American Idol kicked off Season 8 Tuesday night with new contestants and new executive producers. But the real star of the Phoenix auditions was the new judge, songwriter Kara DioGuardi. Other than that I was not impressed. Hopefully there will be some great talent somewhere!
DioGuardi encountered a 16-year-old superfan and a back-talking babe in a bikini. (The fan went home; the babe went to Hollywood — much to DioGuardi’s chagrin.)
Looks like a seemingly endless supply of clueless singers determined to torture their songs into submission, a couple of sentimental stories with sweet voices attached. Of course, there’s also the occasional surprise, like Simon Cowell passing through Brianna Quijada after putting her through the wringer for her version of Killing Me Softly With His Song. But if any serious contenders came from Phoenix, they’ll have to do some serious convincing of fans and judges alike.
The season opener pulled in 30 million viewers, the lowest for an Idol premiere since 2004.
jerry474 