Even former American Idol producer Nigel Lythgoe wasn’t impressed with the show’s season nine, and recently said so to The Canadian Press hinting that the people behind the show have lost both the focus, and “mojo” of the show after making the show less about the music and more about the judges.
He said: “The team took their eye off the ball a little bit and was more worried about the judges and what was happening with them than it was regarding the talent last year,” he said. “It became about Kara (DioGuardi) joining and making the fourth judge; Paula (Abdul) leaving; Ellen (DeGeneres) joining and Simon leaving — and much more about them and concentrating on that than on the talent that they were finding.”
Lythgoe who was one of the executive producers of “Idol” for the first seven seasons said he was less than impressed with number nine, which ended with former paint salesman Lee DeWyze being crowned the winner while early fan favorite Crystal Bowersox took second. Lythgoe said overall, “it wasn’t a vintage year.”
He also has reservations about the producers replacing Simon Cowell on the panel saying: “It’s never been my opinion that four judges work on that program because it should be about the talent.”
Why do you think season nine had the lowest ratings yet? Do you think the show is on its last legs?
HitPredictor Blog 
Simple. No Adam Lambert. We are now officially spoiled after him, making this show more karaoke than ever. The show found its star; no need for anyone else.
:)
Lythgoe is absolutely right. And it shows because SYTYCD seems better than ever while American Idol is scrambling for every gimmick to retain their audience.
The judges (especially Simon) don’t care about the contestants and they were obviously looking for a certain type of winner, because so many of the contestants this year were of the same type. Especially with the girls. They were looking for a Taylor Swift and it backfired on them.
I agree… I think they were looking for the next taylor swift and it didnt happen. Hope they get the hint that maybe America is tryin to tell them that although we love Taylor we dont want anymore like her/copies/clones/etc.
Because when Adam Lambert was on AI, it was like he was giving us a concert every night. Everyone else this season was doing karaoke or sumfthin’ I don’t know what the heck they were on but it didn’t trigger any emotions. They lack charisma. Adam is the full package. I don’t think anyone can top him in terms of International Superstardom.
That’s what drives me nuts about Idol, when I feel like I am watching Karaoke. I like the showmanship, because lots of people can sing cover songs pretty good, but to succeed you need to have more than just a pretty voice!
I agree with Nigel. Kellie Pickler said the same thing last week at CMA Fest
http://kfrog.radio.com/2010/06/11/cma-fest-interview-kellie-pickler/
http://www.wqyktv.com
Another reason why season 9 stunk is because Idol/19 booked a bunch of non-Idol artists instead of more Idols to perform on results shows. Over the entire season they had more non-Idols than Idols perform. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Idol viewers watch the show to see Idols sing (especially those we voted for and bought their music and concert tickets) and we don’t want to see that many non-Idol pop stars. Why on earth didn’t they book Kellie Pickler, 1 of their own biggest stars? During season 9 she had 2 singles out to promote and didn’t get to sing either on Idol. Terrible promotion! They gave it all to Lady GaGa, Justin Bieber, etc. No wonder Kellie’s sales aren’t higher. Carrie was on Idol 3 times this season to promote her music and tour.
Really they were floundering in season 8 too, but got lucky with a couple of the finalists. This season was even worse, even though I think Crystal may be one of the best musicians to ever come out of the Idol machine.
As fun as it was for die hard AI fans to love to hate Lythgoe, the show has gone downhill since he left.
I agree four judges is a mistake, viewers want to see talented contestants, not listen to narcissistic judges.
Yeah, I liked the early seasons the best when I didn’t really know that much about any of the judges, but as the show grew in popularity so did the drama between them taking away from the focus of the show which should be the singers!
I think this past season had very low ratings because almost none of the talent (except for maybe Siobhan) had as much star quality as those from last season (i.e. Adam, Allison, Kris, etc).
None of the contestants this season had star quality and are nothing like the best of season 8 or a few the other season.
Season 7 was hard to top with David Cook winning but ADAM LAMBERT was clearly the one who kept the audience glued to their TV’s each week waiting to see what he was going to do next. When he didn’t win, I was disgusted with the entire show and said forget ever voting for any other contestants so I didn’t. I wasn’t eevn going to watch another season of it but I’m a music lover so I watched it anyway. Can’t say that I wasted my time because I did enjoy most of it BUT the ONLY two shows that were worth watching were the TWO that ADAM were on mentoring the contestants because he clearlly knows what he’s talking about. IDOL lost the sparkle when Season 8 was over not only because of ADAM but there was Allison Iraheta and Kris Allen who I also liked (don’t hiss and boo me because Kris is a nice guy–met him at one of the IDOL shows).
