The Death of Singapore Idol?

Is Season 4 a Myth?

A few days ago, Airi posted a link to a vid of the Flying Dutchman appealing to Channel 5 to change up the format of Idol so that viewers could get to know the contestants more intimately. Watch...

Basically FD's point is that to vote objectively, the audience/voters need to get to know the contestants better. He felt that Airi's passion for music and his intelligence never really came through on the show. I guess he has a point, considering that the singing portion is only about 2 minutes and the VT preceding that is probably about 90 seconds. In earlier rounds, both durations are even shorter.

Maybe the solution to that isn't less contestants as suggested, but a longer programme? Instead of just 1 hour, it could be 90 minutes. Looking at American Idol, they've got longer episodes at the start of the season (and tons more auditions episodes) that enables them to draw out storylines (plus their editing is more succinct la). Aside from the fact that they have a lot more content (so many OTT auditions), they also tend to do profiles from early on and spend much time developing those 'characters'. I found Season 8 of AI to be very 'developed'. Every single one of the Top24 were followed from auditions stages. So in a way, it wasn't so random - we were already 'prepped' to fall in love with Anoop, Danny, Adam, Allison, the two rednecks, etc right from the start, so in a way it was predictably who were the ones going thru - all of the ones they focused on (except for Tatiana, she's just there for her 'unique' laugh). Lets see what they do with Season 9 (American Idol Season 9 premieres on 13th/14th Jan, Starworld, Channel 5).

Btw, you all know who FD is right? For the uninitiated (or non-Singaporean), FD is short for Flying Dutchman. FD is a radio personality, he helms the morning show on top Singapore radio station Class95FM. He's also co-host of Channel News Asia's 'BlogTV', a show that covers hot topics discussed on blogs and the internet.

Last week, I was privileged enough to get an invite from the producer of BlogTV to appear on the show to discuss Idol. OMG, flattered can? I'm like so Ms Fail on cam (I bet they didn't see that shot of me looking down my own shirt on national tv (@maressaz watched it on replay a few times just to laugh) OR that shot of me and Justin hurriedly sitting back down in our seats to clap when the jib (crane) camera swung in front of us), maybe they want me for comic relief? LOL! (click to enlarge pic)

Anyway, as flattered as I am, I had to pass cos unfortunately, taping is on Thursday night, and I'll be in Hong Kong having my 'charchanteng' nissin noodles at the time - post-Idol 'family holiday'.

But I think I did good, made up for it by suggesting they give @izked a call, he IS the Official Blogger after all, and guess what - he said OK and so did.......SYLSYL aaaannnnddd....*drum roll please* Uncle Ken!!!

Its gonna be an interesting show! Telecast details are as follows :

Thursday, 7th January, 2010.

9.15pm LIVE! online at www.blogtv.sg

9.30pm ChannelNewsAsia (if you can't go online to watch)

So catch Judge Ken Lim, Singapore Idol runner-up Sylvia Ratonel and Official Idol Blogger Izked on BlogTV with The Flying Dutchman and Phin! I'll definitely be hunting around Tsim Sha Tsui for 'internet' tomorrow night at 9pm - maybe my hotel will have free wifi? Pray pray pray got!

Anyway, back to the 'death of Idol', I doubt there's been much talk about a Season 4 within the MediaCorp walls, based on experience from previous seasons, there needs to be a break of a year or two before any new talents can be 'harvested'. In fact, I actually hear a tiny bit more buzz about the possibility of 'X-Factor', or 'Singapore's Got Talent' but then again, until a press release comes out, I wouldn't start queueing anywhere.

Perhaps it IS time to hang up the old 'Idol' cape. Industry watchers in the US have been criticising Fox for what they say is a tired format that is losing its draw. So its no surprise that Singapore would feel the same. The 'Idol' franchise has been around for a good 8-9 years, people are not just familiar with it, they're almost 'over' it in most places. So I doubt changing the format is going to help. I think what needs to change, is people's attitudes. Contrary to what Airi said on the finale about 'more love than hate', working on Idol has shown me that people prefer to be vocal about their hate. It would be great if we all worked on the positive and the biggest positive for Idol is that its a great platform to boost to local music. Spread the love y'all!

xoxo, s.