Who got voted off American Idol 2011 Season 10

Is American Idol Thriving without Simon Cowell?

The Fox based reality show American Idol entered into it’s 10th season without the infamous judge and face of American Idol, namely Simon Cowell. The question on most people’s minds was, “Would American Idol Survive?” Simon Cowell resigned after the 9th season to pursue his other passion, The X Factor, another reality TV show that will air this fall on FOX. The producers knew they needed to change their formula. Without Simon, the spark of Idol, and appeal of Idol was lacking.

The Idol Formula

The producers quickly revamped the judging panel with the resignations of both Ellen Degeneres and Kara DioGuardi, and replaced them with music industry juggernauts Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez. Next they changed the formula of how they edit and display the weekly television show. The actual auditions for American Idol are held in the summer across several cities in the US. The Hollywood week is usually held in late December. The final or top 24 contestants for the music reality TV show American Idol are already set prior to the first show even airing on Fox in Mid January. With foresight the producers and editors dole out the audition city recaps and build story lines. In the past seasons the audition episodes were filled with the 15 minutes of fame wacko’s that made up the majority of each show and a brief story line of some successful contestants. Rarely did we catch a glimpse of who made it to Hollywood, nor who was part of the top 24. At best we saw maybe half of the top 24 in the audition episodes. The story lines were developed so that we would see Hollywood week contestants that were eventually not chosen to continue in the contest. Good television in the eyes of the producers.

The format continued from the top 24 (12 male and 12 female) that were chosen would perform live on Tues and Wednesdays and American would vote. The first 3 live episodes were would see 4 contestants (2 male, 2 female) voted off from 24, to 20, to 16, to 12. That again made good television. It gave us the chance to get to know the contestants and become fans and root for our favorites, and listen to the harsh criticism from Judge Simon Cowell.

Without Simon and his comments the formula didn’t equal success.

The American Idol 2011 Season 10 audition shows were edited with less of the wacho’s, and more storylines of eventual Top 24 contestants. The Hollywood week episodes were extended and the opportunity for hear the signers perform from the top 24 down to top 12 was eliminated.

With the formula changed the question still remained: Is American Idol Thriving without Simon Cowell?

The Voting

One of the biggest criticism of the Idol process was the phone voting system. Constant and continual phone busy signals did cause frustration for viewer interaction. The idol producers made a change in the voting procedures, allowing viewers to vote online. This allows the computer savvy and socially interactive youth to become even more engaged and fanatical about a contestant.

The voting numbers are rarely released or even mentioned on the show, but for the last two weeks, Ryan Seacrest stated that 30 Million and 40 Million votes were received respectively for the past weeks. The Nelsen ratings are holding steady and Idol is still winning it’s time slots. The interaction with the judges have been both comical and entertaining. Long gone are the days harsh criticism.

The Judges

Randy Jackson, the veteran Idol Judge, has taken over as the mean judge, in Simon’s absence. However the “Yo Dog!” Jackson just can’t summon his “Inner Bitch or Inner Simon”. While the harshness of Simon may be missed by some viewers, the contestants this year are more well rounded. Absent is the cookie cutter contestant in Simon’s mind.

Cowell, the former record producer and executive who’s highlights and lowlights include the Teletubbies and the Spice Girls, has a preconceived notion of what a pop star should look like, sound like, feel like. If you didn’t fit into his cookie cutter model, you didn’t stand a chance on Idol. With the inclusion of unconventional Steven Tyler, and Jennifer Lopez as judges the American Idol Season 10 has a better well rounded cast of contestants. I even suggest some of the top 24 would not have even made it through Hollywood week if Simon still had a his say.

The Numbers

When all is said and done, it’s the Nelsen Rating numbers that matter.

The opening of American Idol’s top-13 round sang to 24.4 million viewers Wednesday, up by 1.5 million (a 7% gain) from last year’s comparable top-12 episode on Fox. Thursday’s results show was up 8%, to 22.1 million.

The numbers are up, the voting is up, the Simon departure may have been an Idol blessing.

So, Is American Idol Thriving without Simon Cowell?

The Answer

Based on the contestants we have on the show, the voting numbers, the nelson ratings, the entertainment value to date, The answer is Yes. But I can still get my Simon on this fall with X Factor!

Check out Liz’s ?Will American Idol Survive Without Simon post

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