American Idol Season 8 Changes
New Judge Kara DioGuardi & Other Tweaks to the Popular Reality Show
Is American Idol still a force to be reckoned with in the reality TV world? Even though the season 8 premiere won the night, it did not perform as well as the show's season 7 premiere in 2008. According to the Nielsen Media Research metered market overnights for January 14, 2009, the overall rating/share of the premiere (16.7/25) was down 10 percent versus the season 7 premiere (18.6/27) in 2008.
While the slippage in rating and share is fairly normal for any show enjoying eight seasons of success, there have been some changes made to the show's format this season. American Idol has endured changes in previous seasons; some have worked, some have not. Only time will tell if the current rash of changes will help the program in the long run.
Personnel Changes on AI
The biggest and most obvious change is the addition of the fourth judge, songwriter-producer Kara DioGuardi. DioGuardi joins Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson in selecting and critiquing the final contestants. According to producers, American Idol was originally intended to have four judges, as does the British predecessor, Pop Idol. DioGuardi is no stranger to the American Idol phenomenon. She has written songs for many of the former Idol contestants, including Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Katharine McPhee and Clay Aiken.
Another major change is the departure of co-producer Nigel Lythgoe. Lythgoe, who is also a choreographer, left the show after the 2008 season to concentrate on his work on So You Think You Can Dance and other projects for 19 Entertainment.
Format hanges: More Time in Hollywood for Idol Contestants
While entertaining, less time will be spent on the lousy, freaky and delusional auditions and more on contestants who are passed through to Hollywood.
Hollywood Week will now span to weeks, allowing viewers to get to know the contestants more in depth than in past seasons.
The semi-final round will consist of 36 contestants, instead of the previous 24. The 36 semi-finalists will be divided into three groups of 12, with the top male, the top female and the third highest vote-getter in each group automatically advancing to the Top 12.
A wild-card round will be reinstated for the first time since season 2. The fourth top vote-getter in each group moves to this round, competing against other contestants that the judges have chosen. The judges will then choose three contestants from this group to complete the Top 12.
Once the Top 12 competition begins, the weekly results shows will be reduced from one hour to thirty minutes.
There is a rumor that there will be less mentors this season as well, and more focus on the contestants themselves.
Previous Changes
One change that worked well for the show was getting rid of co-host Brian Dunkelman after the first season, and continuing with a single host, Ryan Seacrest.
The songwriting contest introduced in season 6 gave us the final songs for winners Jordin Sparks ("This Is My Now") and David Cook ("Time Of My Life"). The contest has not added much to the show other than providing the final songs.
Starting in season 7, contestants were allowed to play musical instruments starting with Hollywood Week. This change helped some contestants, but was a hindrance for others.
What is Rating/Share?
Both numbers represent percentages. The first number, the rating, is the percentage of the number of households who are watching a particular television program or station in relation to the total number of households with television in the measurement area, known as the universe. The second number, the share, is the percentage of the number of households watching a particular program or station in relation to the total number of households that are actually using their television at that time.
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