Should American Idol change their voting system?
I had PLANNED to do Part 2 of my Trip Down Memory Lane series today, but things around here just don't go the way they're suppose to.
So what has me off the beat and path today? An American Idol voting controversy, of course.
Week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week (okay, so maybe it only feels like it's been that long), I read several articles about how Vote for the Worst and Howard Stern are responsible for keeping Sanjaya Malakar on AI.
Whether or not they are responsible for Sanjaya's longevity, this controversy has resparked another controversy: American Idol's voting system.
As most of you know by now, AI allows you to vote as many times as you want. Many people are glued to their phones for the entire two hours after the show. For those who are able to multi-task (and have service with Cingular, the new AT&T), you can also send an unlimited number of text messages during those two hours.
Critics cry foul because, they say, it allows large voting groups to vote for their favorite, or least favorite as the case may be, and keep them in a competition longer than another singer they feel is more deserving.
But let's be real here. Is there any doubt that each singer has one or more voting groups who do nothing but vote for them the entire two hours? Do we really want begrudge one singer because their voting group is larger then another voting group?
So let's go with the argument that one singer's has a larger voting group then another and that voting group is skewing the results. How do we change it?
We could always adopt ABC's Dancing With The Stars' system. They put a limit of 11 votes per phone line and e-mail address. In addition, they combine the votes with the judges scores (exactly how they do that is a secret that is kept in the same vault as the Colnel's finger-lickin' good secret recipe).
If AI's judges were to give scores of 1 - 10, Randy's score would be the only score you could really count. Paula would never give anyone a score lower then 8 and Simon would never give anyone a score higher than 3 (unless, of course, the singer is female, skinny, wearing a short-skirt, and bats her eye lashes at him, in which case he would up his score to a 5).
As far as limiting the number of votes, is there any reason to think that the large voting groups would not go out and register a ton of free e-mail addresses they can use to vote with? The only thing this system would do is dilute Joe and Jane Doe's votes even more then they already are.
AI could adopt the first season voting system from Fox's So You Think You Can Dance. During that season, the judges picked the three worst couples of the night. Those six dancers would then perform solo dances and were the only dancers subject to being voted on by America.
Could you imagine the AI judges picking the Bottom 3? Randy, again, would be the only one who we could trust to pick his view of the worst performers of the night. Paula would have conniption fits at having to vote for someone being the worst of the bunch, and any skinny girl in a short skirt who bats her eyelashes at Simon would never see the Bottom 3 (I'm sensing a theme with Simon).
On the voting side, limiting America's voting to only three people each week might help dilute the size of a singer's voting block. Then again, nothing like a voting block seeing their singer in the Bottom 3. It tends to bring out the reinforcements. How else to explain the fact that Chris Richardson was in the Bottom 2 for the Final 11 night, only to be ranked second by Dial Idol after the Final 10 night? His voting block saw him in danger territory and brought out the claws to keep it from happening again the next week.
We could always adopt the voting system from CBS' Rock Star and NBC's Grease: You're The One That I Want. On both of those shows, the lowest vote getters for the week perform one more time for the judges, who would then decide who was going home.
The problem with this set up is that it allows the judges' personal preferences to creep into the decisions. That worked fine for the shows mentioned above since the purpose of the shows was to find someone to front a rock group and to perform on broadway. Other considerations then just who America liked needs to be taken into consideration with those shows. But with AI, I could just see Simon throwing a hissy fit in order to get rid of who he doesn't like (again, anyone who is female, skinny, in a short skirt, and batting eyelashes would be safe). Had Simon had his way, Clay Aiken would have been gone in Season 2 the first time he landed in the Bottom 3. (Since Taylor Hicks never landed in the Bottom 3 during Season 5, Simon would have had to wait to get rid of him until the Finale night). Plus, the show would really become Judges Idol since America's voice would be diluted.
So I don't know what the answer is. I don't think there is any one voting system that would work better then what AI is using now. Besides, if you really don't like an AI contestant, you can always start a group dedicated to getting rid of someone else by begging people to vote for someone else. Though I'm not sure how well that is working for the hunger strike girl. I think her efforts are encouraging more people to vote for Sanjaya then against him.
Anyway, what are your thoughts on American Idol's voting system? Should they keep it the way it is? Or should they do something different?
(UPDATE - 3/29/07 @ 1:29 PM CDT - If you left a comment before this time, your comment was accidentally deleted during the approval process. A glitch in the Blogger.com system deleted all of the comments. If you were one of the 7 comments deleted, please leave a new comment behind. I apologize for the inconvenience.)
Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Birmingham, Alabama
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TOSP Nick: jatterb Member Since: 4/3/06 Country: USA Blog Tagline: Sanity is overrated. I should know. I tried being sane once. 
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Wednesday, March 28, 2007
8 Comments:
I believe they should limit the number of votes per phone line. It is hard for people to understand that 63 million votes for the final does NOT mean that was the amount of people voting. That was the votes casted, which I had 180 to 200 just from my one phone! Limit it to 5 or 10 votes per, then AI couldn't make it seem like it has a bigger audience than it has. I agree that the votes should be limited to a number per phone lines . I also think that when it gets down to the final 15 or so the judges should have one save each for a person they feel deserves another chance. In addition, I think it would be great if on the first night that you see all 24 singers that they just perforn and no one gets eliminated, that way you get to really see everyone before you have to vote. I also think that it would eliminate alot of nerves so that the singers would perform better on their first night. I do think that votes should be limited. It's no good to let people have all they want. I think we all know that the pre-teen and young teens will be the ones getting their way because they will be the ones making everyone they know vote as well as voting a million times themselves. Of course it can be argued that everyone else can do the same thing, but for the most part kids that age are the only ones who are gonna bother to that degree. For instance I LOVE Taylor (really). I think I may have voted for him two or three times at most in one night and that was the finale. Of course last year was the first year I even saw fit to vote (nobody ever seemed worthy until last year). I believe somewhere in the vacinity of 5-10 votes would about do it. In the early AI years, there were some differences. I can't recall many specifics, but the judges had the opportunity to save someone, or to bring back a contestant who was eliminated. I like the "So you think you can dance?" and the "You're the one that I want" approaches best. But let's face it, the more calls & text msgs. sent, the more $ the show brings in - Bottom Line. I think Paula's scores would be more reasonable than expected. I think she sees many of the same weaknesses, but she knows that human beings gain confidence primarily from having their strengths acknowledged and secondarily constructive criticism. One could argue that the existing voting system reflects the fact that, to succeed in the music industry, you must be able to build a fan base. Those with the most passionate fans or best PR "machine" will be most visible and effectively attract others. Under that theory, the person's talent can be a genuine source of fan attraction, but image, strategy & popularity are major factors. Simon contradicts himself, sometimes stating, "it's a singing contest," yet he regularly criticizes clothing choices, hair, dance style, weight, etc. I bet he'd say that winning AI and being a star in the music industry is about much more than singing. Some of the best singers never break in to the industry. Some very average ones do. While I have the impression that Simon prefers the skinny, short skirted eye-batters, this season Lakisha and Melinda have been his clear favorites. Neither appear to be skinny, short skirted or eye batting types. If there was a way to limit the calls to one vote per line, that would be great....but somehow I think people would find a way around this. What if everyone called in and voted for the one they wanted to LEAVE????????? The one with the most votes would leave and the winner would ultimately be the one whom nobody called about. I don't think the present judges should have a say so because of the very reasons Alan mentioned. I know there is a lot of money made in the votoing process by the different wireless networks, etc., but maybe they could also consider internet voting. If Sanajaya wins this year, it could possibly be the end of AI or the beginning of a new votoing process. LuvMeSomeTaylor AKA Cara Leigh Alan, I believe you already know how I feel about this...lol You and Darryl discussed it the last time you were on IdolRadioShow.com. I don't know what the "answer" is Alan. Although I doubt that AI wants to change it b/c this way they can report things like "63 million votes" just to make themselves look better. They wouldn't be able to say that if there was a limit to the number of votes. But, I would like to see public votes count in the earlier rounds. I think some VERY talented people were cut by the judges for whatever reason. For instance, they picked Head (can't remember first name now) over a guy who had a much more consistent and better voice than he did-- IMO. With public votes during the Hollywood rounds, maybe we would have a much stronger final 10 this year than we currently do. Alan, I hear so many times about how many votes come from the same phone line or cell...there were times when I never got through and my mother and daughters as well. This happened a lot. So, my comment is...if you voted more than once then YOU VOTED FOR ME! You can not say that there were not that many people voting...some voted in bars...for hundreds...they did not all call in. They took polls there at least they did in Atlanta. I think ALL cell phones should be allowed to TEXT...just another ploy for their sponser instead of the voting to be fair.
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