The American Idol Complaint Thread

[LeslieAGD]

I hope that this will become the offical complaint thread for the show, American Idol. Throughout the three seasons thus far, many of us AI watchers have gradually become disgruntled with the show and some of its processes. This is your place to b*tch and moan about it!

* What do you like/dislike about the show, the judges, and/or the contestants?
* What do you wish would be changed?

My .02
* I think they need to adjust/vary the theme nights...it seems like every year they've done disco and country...not everyone can sing every style! The themes should be a little more open, like the movie theme week.
* Enough with the songs of so-and-so and the guest judges that say nice things about everyone. No more than two "artist showcase" weeks and only guest judges who actually have something to contribute (like Tarentino and Clive Davis)
* Judges need to stop telling "America" that its wrong. Sit there and judge honestly...don't try to convince the public to vote for who YOU like.
* I do, however, like that this year for the final song night, the show gave Diana & Fantasia three phone lines each.

[Dionysus]

They need to stop letting AMERICA JUDGE.

[chideltjen]

BWAH! Where do I begin!?

Great Idea Leslie.

Anyway here we go:
AI3 set the example for bad. Starting with the wildcard show. The whole, let's bring back 12 but only let 8 sing, thing was garbage. They pulled out some of the best performers because [speculation] they didn't want anyone to challenge their already annointed ones. (Fantasia and Diana.)

Make the Top 32 groups. Yes, it doesn't go unnoticed that the best singers end up in one group together and everyone else sucks. Ever notice that before the controversy in AI2, Kim Locke, Frenchie, Ruben AND Clay were all in the same group? WTF? Wonder what would have happened if Frenchie stayed in.

BACKGROUND CHECKS!!!!! So we don't have more Frenchie and Craggle experiences.

Age limits: So we don't have more John Stevens who aren't developed enough and have to have a tutor in tow for the season. And let people older than 25 in. I am sure there are plenty of mature singers out there that are still young (30s) and can be an Idol.

Stop with the "Vincent-ing" in regards to song choices. AI2 front runner got a nice "uplifting" song to sing on top 3 night, which he messed up on due to a last minute change. And Diana gets screwed over last night on her last song.

More phone lines = good! Voting people off instead of voting for your fav=bad. Don't go there. Nuff said.

ETA: WOO HOO 1700 posts!

[AXO Alum]

Originally posted by chideltjen
BWAH! Where do I begin!?

Great Idea Leslie.

Anyway here we go:
AI3 set the example for bad. Starting with the wildcard show. The whole, let's bring back 12 but only let 8 sing, thing was garbage. They pulled out some of the best performers because [speculation] they didn't want anyone to challenge their already annointed ones. (Fantasia and Diana.)

Make the Top 32 groups. Yes, it doesn't go unnoticed that the best singers end up in one group together and everyone else sucks. Ever notice that before the controversy in AI2, Kim Locke, Frenchie, Ruben AND Clay were all in the same group? WTF? Wonder what would have happened if Frenchie stayed in.

BACKGROUND CHECKS!!!!! So we don't have more Frenchie and Craggle experiences.

Age limits: So we don't have more John Stevens who aren't developed enough and have to have a tutor in tow for the season. And let people older than 25 in. I am sure there are plenty of mature singers out there that are still young (30s) and can be an Idol.

Stop with the "Vincent-ing" in regards to song choices. AI2 front runner got a nice "uplifting" song to sing on top 3 night, which he messed up on due to a last minute change. And Diana gets screwed over last night on her last song.

More phone lines = good! Voting people off instead of voting for your fav=bad. Don't go there. Nuff said.

ETA: WOO HOO 1700 posts!

AGREED (except for one thing - but I will discuss later)

The "choices" in the bowl should ALL be related in style. It made NO sense that Clay ended up with that Vincent crap last year.

Age -- I would say 18 and up. I agree that there doesn't need to be a cap on the age. Although, I do have to wonder if this is because they don't want people who have professional jobs and/or families that they would have to be away from.

NOTE - I am NOT saying that there is a certain age that people have a family and career -- just citing that this may be a concern for allowing people over 25 to be in. I've had enough ASSumptions about me that I just have to clarify that.

As for voting -- I do wish we could vote OFF the contestant that we like the least. I think it would be way more fair!

[BirthaBlue4]

Originally posted by AXO Alum
Although, I do have to wonder if this is because they don't want people who have professional jobs and/or families that they would have to be away from.

Well, for this, its a personal choice, they're not MAKING them do it, so I don't think that's the case. I think they're trying to appeal to the larger music market (teens, 20s. early 30s) and they don't want to listen to "old people" (another speculation )

John was no younger than Diana and Jasmine. The youngest you can be is 16 I believe. That's ok, if they have parental consent, which they would have to.

I think that having America vote is why its called AMERICAN Idol. If the judges voted for the WHOLE time, its just an audition on TV. If the judges vote, then there are specific people to blame, instead of the ambiguous AMERICA.

My only suggestion would be for there to be a well balanced general public panel on the show to critique the people. Different ages, sexes, and races. And switch them up every week, and let them vote. Just a thought.

