Quickly, can you name the winner of last season’s “American Idol”?
Neither could most Americans, only 39,000 of whom bought Lee DeWyze’s post- “Idol” debut album, the lowest sales for any winner since the show began.
“American Idol” is at a crossroads. The ratings have trended downward. The buzz would seem to have moved on, like Simon Cowell, to a newer, fresher idea.
Yet “Idol,” which returns for a 10th season on Fox this week, hopes to retain its status as a TV juggernaut with new judges and a few tweaks.
Singer-“actress” Jennifer Lopez and well-worn Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler join innocuous Randy Jackson at the judges’ table. Music producer Jimmy Iovine, chairman of Interscope/Geffen/A&M Records, serves as the in- house mentor, and Ryan Secrest continues as host. The two-night season premiere kicks off with auditions from New York and New Jersey on Wednesday, 7-9 p.m., and from New Orleans on Thursday, 7-8 p.m., on KDVR-Channel 31.
Without Cowell, the most honestly critical and sometimes acerbic judge who has left to work on an American version of his British hit “The X-Factor,” the show is in danger of becoming just another talent contest. A good and popular talent contest, no doubt, but one without the particular chemistry that made it the favorite winter spectator sport for a record audience of 24 million to 30 million viewers per season.
Now, minus Cowell volleying with Paula Abdul and inciting the studio audience to jeers, the show is potentially toothless.
Without Cowell’s ability to unsentimentally tell a marginal wannabe that he or she has no business being there, or his brutal frankness when it comes to certain contestants’ spoiled-brat behavior, the show is without subtext. Without his extra layer of observation, it’s just a singing show.
Cowell made it about cultural contrasts, styles of egotism, and the American habits of overindulgence and lack of discipline. He offered unabashed insight into the cruelties of the business, and he didn’t sugar- coat or — as is popular in American preschool circles — declare everyone a winner just for trying. His Americanized “X-Factor” is slated to debut on Fox in the fall.
Judging by the new judges’ comments about the upcoming season, it’s going to be a kinder, gentler show: all about career nurturing, rather than cutting out the less-talented.
That sounds like a recipe for tedium, unless you’re one of the marginal talents being nurtured. Empathetic encouragement is nice, especially for the kids’ mothers. For those interested in emotional impact and the discovery of raw talent, blunt and brutal honesty makes better television.
Another piece of bad news: for the first time, the contestants will be allowed to sing their own material in auditions. Can you imagine?
Overbooked couch potatoes may want to skip the early humiliation rounds and tune in when the game is really on, in March. The semifinalists perform March 1 and 2, and the first results show, with the announcement of the finalists, is March 3.
Sorry, Kathy Bates.
When a cranky patent lawyer is fired from her blue-chip law firm, she figures it’s time for a radical change. Assorted crazy things happen (fortuitous accident!) and, boom, she opens a scrappy law practice in the ghetto, where she learns life lessons from the poor, crusades against elitism and shoots a pistol at a rat.
Memo to Kathy Bates’ agent: You deserve better.
The Oscar-winning Bates carries the latest David E. Kelley legal drama, “Harry’s Law,” debuting at 9 p.m. Monday on KUSA-Channel 9.
Kelley (“Ally McBeal,” “The Practice,” “Boston Legal”) worked as a lawyer and knows corporate law firms. He’s less skilled at creating a storefront law office in an urban setting where a tough-talking lawyer crusades for the little people. The cliche-ridden script is a disappointment.
Originally written for a male character named Harry Korn, the role has been tailored to Bates (Harry’s real name is now Hariett, but she’s still called Harry). But the oddball flavor wears thin. For starters, Harry’s storefront is both a law office and a shoe store. Too cute by half.
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com
