Idol Chatter & Voice Views

An awful lot of writers seem to be drinking the American Idol 2.0 Kool-Aid the show is serving up.

Don’t count me among them.

Sure, the judges are getting along, which I suppose is news because the Season 12 panel didn’t.

Guess what, FOX? I don’t tune in to a singing show to watch the judges.

If they happen to be as entertaining as Blake Shelton and Adam Levine (which Keith Urban and Harry Connick Jr. aren’t) that’s great.

If they happen to be as disarmingly adorable as Shakira (which Jennifer Lopez isn’t) that’s even better.

But they don’t make the show. The singers/contestants make the show.

And the problem with American Idol 2.0 or American Idol rebooted or whatever they want to call Season 13 is that nearly every format tweak made has detracted from our ability to connect with those singers.

Take the audition episodes. The new Idol seemed hellbent on showing us as many golden ticket recipients as possible.

In the first two episodes, we met more than 60 singers. That compares to 36 in the first two episodes of Season 12.

So what was lost in that flurry of faces? When lots more screen time was spent (read “wasted”) showing us how well the judges were getting along?

The extended bio segments we’d gotten used to. You know, the one that showed Scotty McCreery pitching for his high school baseball team back in Garner, N.C.. The one that showed Phillip Phillips working in the family pawn shop. The one that showed Candice Glover talking about the disappointment of getting cut in the Vegas round of Season 11.

Those segments were seldom all about singing. But they were invaluable in providing insight into members of a cast Idol wants us to care enough about to tune in to twice a week for three months.

What did we get instead in Season 13?

A seemingly rapid-fire stream of faces and tiny bits of songs.

And only six of the 60-plus contestants we met in those first two episodes are still part of Season 13. Hmm.

Backfire number two came last week, when the show absolutely mangled the final Hollywood episodes.

Say what you will about Idol Season 12. I loved the Vegas round format change that allowed us to hear every member of the Top 40 sing an entire song (90 seconds to 2 minutes in Idol land) before the voting rounds began.

After all, we hear just a few seconds of singing from contestants in the audition round. In Hollywood, we get cut-up bits of songs that, depending on the editing, might or might not be reflective of the entire performance. Screen time certainly isn’t evenly divided among the singers.

That Season 12 Vegas round offered us a chance to hear one full unedited performance from every potential semifinalist, helping us separate the pretenders from the contenders, helping us pick favorites, helping us connect to our favorites.

In Season 13?

No Vegas round.

What’s more, Idol did away with the old Hollywood final episode format that showed us the most noteworthy performances, let us form our own opinions on who should advance and who shouldn’t, then revealed the artists’ fate.

This year, we saw artist after artist make the trek to their “final judgment,” then got to hear a snippet of their final performance. Often interrupted by annoying and distracting voice-over so we knew what the judges were whispering to one another while the contestant was singing.

Another note to FOX: I don’t care what the judges are saying during a performance. Just let me hear the contestant sing. Please!

But if the intent was to sap most of the suspense out of the final Hollywood episodes, Idol succeeded.

There’s still hope for Season 13. It rests in the singers, particularly what appears to be a very talented and diverse group of female singers. We’ll get to hear from them tonight. I’ll be grading the performances live as they occur.

But at this point, producers have served up what I consider the least interesting season of American Idol yet.

And I doubt that was the idea behind American Idol 2.0.