I know they're not calling it the "Daughtry Rule" but come on! Who are we kidding here? If every you needed proof that the votes on American Idol aren't fixed, just look at how they've responded to Season 5. Almost every effort has been made to minimize winner Taylor Hicks' involvement with the show, other than begrudgingly admitting he won the title. And as for Chris Daughtry, they've practically given him the honorary title of "your Fifth American Idol!" They sure would like to take all the credit for his album and success since the show.It took them a few years to figure out how to make sure this never happens again, and the new rule is it. One time in a season the judges can save an eliminated contestant from America's vote. Instead no one goes home, and two go the next week. I think the idea is solid, but the execution creates more emotional chaos with each eliminated contestant. Now you can get your heart broken by Ryan, raise your hopes again with your performance and then get dashed again by the judges. Two, count them, two shattered dreams in each show!
Plus it makes the judges look like dicks when they tell someone "No." They should make the decision before the results are read and have Ryan just announce it all at once. Of course, there is a benefit from the double-dreams-dashing we have now. Contestants won't be singing their song on the verge of tears as they imagine their inevitable path to oblivion. Instead they can sing as if their lives depended on it (because they do), hoping against hope that they're the next Chris Daughtry in the judge's eyes.
Next, they need to come up with a rule where the judges can force someone home who's long outstayed their welcome. They can call that one the "Sanjaya Rule."
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-13-2009 @ 2:21PM
Rob Stevens said...
This isn't even close to being a "Daughtry rule." Daughtry went out fourth, and wouldn't have benefitted from this rule. This is the "Jennifer Hudson" rule.
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3-13-2009 @ 2:50PM
Robert said...
Good catch. Not even close to the Daughtry Rule. Even though Ryan used that as an example.
3-19-2009 @ 12:36PM
coffeesky said...
Okay thank you! As soon as they mentioned Daughtry and even T. Grey I was yelling that at the tv...'it wouldn't have made a difference with those people because they were elliminated after the top five!'. I expected this point to be brought up many places the next day and nobody did, and it was driving me crazy.
3-13-2009 @ 2:36PM
Brett said...
The thing that makes sense about this is that since people can't vote against contestants, sometimes the person with the lowest votes FOR isn't always the worst.
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3-13-2009 @ 2:28PM
Vince said...
I'm not sure this is even a real contest with kids on speed dial making up most of the votes, but there may be justification that sometimes a singer gets less votes when everybody assumes they are safe and votes for a less likey singer to keep them running.
If the judges "save" a singer like this its a better system that alerts the voters to those worthy of keeping but not getting the votes. If they still wind up in the bottom two next week, they are gone and America has truely booted them.
So I am in favor of judges "Saves".
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3-13-2009 @ 2:34PM
sarahlee said...
It's not the Jennifer Hudson rule. The judges weren't even big fans of hers back then. They take the credit now, but Simon insulted her week after week her year. He never would have saved her back then.
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3-13-2009 @ 2:37PM
hotboudain said...
Daughtry wouldn't have had his current success if he would have been forced to release his first album under the Idol Winner format. It would have been some watered down, pop, mainstream garbage. The best thing that happened to him was NOT winning...
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3-13-2009 @ 3:30PM
mrvanwinkle said...
I always thought Daughtry's album WAS "some watered down, pop, mainstream garbage." But that's what sells, and that's what radio is clogged with. Whatever!
3-13-2009 @ 6:39PM
J said...
I'm just amazed at the amount of blatant producer manipulation of this year's results. Were the wildcard picks EVER in question? Add the Judge's Save on top of that, and AI this year is just a joke.
Look, there have always been craziness on this show (Daughtry, Jennifer Hudson's eliminations, Sanjaya), but a large part of that can generally be attributed to America's wacky voting patterns. This year, the producers basically placed 7 people in the top 13 (4 wild cards, and one contestant each week who was put in the "pimp" spot - last one to sing).
At this point last year, we had had some fantastic performances - David A.'s Imagine, David C.'s Hello, Brooke White, etc. By removing the top 24-to-top 12 eliminations of past, we have not had the benefit of 3 weeks of performances to allow 1) contestants to gain a fan base and 2) us to get to know the contestants. We have seen most of them sing just once before this week, other than those who were pimped during Hollywood week.
To be honest, in my household, there is a debate as to whether we will continue watching.
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3-13-2009 @ 3:10PM
Jason said...
Here's how AI can become more interesting:
1. You have to register your email and phone numbers on their website to vote, and you only get one vote per show. This isn't completely fool-proof, but delivers a better level of authenticity than simply having an open line for any joe pabst or cheerleader jill to call 1000 times.
2. Contestants who lose out to the winner must first, before there are even 12 finalists, sign an agreement stating that they will not enter the entertainment market for a full year after the #1 choice is made, or until the winner's album is released, whichever comes sooner. And they have to consider AI's offer first above all others, and must negotiate it and receive a counter-offer before turning it down and choosing a contract from another label.
3. Have a jury of industry specialists, 12 in all, that can veto the vote, just in case it's obvious the vote was too close to call, or fixed somehow.
4. Change the venue each show. I don't care if there's an AI home-base stage. It would be better if the venue changed, because it would create a more realistic situation for the singers to have the show at a different location each week. Who cares if it takes forever to set up the aluminum side steps or the shiny big screen LCD backdrop. Hire a professional road crew and do the move like every other professional musician/entertainment act does.
