Last night at 8:56 PM, EST, I was watching American Idol. Host Ryan Seacrest went to a commercial, saying that coming up next would be Adam Lambert, the last performer of the night. Again, I looked at the time. How on earth was Fox going to get this show done by 9:01 as planned? Well, the answer is that they didn't. In fact, people recording American Idol on DVRs are ticked off this morning.
For those who relied on the DVR and missed those last six minutes, you missed a lot. Kona, who's no Adam Lambert fan, was even impressed with his performance of Tears for Fears' "Mad World."
But more than Adam's performance, which I rate as dazzling in its originality and proof that he's the guy to beat in this competition, you had to see Simon Cowell's reaction. He got out of his seat and announced that he was giving Adam a standing ovation. Simon gave a standing ovation to a contestant! I think that was a first.
Aside from a lot of viewers being frosted over missing the end of the show, there's also a question of how the vote might be effected. If you didn't see Adam's performance because of the DVR mess up, would you still vote for him? Did you even get the phone number to call in, because it wasn't broadcast before he sang. If Adam winds up in the bottom three tonight, it is likely due to the DVR malfunctions across the country and that's just not right.
However, don't worry about Adam. There's no way he's going home. The Judges' save -- the new fangled rule which has yet to be used and can only be applied once a season -- would be activated for Lambert. Which brings up the thought that I've had all morning: did American Idol do this on purpose? Did they want to run long to create this situation? It would be a great way to create controversy and, yes, give the judges a chance to save Adam.
Hmm...what do you think? Am I reading too much into this or was this just an accident? I mean, really, how often has Idol screwed up the timing of the show?
One final thought: If these DVRs are really so intuitive, you know "smart" machines, how come they can't figure out when a show -- be it an episode of American Idol or an NFL football game or the Oscars -- is running long and keep on recording? There's nothing as irritating as thinking you've got the show when it turns out that damn clock has worked against you and you only have 97% of the program.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
4-08-2009 @ 10:14AM
Christopher said...
Yeah, I'm so glad I didn't rely on a DVR last night. That was ridiculous what the show runners at Idol did. We've been waiting I don't know what seems like 4 months since Fringe has been on, and you have AI running over into the show. Give me a break! That show really grinds my gears.
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4-08-2009 @ 10:36AM
Karen said...
DVRs aren't intuitive. They are a machine that is programmed for a certain time slot. If the show runs over, the machine doesn't know. Why not just program it to run longer on live shows, shows affected by Sunday football, etc.
Adam won't be in the bottom three and this was not a ploy to use the judges save, although it was a bit unfair. It would have been more unfair for another contestant, but this is not a concern for Adam.
They are going to have to use the save on Allison though. I hope it comes down to Adam and Allison.
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4-08-2009 @ 10:43AM
Matt Moore said...
Actually, my DVR asks me if I want to record an extra half hour when I hit record on an obviously live show. But it doesn't count Idol as live (probably because Idol is actually on tape delay here in Mountain time).
4-08-2009 @ 10:17AM
dt3 said...
"If these DVRs are really so intuitive, you know "smart" machines, how come they can't figure out when a show -- be it an episode of American Idol or an NFL football game or the Oscars -- is running long and keep on recording?"
Yeah what a bunch of morons. I think (by law) all dvr's should be equipped with some sort of facial recognition software. That way if AI runs long they can use a computer algorithim to distinguish between the facial features of say Olivia Dunham and Ryan Seacrest.
Look it sucks... I am sure Fringe producers were equally as upset as AI's. Its live TV. S Happens, deal with it.
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4-08-2009 @ 10:48AM
Pingles said...
Sarcasm overload!
Actually, if content providers weren't so slow to embrace DVRs this would already be happening.
We're only a few months away from all broadcasts being digital. Embedding signals at the start/end of shows for DVRs is very possible but will likely never happen because content providers are so afraid of DVRs.
4-08-2009 @ 10:19AM
pugnax said...
I could care less about Idol, you do know not everyone watches it, but the delay of Fringe was annoying. I bypassed the broadcast of it and downloaded it instead and saved the 23 minutes of commercial time.
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4-10-2009 @ 12:59AM
Rick said...
