American Idol will be back for its 8th season starting January 13th and according to a leaked internal memo, some things will be changing about the show.
Here’s a list of the basic changes:
- Idol will stick to being on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
- Instead of 4 weeks of drawn out auditions, it will be cut down to 3 weeks.
- Look for a Top 36 instead of the usual Top 24.
- The Wild Card week is back. [They did this during the first three seasons. During season 1, only one contestant who didn't make the semi-finals was able to perform once more for a chance at a spot and it was the judges' decision. During seasons 2 and 3, each judge picked a contestant and the public also picked one so four came back to sing again.]
- No Thursdays are planned.
- There will be 2 weeks of Hollywood Rounds instead of 3.
- There will be a Top 12 as in previous years.
- Promotional thrust will have fewer bad singers and more ‘aspirational’ singers. [More tugging at your heart strings.]
- There will be no Idol Gives Back. [Held during two seasons and it raised $75 million each year to donate to multiple charities. I wonder why they aren't feeling charitable this season?]
Here’s the official memo:
FOX Network Program Executive Council
DECEMBER 2008 MINUTES
AMERICAN IDOL
When will the schedule and any new details about this season be released?
January through March details will hopefully be released before the Holidays. All episodes will be Tuesday-Wednesday. No Thursday’s planned; same overall number of hours as last year. There will be 3 weeks of auditions and 2 weeks of Hollywood rounds. There will be 36 contestants coming here to Hollywood as opposed to 24 last year. There will be a wild card week and there will continue to be 12 contestants in the Finals. There will be a couple of more 2 hour shows than in the past. Promotional thrust will have fewer bad singers and more ‘aspirational’ singers. There will be no Idol Gives Back.
Are you excited for the show to start up again or so totally over it?
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