amyk's Blog

I found a couple of interesting "American Idol" stories today.  The story below talks about how much advertisers will have to pony up to advertise on the show:

Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) -- ``American Idol,'' the most-watched show on U.S. television, is capitalizing on its popularity and a strike in Hollywood to set records for advertising prices.

Even before TV writers walked out Nov. 5, News Corp.'s Fox network commanded at least $780,000 for advance 30-second spots, about 30 percent more than in the previous year, ad buyers with knowledge of the deals said. Commercials bought now, just before the premiere tomorrow, are priced in the low $900,000s, up about 50 percent from a year earlier, said the buyers, who asked not to be named because the figures aren't public.

While Simon Cowell and the show's executive producer both say this season has to be better than last year.

From "Variety" January 11, 2008:

Even uber judge Simon Cowell wasn't wowed by the "Idol" class of 2007.

"I think last year just wasn't one of our better seasons," the snarky Brit says, adding that to some degree, producers "are at the mercy of who shows up for the competition."

Of course, Simon being, well, Simon, he has some notes for his "Idol" producers.

"The show has got to look better. It's got to be more fun as a show," he says. "It absolutely comes down to the content of what we provide the viewers."

Exec producer Nigel Lythgoe concedes that mistakes were made last year. For starters, Lythgoe says the show spent too much time on big-name guest mentors and performers, at the expense of investing viewers in who's who (particularly early in the show's competish).

"We need to put our hand up and take the blame," he says. "We missed out on telling the best stories. If (contestants) were uninteresting, it's because we made them uninteresting."

As a result, "Idol" is looking to shake things up this year by spending more time on those contestant backstories.

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What improvements would you like to see on "American Idol" this year?  Were you disappointed with the show last season?