Less auditions, more semifinalists, wild-card round, new judge highlight changes for television's biggest program.
When you're the biggest thing in television, you can do what you please. American Idol has done just that, deciding to spruce up its format, as announced by Fox today. Season eight kicks off January 13 and will feature some major tweaks to its ratings-guzzling tried-and-true formula.
The most immediate change will be in the audition episodes. The weeks of watching American Idol hopefuls crash and burn and become legends of YouTube has been trimmed to three weeks instead of the usual four--a severe blow to home viewers who cherish schadenfreude as part of their annual therapy.
The "Hollywood Round" will, in turn, be extended a week longer. The four American Idol judges (songwriter Kara DioGuardi was added to the Simon-Randy-Paula trio in August) will then reduce the field to 36 semifinalists over two weeks.
America and its pudgy phone-dialing fingers get into the act over the following three weeks, selecting three finalists each week (one male, one female, and one of either gender). The last three slots of the dozen finalists will be decided by the judges in a new wild-card round: Judges will bring back their favorite of the semifinalists for one last chance to move on.
From there, it's business as usual as the 12 finalists perform together for the first time on March 10 and other programs cower in American Idol's shadow.
Do you think these tweaks will help or hurt American Idol? Are you sad to see one less week of attention whores audition and embarrass themselves, or would you rather get straight to the talent?
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