How American Idol Can Learn From It's Former Producer

So for my first blog entry I will post some thoughts on the phenomenon that is American Idol. But no, this is not another one of those "Why did Adam Lambert lose" articles (though for the record, I think it was a combo of Adam not being mainstream and Kris getting votes from the Danny Gokey fans that did Adam in). Instead this is about how Idol can learn from the big summer reality competition show, So You Think You Can Dance, run by former Idol producer Nigel Lythgoe.

I have been a reality show fan for a long time, but I never really got into SYTYCD since I could never tell the difference between bad dancing and good dancing. Yet I watched the live shows last summer out of boredom and actually found it entertaining. This season I decided to watch the audition episodes as well, and I was shocked at the contrast between these audition shows and the painfully long Idol audition episodes. While I'm not sure if the audition shows are always this impressive or if this was just the result of unusually strong auditions in Brooklyn and Denver (the cities of choice in the two-hour SYTYCD premiere), I think Idol would benefit from following the dance show's format:

1) More Good, Less Bad- When I first saw that the premiere was two hours, I expected maybe three or four decent-to-good dancers being shown with as many if not more poor dancers shown. And I was expecting there to be at least two or three bad dancers who got ten minutes of screen time, while some great dancers would only get ten seconds on television. After all, this is what Idol has done in the past, showing the audience brief glimpses of Kris Allen and Allison Iraheta in the audition rounds while spending ten or fifteen minutes on "Bikini Girl"and Tatiana Del Toro. So imagine my pleasant surprise when I realized that in the entire two hours of SYTYCD there were eleven featured contestants who made it through, and others who were focused on made it to the choreography round of the auditions (more on that below). Only three or so dancers who were horrible got a huge amount of screen time, which will satisfy those who like laughing at bad auditions while still not taking away from the focus of the program- to find the best dancers in America.

2)Second Chances- SYTYCD also has a cool feature (which, from what I've read, seems to have applied in every season of the show so far), where those whose auditions show potential but do not warrant an automatic ticket to Vegas (this show's equivalent of Hollywood on Idol) can try learning some choreography for the judges to see if they are worth being kept around. Idol did something similar in Hollywood during season seven when everyone would sing for the judges first, and the best would get automatic tickets to the last day while the others would have to go through the dreaded "group day" in order to survive. However, Idol got rid of this format this past season, opting instead to have everyone go through all the rounds of singing, even those who were locks to make it to the final Hollywood round (Danny Gokey, Adam Lambert, etc). A return to this format would help those like David Osmond, who got cut in Hollywood when he lost his voice right before his performance for the judges. On SYTYCD the judges seem willing to give contestants second chances, so why can't Idol do the same? And speaking of the judges...

3) Constructive Criticism- On Idol the judges are known more for their personalities than for their critiques themselves. Everyone knows Randy for constantly saying "dawg" and, this season "for me for you", Paula for being the nice one, and Simon for being blunt and often using odd analogies in the process (Kara is a bit too new to be known for any one thing yet, though I fear she is becoming known for her verbal mistakes even though I'm sure many others on live camera would similarly mess up). Yet in an attempt to show these traits on a regular basis, the judges often do not make any sense in their critiques. So contestants like Lil Rounds end up confused by the judges' seemingly contradictory advice, and end up ultimately eliminated when they can't figure out what the judges want. Yet on SYTYCD the judges actually give good, honest comments without being overly critical like Simon. Sure Mary Murphy is obnoxious with her loud scream, and guest judge Sonja did seem too emotional when reacting to the auditions, but they all still made sure to give good comments. This was especially true with a contestant named Tiffany who bravely auditioned despite being born with only three vertebrae. They told her she was inspirational but needed to work on extending her arms and legs more before ultimately rejecting her. No random analogies or annoying repeated phrases to be heard!

I'm sure Idol will make at least some changes for the next cycle after one of the lowest rated seasons in history. But maybe they should take some advice from their former producer on how to make the early audition processes a lot more enjoyable.