Fringe only has like 10 minutes of commercials per episode. What are you talking about?
4-08-2009 @ 10:22AM
Davin Peterson said...
Idol takes too many commercial breaks. Instead of breaking after singing one song, go 2 songs then break. Also, limit the judges comments to a few words and then the show will end on time.
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4-08-2009 @ 11:12AM
tpp said...
The show always goes long. Every single week.
And it's not because of commercials, but Ms. Abdul's and Ms. Diogardi's inability to stop rambling. Especially Paula Abdul.
4-08-2009 @ 10:22AM
Blair Mitchelmore said...
I flicked to Fox to watch Fringe and I caught the start of that 'Mad World' cover and thought it was terrible. I can't believe it was so well received.
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4-08-2009 @ 11:10AM
mikeh said...
This is a good post - I actually thought my DVR screwed up last night since it has been having problems. I doubt that FOX did this on purpose. The AI judges knew they were running late when they each said about 2-3 words about Allison's performance (which was outstanding and deserved a lot more). Sorry I missed Simon's reaction to Adam - hopefully they'll replay it tonight. Adam won't be eliminated.
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4-08-2009 @ 10:32AM
Vince said...
I don't think it was staged to run over. The judges rushed thru Matts judgements and pretty much fell down in worship of the Adam show. When will they declare the show over by a knockout and just give Adam his crown and start recording Alison?
BTW, how is the order of who sings when determined? Didn't Adam close the show before?
Looks like Scott should go, but I fear for Lil, who they have been disparaging for weeks.
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4-08-2009 @ 10:51AM
Pingles said...
The order is likely determined during rehearsals. They usually keep the show-stopper for last.
Very rare that they end the show on a weak performance.
4-08-2009 @ 10:33AM
Ryan said...
While last night they went longer than usual, AI does still tend to go over 2-3 minutes. So people should always be mindful of that from the get go.
Plus if you were planning on watching Fringe after, would it have really affected you? I mean I guess if you DVR'd it to end at 10:00 and missed the last 3 minutes due to AI overrun.
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4-08-2009 @ 10:43AM
xdreamwalker said...
I'm just finding out that I'll miss the last few minutes of Fringe when I get home to watch it today.
Why wouldn't AI skip the last commercial break... or why wouldn't Fringe skip one to keep that show from running long as well?
Fox does this with The Simpsons as well. I have to set my TiVo to start early in this case so I don't miss the opening.
4-08-2009 @ 11:08AM
Chip Douglas said...
I'm pissed the show ran long because that meant that Fringe ran long. I missed the end of Fringe and that really pissed me off. It's a game show. Scripted entertainment. There is no reason why the show should run long.
4-08-2009 @ 10:38AM
Joe said...
I agree that Adam doesn't have anything to worry about, I wish he did. We didn't see his performance until we found it on the Idol site this morning. I think they are running over due the the fact that they added a 4th judge. Kara is pretty long winded, and it just takes more time to hear from 4 of them every time. You can tell with Allison who was next to last they were judging her very quickly.
http://www.joeonthetube.com
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4-08-2009 @ 10:56AM
Jason said...
I'm so sick of AI being the big bully and getting its way all the time. Two-hour episodes, on TV two to three nights a week- they're like a big elephant in a tiny closet full of fragile stuff you like and want to keep, throwing their weight around and taking up all the extra space. I mean, c'mon, the results show should be 30 min. long at the most. Tell us who's gone and cut the other crap.
I'm so sick of having AI crammed down my throat I could vomit.
*puke*
There.
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4-08-2009 @ 1:21PM
Andrew said...
The reason AI gets priority is because it gets 30 million viewers an episode. Life's unfair, I know.
4-08-2009 @ 11:09AM
Leroy said...
I'm pissed at Fox about something slightly different. I had something to do last night, so being a Fringe fan as well as an Idol fan, I recorded both. That means I got to see Adam's incredible performance last night, but today when I try to watch Fringe I know that I will be missing the last six minutes of it.
The show rarely, if ever, ran over when there were just three judges. I declare the decision to add the fourth judge a stupid mistake. We don't need that much mostly pointless commentary on every performance anyway. The judges' opinions have never influenced my votes. I know how to think for myself.
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