Views on Season Ten

Paula Abdul retired from American Idol two years ago. Simon Cowell retired last year, and they fired Kara DioGuardi. In their places they hired pop diva Jennifer Lopez and rock dinosaur Steve Tyler.

I have enjoyed American Idol for several years now. I even enjoyed Ellen Degeneres last year when she was on the show. I wondered what Ellen could bring to a music program. She may not be a singer, but she is a performer – and I found her advice to the contestants to be wise.

Except for Paula, who may be a very nice person but was absolutely useless as a judge, I liked the regular judges on the show. I wondered if the show would be just as good with the addition of Lopez and Tyler.

It is not..

It is much better.

I never had a problem with Simon. I may have disagreed from time to time, but I felt he was giving a cold business eye to the proceedings. I also thought he was the antidote to Paula’s overdose of cotton candy.

This new crew, with Randy Jackson being the only holdover, has shown itself up for the challenge.

JLo did have a hard start. On the first show of the season, the first morning of auditions was filled with great talent. You could almost see JLo thinking, “Wow, what an easy gig. I get to sit here, listen to some great singers, and send them to Hollywood.” When she finally ran into a hopeful who could not carry a tune in a bucket, JLo seemed to be a bit lost and uncomfortable with having to actually turn someone down. However, the job got easier as Lopez got more practice at swinging the ax.

What can I say about Tyler? He clearly love different kinds of music. He seems to go into a trance at a good performance. He is also funny as all get out.

Randy Jackson is now the head judge. He is harsher than he has been in the past, but he seems to handle the job fine.

It seems that the judges are almost as important a reason to watch as are the contestants, but they do not overpower the show in the meantime.

Some people do not like the idea of American Idol, feeling the winners become pre-fab stars. I think the show is a boot camp. The people either make it or they don’t. I remember one contestant who seemed to burn out as the show went on. It was as if he did not realize that being a star took that much work.

And if it weren’t for Major Bowes, we would not have heard of Frank Sinatra.