I had given up American Idol for years but with the strike happening last year I figured it was a good way to kill some tv hours. And overall I guess it was. I’m least enamored with the early rounds of bad musical talent and start to get more engaged once they head to Hollywood for the narrowing down. Once we get to the final rounds there are weeks that I wish we could skip (you all know who most of the early eliminations will or should be) but it all adds to the moment where I find myself actually caring who is going to win. Yeah David Cook!
They discussed adjusting the format this year and focusing less on the early bad cattle call and more on the Hollywood days. And I did tune in to the first rounds for the one clear new thing, the fourth judge. Kara DioGuardi joins the gang and so we tuned in to see how drastic a difference this would make, and so far, not so drastic. She’s apparently qualified, written for and worked with tons of talent. 
She seems sane, knowledgeable, gets along with Paula (they’re apparently old friends), and is willing to stand up to Simon. But so far she just doesn’t add anything for me.
I’m out ’til Hollywood so we’ll see how things evolve. Though I was happy to catch the highlight of Ryan trying to high-five a blind contestant and then the moment he realized what he was doing.
