Should American Idol Be Fixed?

After Melinda Doolittle’s elimination from American Idol, leaving us with a finale of Jordin and Blake, there have been the usual calls for a change in the way voting is done. Is the system broken, or does it do exactly what it’s supposed to do? How does it compare to systems used on other shows? Should it be “fixed”?

As inevitably happens when we have a surprising result, there have been many calls from viewers and some in the media for American Idol to “fix” the way it handles votes. They should switch to one phone/one vote. Or maybe allow 10 votes, or 100. Of course, sending text messages would need to be restricted as well.

But there are two issues at play here. First, is this something Fox and American Idol producers would want to do. Second, is this really necessary?

American Idol is a show geared towards finding the next Idol – the next singing sensation. This is not necessarily the same thing as finding the best singer.

Some people have pointed to the way other reality talent competitions blend the use of call-in viewer votes with the votes of judges. Dancing with the Stars, for example, has scores determined by combining 50% of the viewer vote count and 50% of the judges’ scores. Grease: You’re the One That I Want! had viewers vote to determine the bottom two, and then the judges decided who would stay. Rock Star handled matters similarly.

But all of these are different types of shows. In Rock Star, the goal was to pick a lead singer for a band. If solely the viewer vote had been used, the bands (INXS and then Rock Star Supernova) could have ended up with a singer who was not a good fit for them. They needed to have that control. Indeed, many people – myself included – were upset when INXS picked J.D. instead of Marty. But after the album came out, I understood why. I liked Marty better – and still do – but J.D. was a better fit. Marty sings a different type of music and wanted INXS to go in that direction. J.D. just wanted to be a member of INXS. If viewers had chosen Mary and the band had no say, the outcome likely would not have been good.

A similar situation presented itself on Grease: You’re the One That I Want!. The judges were casting a new Broadway production. They couldn’t simply base their lead roles on who was the most popular. They needed people who could act and sing and dance. While the viewers generally voted for those people, it wasn’t always the case throughout the series, and the judges couldn’t take any chances. The final decision was left up to the viewers alone, but by that time, the judges had winnowed down the contestants so any of them would have worked out.

And Dancing with the Stars truly does want to find the best celebrity dancer. OK, so it hasn’t always happened – indeed, it didn’t happen in the very first season – but there is no follow-up beyond that. There are no plays to put on or albums to sell. And when it comes right down to it, how many viewers really knew at the beginning of the show what made up a good ballroom dance? I sure didn’t. I’m not sure I know yet! So the judges are necessary.

But American Idol is different from all of these. The goal is, in theory, to pick the best singer. But we all know that while it is a singing competition, many other factors come into play – personality, looks, age, stage presence, etc. The goal behind the goal is to find somebody who can sell millions of albums. That’s certainly happened for some of the winners and other finalists – not so much for others.

If the number of votes were to be limited, I believe there would be a better chance of finding the best singer. It still wouldn’t be perfect, though, because some contestants gather fan bases out of proportion to their abilities anyway.

The downside of this, though, is that the powers that be would not get a good picture of who might have the best album sales and be a better Idol. If a contestant can get people to spend two hours dialing non-stop, the odds are good that they will be able to sell those same people a CD. But getting somebody to dial once or ten times? That doesn’t really tell them much – and it actually discourages active involvment, which they certainly don’t want to do.

Besides, we all know how much producers love to hear Ryan Seacrest toss out huge numbers like “60 million votes.” And it is rather impressive, when you think about it.

American Idol is not just a popularity contest, but popularity plays a large role in the show. After all, the winner will go on to make pop(ular) music! The American viewing public doesn’t always get it right. Look at how well Chris Daughtry (fourth place) has done in album sales compared to Taylor Hicks (first place) and Katharine McPhee (second place). But has this hurt Chris Daughtry? No. He showed what he could do, and then put together an album based on that. Melinda Doolittle will do the same.

People may still complain, but American Idol is not going to change the way the public votes. And given everything we’ve discussed here, I really don’t think they should.