Alright, so I just got done watching the season premier of “American Idol” season 8 episode 1 online since I missed it. They were airing the Phoenix,AZ auditions,and I must say that in the midst of all those crappy singers there was some good ,and unique talent there that I would look forward to seeing more of if I didn’t know that the American Idol format is just going to screw them up later on with all the genre switch ups. For the judges of course we still have Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul,and of course the very blunt yet very real Simon Cowell. But there’s a new judge named Kara DioGuardi.

She’s apparently a singer / songwriter who has worked with some very big stars such as, Celine Dion, Hilary Duff, Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Christina Aguilera, and yours truly, Paula Abdul. The thing about her is I know the people she’s worked with way more than I know her. In fact I never heard of her until she got cast for the show.However, from her resume I would say she’s more than qualified to judge American Idol. She also has some strong opinions. She doesn’t just sit there all quiet; she speaks her mind just like Simon,and tells these contestants what’s up when they suck .She even went so far as to sing a few notes to get her point across. I like that. She’s not bad on the eyes either. All in all I think she’s a nice edition to the show. The second two hour premier show airs tonight, January 14,2009 at 7pm central time. They will be airing the Kansas City auditions.

If you’re like me and missed the show last night you can watch the full episode 1 season premier of “American Idol” season 8 over at itmommy’s blog by Clicking Here

It’s almost close to that time of year again. American Idol is gearing up for its 8th season,but it’s coming with a few changes. They are going to be showing less of the early round audition footage and more of the Hollywood week footage . Basically it means when the season starts on January 13 they will air a two hour show and another two hour show on the 14th. Then they will confine it down to just an hour show the following week and cap the audition shows off on the 29th of January.

Then the Hollywood round starts on February 3, and will get two weeks worth of shows up from just one week in past seasons. It will conclude with 36 semifinalists up from 24 in past seasons. That process will go on for two more weeks and then only 9 finalists will be voted through to the finals which will give the judges 3 wild card picks to round out the final 12. The final rounds will begin on March 10. There’s also a new judge added to the mix to join Simon,Paula,and Randy. Her name is, Kara DioGuardi who is an American songwriter,producer,and singer. She’s worked with artists like, Kelly Clarkson,Hillary Duff,Celine Dion,Pink, Carrie Underwood,DavidArchuleta,and Paula Abdul.

One thing I definitely think they should change is those crappy genre rounds. I hate how they take would what could be a potentialy good artist and make them perform out of their element so much to the point that the show has become virtually unwatchable for me. I think the show would be much more interesting and entertaining if they would let the contestants stick to their own style of music and let them do what they do best. I think the performances would have much more feeling to them,and be much more moving as the contestants would be more into what they’re singing as apposed to some weird song they’ve never sung before. I suspect alott of talented singers won’t go on American Idol because they know that American Idol will mess up their style trying to compete on with those stupid genre songs. Also business wise for Simon,it doesn’t seem to make sense to do this because when they go to market the winner they’re only going to market them for one particular type of genre so I personally think that the awful genre rounds are just a complete waste of time.