Is there a Simon Cowell in the House?
Posted by Jim on Friday, July 23, 2010 in Author • Jim Romanovich - President Worldwide Media and Entertainment - Associated Television International • TV Blogs • (2) Comments • Permalink •
In my very first blog back in March, Swimming with Sharks and The Search for Adam, I predicted that a derailment would occur in the juggernaut express known as American Idol as deep concerns within the show on several levels were all happening at once. Ellen DeGeneres exclaimed from the beginning that she was not going to be a Paula Abdul replacement but rather be known for injecting humor into her critiques. She did accomplish both. She was no Paula Abdul and she did inject humor into her critiques. Unfortunately, all that did was made me miss Paula more and like Ellen’s comedy less. At least Paula was in the music business and could mentor the performers on a musical level. Plus, she was extremely likable in her loopy, pinball machine-in-tilt manner and had great chemistry with Simon Cowell. And what about Mr. Charm? He decides to quit the show at the end of the season so he can concentrate on his own projects. But even with Ellen’s lukewarm humor, the absence of Paula Abdul, and the real aspect of losing Simon Cowell (the other half of the reason to watch this show if the first half is because of the contestants), this last season still could have done well if only it hadn’t been for…one…little…thing. The near-comatose performers themselves.
The lackluster, personality-challenged idols drained every ounce of excitement from a once “can’t miss” program. How did that happen? How is it that not one Adam Lambert or Carrie Underwood eked through the several million hopefuls who showed up? Did we use them up? Are there none left?
You have to blame all of the judges for this-including those glazed over pre-judges we never see. Even Simon Cowell, who was clearly having X-Factor daydreams, made it visibly apparent that he had mentally checked out. He was literally giddy and carefree with his critiques as if it didn’t matter. Maybe with these contestants, it didn’t. So now with Kara DioGuardi exerting more confidence in her sophomore season as the artist extraordinaire, Randy Jackson picking up the slack in musical critique even more, and Ellen just going with the flow in her humor, they perhaps, inadvertently, decided that the credibility of serious artistry was more important than just entertaining the audience. So what we ended up with were a bunch of Bob Dylan and Janis Joplin wannabes all trapped behind their acoustic guitars looking too hip for the room. Just what a teenager likes to watch on TV!
For the last few years, Randy Jackson has repeated over and over that this is a singing competition. He couldn’t be more wrong. Being a great singer is only part of it. The original idol, Elvis Presley, proved that many decades before. Adam Lambert proved that in 2008. He went on to stardom although he didn’t win Idol. How else can you explain why he was the ONLY idol asked to mentor the Season 9 contestants? Why not Kris Allen? Why indeed. He’s the guy who beat Adam if you have forgotten by now. The show is called American Idol not America’s Best Singer. An “idol” is a phenomenon. That ‘it” factor is what keeps you from looking at anything else when they are on stage or even when they enter a room. When Lady Gaga appears, she is all we see. Try and turn away. It is charisma, showmanship, audience connection, and, of course, talent. During the week Adam Lambert mentored the season 9 idols, he was the only one who called it correctly. He told the idols that it was time to wake up. They never did. And the once loyal viewers voted. Not with their cell phones, but with their remote controls.
According to Nielsen, as reported by the Washington Post, CBS News and several other sources, viewers heavily favored the 2010 Winter Olympics and Dancing with the Stars over Idol. The Olympics beat Idol on February 17th with 30.1 million viewers compared to 18.4 million, only half the audience, for Idol’s results show which is the first time Idol had been beaten in six years. In March, Dancing beat Idol in viewers with 23 million compared to 21.8 million. Now, let me be clear. ANY television series would declare a national holiday if they received 21.8 million viewers. That’s not the point. It’s all about trends and momentum. If you see a succession of path points on the life track of a show dramatically lower each time, then Houston has a problem. Or at least the phenomenon ends and it just turns into another talent competition doing reasonable ratings. The question is then, how do you stop a boulder as its rolling down a mountain? Answer: you don’t. Why? Because when it happens, there’s no time or strength to stop it.
With all this being said, Idol faces the daunting task of replacing the irreplaceable Simon Cowell. Ridiculous suggestions from Bret Michaels to Donald Trump have surfaced. Now the news is reporting that Chris Isaak is the front runner at the time of this writing. Really? Doesn’t anybody understand who Simon Cowell was? Sure, he was the cantankerous one who spoke his mind freely. That’s because Simon Cowell was personally responsible for the artist. He WAS representing the record company for the idol. He didn’t care about song structure or “pitchiness”. He only cared if they had star talent that he could market and sell while quickly eliminating those who didn’t. That’s all. No small talk. No Christmas cards. That was Simon’s whole shtick. It was his impatience towards talentless wannabes that made us watch intently. But it was his expertise in recognizing marketable star talent, the idol, that made us respect him and the show’s VALUE.
If this show has any chance of continuing on as the Olympus of all star-making machines, it will have to create an idol of its own to judge. Someone who is camera friendly and who’s personally willing to put his reputation, money and expertise on the line to discover that next big star. I’m not convinced there is someone out there who can pull it off as well as Simon, nor do I think Fox or FremantleMedia is even considering that option. So to put anyone lesser in that sacred chair at camera right, such as another former musical artist who has no real vested interest other than to make himself or herself more important, will surely doom the crushing force that is American Idol.
Jim Romanovich, President Worldwide Media and Entertainment - Associated Television International, is entering his 25th year in show business as an actor, producer, and distributor. He began his professional career as a morning disk jockey on Chicago radio, appeared in various television projects, and produced several top rated series and specials for SyFy, PAX (now ION) Spike, TNT, Discovery, MyNetwork, and the CW. Having been employed by ATI for the last 20 years, he was instrumental in bringing The Daytime Emmy Awards as well as The Hollywood Christmas Parade successfully back to television in 2009 and again in 2010. He has been interviewed and written extensively on the daytime television market, past and present media, as well as his passion for classic movies and television. He has consulted companies establishing media divisions and mentors graduates in the entertainment field. He is one of Eastern Illinois University’s most successful graduates and was just ranked #18 in TV Guide Canada’s 25 Most Powerful Persons in Daytime for 2009.
