Wow--that is an awesome photo. Thank you for posting it.
Thought this would interest everyone.
RETHINKING ‘IDOL’
AUDITIONS SHOWN AS FLASHBACKS NEXT YEAR
Post Staff Writer
April 28, 2008 — THE producers of “American Idol” - worried about sink ing ratings - are considering some major changes to the show, including making the auditions flashbacks.
Execs for Fox have quietly begun taking audience surveys to see how fans might react to a number of changes in the hit show’s format, according to a report yesterday.
“Suppose the first few weeks of ‘American Idol’ started in Hollywood with flashbacks of the auditions,” one survey question asks. “Would that increase or decrease your enjoyment of ‘American Idol’?”
Though “Idol,” now in its sixth year, is by far the most-watched series on TV, the ratings have begun to slip this season - the first time that has happened on a regular basis.
Last Wednesday’s results show, which saw Irish singer Carly Smithson booted, was the lowest-rated episode in five years, according to trade reports.
“We’re not in denial,” Fox exec Preston Beckman told Broadcasting & Cable, the TV business weekly. “It’s still the biggest show on TV, but that doesn’t mean there are things we can’t do.
“The feedback from this year, you’ll probably see on the show next year,” he said.
Among the other questions on the survey, a copy of which was obtained by B&C and posted online yesterday were:
* Is the banter among the judges too much or too little?
* And do fans want to see more of host Ryan Seacrest, or less?
The survey is being conducted online, the report said.
Those types of polls are notoriously unscientific. But the execs say they are looking for results that are overwhelming - one way or another - to base decisions on for next year.
The talent show is hardly in a panic about plugging the leaks in its ratings.
Even in its worst week, “Idol” drew 22.6 million. That’s 30 percent higher than the usual No. 2 show, “Dancing with the Stars,” a huge margin in TV terms.
And though it does seem clear that some of the shine is starting to wear off “Idol,” the erosion may be beyond the control of Fox and the show’s producers.
As one cable news analyst pointed out after the last week’s Pennsylvania primaries, the Hillary Clinton-Barack Obama race has gotten so exciting, “it’s even beating ‘American Idol.’ “