American Idol 4: Cruel and Unusual With A Side of Improvement

With the first Wednesday night results show of the season, American Idol 4 proved that it still can’t decide whether it wants to be good or bad. While the new guys vs. girls semi-final format has given the show a much needed rejuvenation, there still are many issues, both old and new, that need to be addressed.

The Bad: What Needs To Be Eliminated

Guerilla Elimination Tactics: The show reached a new low this week with the way Ryan Seacrest handled the naming of eliminated contestants. He awkwardly dragged out the process by making the contestants stand up, sit down, and form lines across the stage. Then, in a sudden change of pace, he pounced out the eliminated contestant’s name. The delivery was alarming and uncalled for. That kind of trickery may be fun at a surprise party, but not when the matter at hand is the end of someone’s dream on national television. When it comes time to name the eliminated, the best way to do it is to simply state, “The contestant with the lowest amount of votes is ___.” There’s no need to insult the contestants with mind games, shock value delivery, or by parading them around like show dogs.

Post-Elimination Singing: Just as bad as the guerilla elimination tactics is the post-elimination singing. A contestant has just been given really bad news in front of millions of people, the judges have just stated that he/she was out due to horrible song choice and/or bad performance, so naturally the best thing to do is shove a mic in his/her hand and force him/her to sing the very song that supposedly just ruined his/her dream. It is cruel. It is corny. It is uncomfortable to watch. It needs to stop. There really is no need for a swan song at this point, but if the producers just have to have one, a video clip of the contestant’s previous performance would be much more flattering to both the show and the contestant. When it gets further along in the season, the evicted singers should sing a song of their choosing from some point in the competition other than the song that led to their demise on the show. That way that they can at least go out in a blaze of glory.

The Good: What Needs To Be Safe

Less Result Show Recapping: The one good thing to come out of this week’s results show was the noticeable lack of recapping. We didn’t have to sit through an hour of Seacrest quoting what the judges said about each contestant after their performances. If the producers are smart, they will keep this streamlined format throughout the duration of the season. Unfortunately, the producers have proven their intelligence (or lack there of) since the inception of American Idol, so we should expect the new format to be dropped in the very near future.

Seacrest’s New Attitude: Despite his poor results show delivery, Ryan Seacrest is sporting a new image this season on American Idol. He is no longer the village idiot, but rather is more the snarky ringmaster. He seems to be controlling the show, rather than letting the show control him. It is refreshing to see Ryan be strong, smart and witty, rather than merely Simon’s whipping post. Here’s hoping he maintains his new self-imposed authority. Seacrest In!

For Future Consideration

Better Semi-Finalist Coverage: A longtime problem for American Idol has been their lack of coverage of all semi-finalists in the pre-semi-final episodes. The judges decide who will be semi-finalists at least a month before the first episode of the season airs, so the producers have plenty of time to edit all the 24 semi-finalists into the show. Each of the 24 should have been shown in their initial auditions and at least once in the Hollywood round. While there have been contestants who have had success on the show without being shown before they perform for the public vote (Kelly Clarkson in Season 1, LaToya London in Season 3), there is no question that several have been the victim of the lack of publicity. One such victim was Melinda Lira, the first female semi-finalist to be eliminated this season. She deserves recognition for publicly addressing this unfair situation during the results show. While it is true that the contestants are responsible for convincing the public to vote for them, there is no good reason as to why the producers didn’t show all 24 semi-finalists perform at least once in the earlier episodes. Perhaps Melinda’s public addressing of the situation will bring some changes to the coverage of contestants in future seasons of Idol.

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