TV Social
Recent Comments
- karekare: CoraSheaPageantmom—-Your fat ass just couldn’t sit down like you...
- thisbuggs4u: Ok, I think I figured out what I did wrong and fixed it. But my picture is still not showing up…I...
- thisbuggs4u: Annie, I did exactly what you said, but my picture has not come up yet. I had to sign up for word press...
- Flipit: OK guys you have done me a huge favor by telling me all of this stuff, because I can’t test a Windows...
- Flipit: EdHill you can still make me snort. Your Project Runway recaps brought me to this site and the memories still...
- whatwhat: I like the new site, but the dark, heavy black font used for all your headers looks really fuzzy on my monitor,...
- Knitwit: I found you
- Edhill: I still think madeyoulaugh and tabloid baby can turn this around. Just sayin.
- Classy Drunk: Thanks for the prayer Spike!!! You never let us down!
- AliceinPopLand: I CAN ACCESS THE SITE!!!! yay! and my night in call center hell is now awesome!
-
Nigel Is Thinking About Changing The Voting System
Watercooler
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
4:04 am
24 Comments
Tagged: american, american idol, change, Nigel Lythgoe, voting system
Posted in:
Watercooler
Nigel Lythgoe was so upset about Pia going home last week, that he’s thinking about changing the voting system. He wants America to vote on the bottom three, and from there, the judges will decide who goes home.
He said, “Last night I was so upset and when I got the votes [re: Pia]. I thought, ‘This is so wrong.’ But looking at it logically now, if we are going to ask people to vote and not have the judges in the way of it, that’s what people voted for and it’s unfair to try to do anything about it. That’s America’s vote.”
He also dished about Pia going home. He said, “I know the [voting] results, so I know she was never a frontrunner…The fact of the matter is, it appears that Pia didn’t connect with the audience the way we maybe think she did.”
He’s right. As much as I loved Pia, I totally agree with Nigel–Pia wasn’t very connected. As for the new voting system, I say do it! The wrong people are getting sent home, and they will continue to get sent home as long as the tweens of America are voting. I vote, but those damn tweens kick my ass! Their fingers are so tiny, they can text twice as fast.
Honestly, I can’t believe it’s taken them 10 seasons to consider changing the voting system. It’s kind of ridic.
24 Comments
Or maybe they could do it like Nigel’s other show, SYTYCD, and have the judges choose the bottom three and let the public decide which goes home.
Nigel should hire Ginger, the Tic Tac Toe playing chicken. She played Tic Tac Toe against bettors at the Tropicana for THREE years, and she lost only FIVE of her games. She worked as Director of Programming over at SyFy, but now she’s looking for a job again. Nigel, say hello to Ginger, your new voting system!!!!! She’ll even work for… well, you know.
Or vote on the person you like the LEAST and the most votes goes home.
Or limit the number of votes per phone nmber (a la DWTS).
I actually think it’s not a bad idea for the judges to pick a bottom 3 and then let America vote for the one they would like to go home from there, but I am against letting the judges have the final say.
I see no reason at all to change the voting formula. Doesn’t AI get a share of all those voting calls and texts? (They’re not free, are they?). They’d risk cooling the ardor of the premenstrual millions.
Although I like Snootch’s suggestion best: the judges choose the bottom three based on their opinion of the poorest performances. Let the masses make the final decision.
Of course, this means the judges can keep their favorites into the end of the contest, but there’s a slight hope that they’ll actually be decent performers too.
As it is, someone like Scotty McCreepy can just skate through, knowing that as long as he continues to hold his microphone like a sideways penis, he’s guaranteed to make the finals.
I cannot believe this is getting this much hype. He wants to change the whole voting system over ONE (not all that great) person going home?? I mean, I agree that the system isn’t perfect. I would be much fairer for everyone to only get one vote. But guess what? Life isn’t fair. The whole point of the show was for “America” to vote so when the album is released, theoretically, the people who liked them enough to vote would also buy the music. Letting the judges decide takes that away, which makes the point moot. It’s one of the reasons the show is so popular. How many times have you yelled at the tv over ANTM, Drag Race, or any of those shows when you disagree with the judges? Same shit, different shows.
