American Idol
Reviewing Season's Past - American Idol 4
Commentary By Jillian Kuras
January 17, 2004
Editor's Note: Jillians review of season four was written shortly after the season ended and is reprinted below. If you missed her reviews of seasons one, two and three you will find the links to those articles below.
Season 1 Season 2 Season 3
Here is Jillian's review of season four.
Season four saw Carrie Underwood crowned this year's American Idol. Her career as a country pop star is well underway.
The season wasn't all sunshine and roses though.
It had its equal share of ups and downs. And what would American Idol be without controversy? I do think that some of the controversy can be avoided next year if a few slight changes are made to the program.
First of all, I think it is necessary that the screening process of the contestants be a little more thorough. And if they feel that the process is complete enough, perhaps they need to give it another look.
One huge topic of discussion in season four was should contestants who have criminal records be allowed to audition. My opinion is no. Don't get me wrong, I think it is great that these contestants want to move on with their lives in a more positive direction. I say more power to them. But should they really be allowed to start over in a competition where millions of children look up to them and call them their "idols"? With all the millions of people who audition, it's not like FOX is desperate for the talent.
I think that if a person has a criminal past, violent or not, they should not be allowed to audition for American Idol.
Second of all, something seriously needs to be done about the voting process. I've always hated that people were allowed to vote as many times as they like; especially when some vote hundreds and hundreds of times. This season it seemed to be especially out of control. Limiting the voting is the only way to fix this problem.
I'm not saying everyone should only get one vote. I know that would be difficult in the early rounds when some viewers like to vote for more than one person. But setting a limit, maybe five times per phone line, definitely seems necessary. Online voting would also be a nice addition.
I think one of the best voting processes is the one used for Last Comic Standing. Each viewer was allowed to submit 3 phone votes, 3 text votes, and 3 online votes. Nine votes is certainly a reasonable amount.
Not only would this really allow us to see just who the best is, but it will also make the phone lines less congested. Is it really fair for some people to get through hundreds of times while other can only get through once or twice?
Another topic related to this situation is giving the judges the option to contribute to who goes home. I know a lot of people like the Star Search method of having the judges' count for 50% and American count for 50%. I've been thinking about this though and I have another idea.
Why not let America vote like always, and have Ryan pull out the bottom three. After a little added drama, Ryan can tell the third place contestant that they are safe. Then, the judges can choose between the remaining two and send one of them home. Then at the finale, let the voting be 100% based on America. So technically, it is still America's Idol.
Whatever they decide to do, they need to do something. Prior to the finale, I saw a live red carpet interview with producers Nigel Lythgoe and Simon Fuller. They were asked if they thought any of the contestants were wrongly booted this season. After dancing around the question a bit, then never did really answer it.
They did however say that there were some contestants that they were happy to finally see leave. They said that after awhile, it became embarrassing and that they breathed a sigh of relief when a certain contestant was finally voted out. One can only assume they were referring to Scott Savol. The fact that they recognize there is a problem is encouraging.
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