[AXO Alum]

Originally posted by BirthaBlue4
Well, for this, its a personal choice, they're not MAKING them do it, so I don't think that's the case. I think they're trying to appeal to the larger music market (teens, 20s. early 30s) and they don't want to listen to "old people" (another speculation )

John was no younger than Diana and Jasmine. The youngest you can be is 16 I believe. That's ok, if they have parental consent, which they would have to.

I think that having America vote is why its called AMERICAN Idol. If the judges voted for the WHOLE time, its just an audition on TV. If the judges vote, then there are specific people to blame, instead of the ambiguous AMERICA.

My only suggestion would be for there to be a well balanced general public panel on the show to critique the people. Different ages, sexes, and races. And switch them up every week, and let them vote. Just a thought.

Yeah - I see what you are saying. I was just speculating since there has already been a huge problem with the younger folks and school.

I agree that America should vote -- I just wish it was voting people off rather than who you want to keep. I would be MUCH more interested in voting for people to go!

[chideltjen]

Originally posted by ariesrising
2. Better Wild Card Race - Have we ever been shown how they choose who to invite back for Wild Card? I would prefer if after the top 10 or whatever is chosen, that those people who were in the top 3 but not chosen come back to compete for 2 Wild Card slots - because we know America obviously liked them as they were in the top 3. One WC would be America chosen, the other by the judges. If they want more WCs, then each judge can choose one, whatever. Right now I don't know how they choose Wild Card, it seems to be judges choice of who comes back to compete, with no explanation of why they were chosen.

There is an article on MTV.com about how wildcards are chosen.

MTV

There is a blurb there about how wildcards are chosen.

I wanted to elaborate on why I think voting for who you want gone is a bad idea. Lets head back to season two because the fan bases were more clear cut. So all the Ruben fans want Clay gone and vice versa. So Clay fans vote off Ruben. Ruben fans get mad that their front runner is gone so they turn around and vote off Clay, Kim, etc out of spite, bitterness, whatever. That leaves us with a nice top 10 with Carmen, Julia, and Josh. (See where I am going with this?) If we vote off who we don't like, and since everyone likes different people, we may end up with a final 3 that is meh. Blah. Not the best. Because the best was voted off in the earlier rounds.

I dunno. It made more sense when someone explained it on TWoP.

[dakareng]

Increase the minimum age to 18 (no tutors and no stage moms please!!) and NO maximum. If this competition is really American Idol, let *America* decide if that 31 year old is too old or not! Personally, I'd rather listen (and buy) Madonna than Britney.

Limit votes to one call/ phone number-- there were too many suggestions of businesses (and/ or gamblers) with automatic dialers tying up circuits-- that reflects one state getting their favorite in, not necessarily the person that the most people would have voted for. One person/ one vote!

Add internet vote option.

Guest judges who don't gush that everyone is great. Let's face it- not everyone can sing Elton John or Gloria Estavan... if they're going to use that as a genre, be honest about the performances.

[PM_Mama00]

Originally posted by BirthaBlue4


My only suggestion would be for there to be a well balanced general public panel on the show to critique the people. Different ages, sexes, and races. And switch them up every week, and let them vote. Just a thought.

Just a quick question... how much more racially diverse do the judges need to be? Simon- white, Paula- Hispanic, Randy- African American. Those people have backgrounds from the most mainstream music in America.

I think they should have a system where you can only vote once. That would possibly clear the lines more, and make it a more fair competition.

[ajuhdg]

Along with what others have said, I think that he judges and music people (the singing lady/piano guy) should TOTALLY pick the top 12. That way all the crap (MATT!) is weeded out. I just think that they have a better feel for what the contestant is capable of, since they see so much more of them.

aj

[DWAlphaGam]

Originally posted by PM_Mama00
Paula- Hispanic,

I think Paula is actually Middle Eastern.


My #1 suggestion for next year: Get rid of Randy. He was ok during the audtions this year, but after that, everything was "just a'ight" to him. He stopped saying anything of relevance. (The difference between him and Paula is that Paula never made sense to begin with, so it's expected of her. Plus, they can't get rid of her because they need a judge who's nice so that all the contestants don't try to kill themselves after every audtion.) They should replace this Randy Jackson with the other Randy Jackson, just for my own personal amusement.


I agree with pretty much everything else that was said by everyone else, so I won't repeat.

[SSS1365]

Paula is Syrian-Brazilian/French-Canadian.

[ZTAngel]

She's Jewish, too.

[Lady Pi Phi]

I don't watch America Idol (don't like it) and can't vote (I also don't watch Canadian Idol either)

But I do agree that there should be one vote per phone # and 1 vote per IP address.

Not only does this let the shows judges/producers contests know who America really wants it also lets them know whether the should continue for future seasons. This way the America public can really let their feelings be known.

[SSS1365]

I agree that the judges should pick the top 12, that there should be only 1 vote per phone line and that a method of internet voting (one per IP address) should be instituted. But then FOX wouldn't be able to say, "35 million people voted...." so they won't want to do that.