I said before Sesason 8 that there was too much emphasis put on the time spent on the judges but it also added a bit of sparkle with Simon and Paula and when Paula left the sparkle was gone and now tha Simon has left…not gonna be the same either. I will probably watch IDOL next year but you can betcha I’ll be watching Simon’s show X-Factor. Sadly, American Idol lost their focus on what it shold’ve remained on—-the contestants. It’s also a crying shame too when its left in the hands of tweens to decide the fate of someone’s future cuz they’re cute and not their TALENT—their SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND NOT THEIR TALENT. Sorry I know that it’s last yea’s news and ADAM is over it and he’s better off without the title but still it’s being brought up over & over. HE’S TIRED OF BEING JUDGED AS A GAY SINGER! PEOPLE WAKE UP! YEAH HE’S GAY BUT HE’S ONE HELLUVA ENTERTAINER FIRST AND FOREMOST AND THAT’S WHAT HE THANKED AMERICAN IDOL FOR DOING FOR HIM. GIVING HIM THE CHANCE TO SHOW HIS TALENT AND HE ACHIEVED THAT OPPORTUNITY AND NOW HE’S OUT ON THE ROAD GIVING 110$ TO SOLD-OUT SHOWS! YEAH I MADE THIS AN ADAM LAMBERT ISSUE TOO BUT THE THING OF IT IS THIS…..IDOL GAVE HIM THAT CHANCE AND HE GRABBED IT WITH GUSTO AND WITHOUT IDOL, HE WOULDN’T BE THE MEGASTAR THAT HE’S DESTINED TO BE. SO THANK YOU AMERICAN IDOL. SADLY THIS SHOW ISN’T GONNA BE AROUND FOR MUCH LONGER.
Are you saying Gracie that you think Adam lost because he is a gay man/gay singer? Although I’m sure during his season of Idol he might of lost a few votes to one the other contestants cuz some ppl live in the past or in the heart of the bible belt. I really dont think it was enough to make a difference in the votes during any week of the competition. People just had their favorites and voted for them. Or they thought their pick was safe and didnt vote. Plain and simple. But really lets be honest do we think Adam would of been to make the record he wanted had he won? And do we really think he would of been better off had he won? I think not. Placing 2nd was the best thing that could of happened. It’s been proven before that you don’t have to place 1st to be successful (Chris Daughtry, Jennifer Hudson, Kellie Pickler, Etc) after each season of Idol ends.
yeah i think alot of the reason that ADAM lost on IODL was due to the fact that he’s gay. Sorry but alot of people that I have discussed this with feel the same way. ADAM is better off without winning IDOL and now looking back, I’m glad that he didn’t win it but it’s just the fact that the numbers show that he was number one each week during the voting. This issue will go round and round until the end of time and it won’t change a thing and like I said, ADAM is voer it and so am I despite how it may look and sound. Maybe I shouldn’t have brought it up except to say that ADAM is tired of being referred to as the GAY entertainer ADAM LAMBERT. He’s a nusical genius who was given the opportunity to show his talent on IDOL but there’s no way this country was going to allow a GAY man to be the next American Idol. Sorry but it’s the freakin’ truth. He’s more accpeted in other countries than his own. If you choose not to believe me, then watch the videos on youtube and watch how he’s treated in interviews and how much freer he is and then watch him being interviewd on the good ol USA TV networks.
Idk… I respect your view pt and would of been more inclined to agree with you but he didnt come out until after his season of Idol was over. Yes there was ppl that didnt need Adam to confirm that he was. But I still don’t think that this is the main reason he lost or even in the top 3 reasons why he lost (1. Ppl thought he was safe 2. Ppl liked one the others more 3. Ppl werent a fan of the type of music he showcased on show). I just think that there is always gonna be a few that dwell on and hold against him that he is a gay man and some in the media who will label um. But Adam doesnt need those ppl anyways and doesnt really pay attention to them anyways so we should all let it go.
As for my thoughts on Season 9. I do think there was a lil too much focus on the judges at times (ie. ellen replacing paula/her debut as a judge and simon leaving/who will replace him). But I think too that the show and judges just really picked poorly and were too focused on finding the next taylor swift or girl idol. There was least 3 or 4 guys and a few girls that SHOULD of made it into the Top 24. And probably would of made the Top 12. And made it a much more interesting season. If Idol wants to be around more than 1 season they are gonna have to make some MAJOR changes. Take the best of other music n talent shows like Rock Star that had an original song week and lyrics week. And not really having themes. They wonder why after each season that most dont do well. It’s cuz although the idols may be good at covers and being a covers artist it doesnt always work beyond that.