Ever since the day Pia Toscano was voted off “American Idol”, an incident I’m officially calling “Pia-gate”, the internet has been clamoring with just who to blame and what to do to make the watching/voting experience better. The latest argument to spring up from the blogosphere is that Simon Cowell needs to come back. Or, at the very least, his judging style.
From Entertainment Weekly to TVLine to The Daily Beast, entertainment pundits are sounding off on the collective opinion this year’s judges, which is that they’ve gone from enthusiastic, invested people who genuinely want to see the contestants do well to largely unaffective, “Everyone is great!” viewers.
Richard Rushfield at The Daily Beast wrote, “At the beginning of March, the media…universally declared that ‘American Idol’ had done the impossible–revitalized the show in its tenth season and survived the departure of its iconic star, Simon Cowell…Well, that was then.”
Owen Gleiberman at Entertainment Weekly has written, “For nearly a decade on ‘Idol’, Simon wasn’t just an electrifying personality and caustically fearless judge. He was a great critic–not because he was mean, but because what he said was blunt and honest and incisive and fascinating…Right now, the judges on ‘Idol’ aren’t enhancing anything. They’re just blurring the line–between the good and the not-so-good, between the performers we like and the ones we love.”
And Michael Slezak at TVLine has written, “In the post-Simon Cowell era of ‘Idol’, the show’s everyone-gets-a-gold-star judging panel has ceased to act as a voice of reason, an antidote to voter apathy, a reminder that not all ‘Idol’ finalists are created equal.”
What do you think about the judging this year? Do you want Simon back? Sound off below.