5. Have less creative control over the winner's first album. They won for a reason.
6. Start allowing more original songs from the contestants. Some of these people are spectacular songwriters.
7. Theme nights need to go.
8. Stop with the song and dance group crap at the first of the show. And while you're at it
9. Kill the cheesy commercials. Moments like those contribute to my thoughts of suicide.
10. Lastly, get rid of Paula. She's just weird, and I think she's outlived her usefulness. The other three judges are and have always been better at advice, better at critiques, and better at conveying information to the singers. It's like when any other judge speaks, they get to the point quickly and eloquently for the most part. Simon is the king of this. But when Paula speaks, it's dribble, it needs interpretation, and it usually is overly emotional and did I mention confusing and embarrassing? C'mon.
There. There's my annoyingly long list of 10 ways to make this show better. Hopefully someone read this. :)
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3-13-2009 @ 7:03PM
Dan said...
I'll respond to every point you made...
1. Instead of this, just do it like Dancing with the Stars does and have a vote limit per #. I wouldn't register to vote, but I've voted for a few people since my GF started making me watch this show.
2. I actually thought they already had that rule. If you make the top 10, you can't release a studio album that's not Idol related for one year.
3. 12 is a lot, as I think the four judges are enough as it is. But I do like the idea of people unrelated to the show that are just knowledgable record industry people having a say in the process.
4. It would be cool, but I bet there'd be a ton of technical issues every week as a result.
5. Definitely...but some winners have no creativity, like Jordin Sparks.
6. I think it should be ALL original songs, but not just by the singers, but by aspiring songwriters too, and let the singers choose!
7. Definitely. MJ Night was painful. And they couldn't have butchered The Beatles any more than they did last year...
8. Group numbers are always cheesy and just plain awful.
9. Even worse are the fake interviews that lead to the Ford Commercial.
10. Paula is useless. The worst thing for me is how she dances during performances...how can you be a judge and do that?
3-13-2009 @ 5:00PM
1iPete said...
I agree with most of your points but Idol has no interest in fairness or a single vote model. They love to claim they received 30,40, 50 million votes in a week. They don't want the public to know that 80% or so of those votes came from a rabid subset smaller than a million individuals.
3-13-2009 @ 6:36PM
jp said...
I could probably get a little wordy too, but I won't. I do agree with Theme Nights. There are too many artists that litterly "own" their songs. To do so would be at the contestants risk. There are just some songs that need to be left alone.
As for Paula, take the "personal" emotions out of the equation of constructive/positive comments. It's just getting old after 7 seasons.
3-13-2009 @ 4:20PM
Benita said...
It's actually the "Michael Johns" Rule. Ryan kept his hopes up last season that maybe because of Idol Gives Back he might not be eliminated but he did anyways.
Or this could be the "Tamyra Gray" rule but she got booted at 4th place so I guess it's not her rule.
So I guess in one episode this season the judges would say to the viewers: F your votes!
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3-13-2009 @ 4:24PM
Duane said...
It is a dumb rule that only hinders the game. Let's assume that they do use their save one week (which seems a given, since every season there is a "shocking" elimination). One of two things will happen: either the person saved will just go home next week (since now he has to go from lowest to third lowest, escaping the bottom two), or else if it's late enough in the season that person will go on to win the thing, basically making it look like the fix is in and that's the person the judges chose.
Speaking of which, I'm really hoping that one of the choses ones (Danny, Adam, and the girl whose name I forget with the red hair) start saying "Um, Paula, could you please stop saying I'm a shoe in to go straight to the finals? I'd like people to actually vote for me and not have to be the one that gets saved. And by the way didn't you tell like 5 of us that you'll see us in the finals?"
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3-13-2009 @ 4:58PM
Ned said...
If anything, this is the Sanjaya Rule, created to keep Sanjayas from staying in the competition over legitimately talented singers.
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3-13-2009 @ 10:10PM
juanis30 said...
Why can't the judges just be happy with picking the top 12 oops! I mean the top 13? We already have to deal with them infleuncing America and thus the votes, now they can just choose to throw the results out. Winning American Idol does not make you a star. It takes talent, likeability and EXPOSURE, and the ladder is something that the show gives in droves. It doesn't matter if someone goes home " prematurally " if stardom is in their future then just being on the show should be enough.
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3-13-2009 @ 10:19PM
Eludium-Q36 said...
You're right about the execution of the new rule, Jason. It's horrible for us and the contestants the way they're doing it. They should simply throw the Save trump card right after the person is eliminated, maybe after a commercial break, and really pimp it out with lights and balloons since it's a once-a-season occurrence. The way they're doing it now is cruel and excruciating to endure.
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3-13-2009 @ 11:34PM
rahc said...
The night of Jennifer Hudson's final American Idol appearance there was a huge thunderstorm that took out utilities to numerous homes in the Midwest. Jennifer Hudson is a Chicago girl and of course many Chicagoans wanted Jennifer to go all the way. We were unable to vote. We were powerless.
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3-22-2009 @ 4:31AM
Andy said...
I think they'll find this new rule is a mistake, it actually will hurt the show, and they will eventually abandon it. Don't they get it? Part of the fun and suspense of AI is wondering who will prematurely get the shaft, undeserved. A big part of AI's stand alone success has always been built on empowering the AUDIENCE to be the SOLE deciders of who stays, and who goes - not the judges.
As it is, while it may seem charitable to give a contestant a second chance to perform and hang on for dear life, all the while the judges are rudely and insensitively talking amongst themselves, not even paying attention, just to have one of the them surface say, "Sorry, dude", (and might as well add, "we weren't even listening, and it really wouldn't matter even if we were"). Talk about adding insult to injury..it's a pointless exercise in humiliation. And to make matters worse, they're given no choice but to be trapped into the repetition of singing the same song, and arrangement that the judges hated to begin with. What possible chance do they have to genuinely change these judges' minds under such confining circumstances?
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