Even if they change the voting to the person you want to leave, which by the way is really mean, someone is still gonna be pissed off when the bottom person goes home. You can’t please everyone, Nigel. Don’t even try. No matter how you reformat it, there will still be people voting multiple times, Vote For The Worst, and angry dissenters over the results. It’s been 10 years of this. Don’t act so surprised.
It’s funny that he admitted she was never a frontrunner and she didn’t connect. So she was probably gonna go home anyway. Everyone I’ve talked to, and even you guys, don’t seem all that shocked or unhappy at the elimination. I think it’s her fanbase that’s making all this noise, and it’ll probably die down this week when the next SHOCKING ELIMINATION WILL OCCUR *Ryan Seacreast voice*.
Whew. Rant over.
Isn’t the whole point that “America” picks the winner? So, I’d agree with having the judges select the bottom 3 and then have people pick the doomed one from that pool.
At this point, the only elimination that would sincerely surprise me would be Scotty’s.
can we talk about something that i haven’t seen mentioned that often: how about the judges are JUDGE?! america loves to be lead in a certain direction. most don’t have a trained musical ear and can’t tell the difference between a good and a bad performance. if the judges are going to tell every single performer that they’re “good”, “knocked it out of the park”, “they’ve done it again” and the biggest criticism they’re willing to give is “you just need to connect to the audience a little more,” then they’re basically sending the message to the audience that you can vote for anyone you’d like because everyone is on the same playing field.
also, i have to agree that pia had a nice voice, but she had ZERO charisma. is she easy to look at? sure, but it doesn’t mean her elimination deserves this kind of treatment.
i have to say, this show lost me again. it had me after the auditions and hollywood week, but now my fiancee and i literally only watch the performances and fast forward through everything else. next year, i think it’s long overdue to be cleansed from my DVR scheduler.
should be:
*how about the judges actually judge. sorry
I’m with itchy on this–not sure what the judges say/don’t say have much to do with who you like or vote for. I have liked and voted for many people Simon hated and critiqued over the years, and I am certain I’m not the only one. We’re not sheep. I’m either entertained by you, or I’m not. I barely take into consideration what the judges do at all. I think they’re kind of pointless at this stage of the game. And one more thing–all the contestants ARE on the same playing field.
“most don’t have a trained musical ear”
So?
I’ve always hated comments like this simply because someone else shouldn’t decide what people like… if a “trained musical ear” was the rule for liking music, then Rock and Roll, Rap, etc would never exist. We’d all only be listening to classical music on our iPods (because the “trained musical ears” would have never let any of that music exist to begin with).
Sadly, the tweens and teens decide what’s “cool”, just like we did in our day. Unfortunately, that means a lot of the popular music sucks, just like it did in our day (and in our parents’ day, etc). Eventually the cream of this generation’s music will rise to the top (just like it did in ours), and a lot of the popular crap will disappear.
I’m only happy that neither of my daughters like Justin Bieber (strangely enough, I had nothing to do with that decision, nor did my wife.)
@iamrufus: Couldn’t agree me…totally same playing field. AI is like a slightly more glittery (and maybe louder) America: everybody starts out the same, and everybody has the same chance. You sing well or you get sent home, how much more simple could it be? Nigel should keep his fingers out of it.
Snootchy…on SYTYCD the public picks the bottom 3 and the judges decide who stays and goes based on the dance for your life.
Really? Well I guess that goes to show that it is time for another season of SYTYCD because I’ve forgotten how it works!
jimbob, having a trained ear isn’t a prerequisite for liking music, but it probably is a good indicator of who’s doing well in a singing competition, the basis of which is to…ya know…sing better than the other person.
i’m not saying you have to be a music major to enjoy the show or even music for that matter, i’m simply saying that presumably the entire reason the judges are there is to give an expert’s opinion on the pitch and tone of the voice, the quality of the performance and access whether there is any inherent charisma or star quality in the performers. this season, they haven’t done that, so it further encourages the tweens to dominate the voting by padding the totals of those who they decide is cool. just my two cents.
