in a span of four weeks, we’ll go from a Top 20 to a Season 18 champ.
That’s laughable. That’s especially laughable — and especially foolhardy — for a show with so much young talent, singers who might grow over the course of a normal length season.
Season 17 was a wonderful showcase for Laine Hardy, Alejandro Aranda, Madison VanDenburg, Lacie Kaye Booth, Wade Cota and company.
From Top 20 on, the finalists were showcased on eight episodes of Idol. They performed 15 times.
The Season 18 finalists?
They get to perform on four shows. From home. Without a stage. Without an audience.
They deserve a better showcase for their talent. They deserve for Idol to push pause on Season 18 and push play again when live filming can resume.
If that takes til the fall, so be it.
After all, Idol already has a pair of “This is Me” episodes it can repeat to reintroduce the Top 20.
4 Comments
Sounds like “Idol” and “The Voice” have once again become the same show.
ABC really had no choice. It was either do the “Live” shows remotely from homes or cancel the remainder of the 2020 competition. Anyone who actually thinks that live shows with crowds and a full set will happen before 2021 is truly dreaming. And the chances of that happening in California before 2021 is near zero. Yes, the stage performers will be at a disadvantage with this new format but sometimes you just have to react to the situation and do whatever you can to move forward.
My point was that I’m more upset about the length of the season than the format. Over the course of 8 or 9 home shows, I have faith talented singers could adapt, grow into the format. Introducing this new format AND having mass eliminations every week merely turns this into a competition where the most popular singers right now will succeed and those who could grow on us over the course of a normal length season will be quickly eliminated. What’s the rush to finish the season? All shows want to end before everyone heads off on Memorial Day vacations. As you point out, that’s not likely to happen in 2020.
The list of the Top 11 (including a possible Judges’ Save) has been leaked.
Get ready for a result and a huge mistake (on the female side), indeed.
People are tuning in at this point just to see what dumb outfit Katy Perry is wearing.