“if we are going to ask people to vote and not have the judges in the way of it” The first time I read this part of Nigel’s tweet, I assumed he meant that the judges didn’t get a say in who went home, but he could also mean what many other sites have hinted at — that this year he DIRECTED the judges not to insert their opinions into the issue. Which explains the bland comments being given since the actual competition portion of the show started. Just a thought…
I lost interest in Idol when David Archuleta became such a tween dream and finalist. If I want to watch the acne horrors of puberty I’ll just watch Proactiv commercials. I do think there is a place for this show if they can find a way to balance out all the hysterical 12 year olds who text themselves into a frenzy. There really is so much
talent out there, but if the voting is not reconfigured, they will lose any viewers over 16. When a contestant sings of undying love or heartbreak, and they are too young to car-date, it is impossible to suspend disbelief.
@baymenxpac — Though that’s great if we were talking about a straight singing contest, it doesn’t apply here. Since Day 1, Season 1, AI was all about what was going to SELL instead of what was really GOOD.
How else did Fro-boy from Season 1 get so far?
Frankly, I agree with Nigel. I think that the SYTYCD format is really great, actually. Although honestly, the judges prejudices can get in the way though – Nigel and Mia in particular can be really nasty to contestants for no reason. Perhaps AI judges will be better.
Frankly, this change has needed to come about for years, but I think it’s only been in the past couple of seasons (since David Archuleta, pretty much) that the tween voting has become such a crazy thing.
I’d rather they just put a cap on voting, but I’d be okay with this change. It’s long overdue.
Why not go with something like the Dancing with the Stars format? The judges vote giving the viewer an idea of who did the best and then go from there. I mean, even tonight the top contenders were in the bottom so it still lets America speak but it also might say WHAT they’re speaking on. If the judges consistently gave Pia 10′s then she might realize or everyone else might realize that she’s not connecting somehow or that the tweens just like the creepy looking kids and they’re votes control everything. Then if that’s the case you can adjust or tweak the show accordingly.
I find it useless to have judges that don’t evaluate. One reason I like DWTS is because the judges are still sort of background players but with a say. I feel like they just want to have super-duper famous people up there to give them some kind of credibility. If the show isa bout the contestants why do the judges make a grand entrance every episode… ALL of them are being outshined by JLO and Steven Tyler or Ellen last year. Let’s be honest, after all the hoopla of selecting new panelists, the show was no longer about the contestants. Why not make Jimmy Iovine a judge? Or find another Randy Jackson/producer.. oh, because they’re not big enough names.
It’s lost any authenticity or genuine quality. I don’t feel a connection with ANY of these singers so to say Pia didn’t connect is just silly.
I like the DWTS format, only i think AI (or any other show for that matter) is not allowed to copy the exact formula for their unique system. Read up on it on the ABC website, it’s pretty cool. But some variation of that would be nice. For me, though, it’s not about “connection” with any one of these contestants. That word is being way overused. I wouldn’t go to a concert to feel connected to an artist/musician. I want to be ENTERTAINED. And Pia never entertained me. I was bored. But ’nuff about her…=)
Oh, ok. That makes sense that you can’t copy. I just think there could be some shade of it. If they really cared about making sure the contestants shined who the new AI judges were wouldn’t be the story of the season. I don’t watch the prelims (because I feel too bad for the people who suck) and I honestly ONLY tuned in to see JLO and ST when the top 12 started. I actually kept watching BECAUSE of Pia. I thought she was so much better than the rest so I kept tuning in to hear her sing. Not that she was an opera singer but sometimes a voice that’s just GOOD is entertainment to me and she can stand there and sing and not do anything if she’s pleasing to my ear.
If AI just used the disclaimer that SYTYCD does, “Americas FAVORITE…” this would be a lot less of an issue.