ABC "American Idol" judges Lionel Richie, Katy Perry and Luke Bryan.
ABC’s “American Idol” premiered for the monumental season 20 in February 2022, and some long-time fans of the show have already found things they are not enjoying about the new season.
Lionel Richie, Katy Perry, and Luke Bryan join long-time “American Idol” host Ryan Seacrest on a journey to find the next star in America during the season. There are a half-dozen episodes relegated to showing off auditions ahead of Hollywood Week.
Some fans think they’re not seeing enough of the auditions on the show, however.
Fans Want More Time Management
In a Reddit thread titled, “Stop showing us 3 people in the matter of 30 minutes. Speed it up!,” fans reminisced about the old days of “American Idol” and talked about why they’d like to see more auditions during the audition episodes.
“Remember we would get 20 auditions during a show, with 15 of them being bad? Those were the days,” one person replied to the thread.
Another commented, “I was just talking to my wife about this very same thing. Part of the reason I enjoyed the show was the bad/funny performances. Now they seem to only show good performers and there aren’t many before we get 4 minutes of commercials per audition.”
Other people said that they simply record the show and then either watch it the next day or jump in late so they can fast forward.
“Just put it on record, start watching 30 minutes in and FF when you don’t want to see something,” one person wrote.
Another said, “I watch it on Hulu the next day so I can skip around if I want to. I don’t love the format they’re using for a couple of reasons. First, when they showed more auditions, it made the really good ones stand out more. Now they’re all just pretty good, so I don’t really get invested in anybody in particular.”
They added that they feel as though the show is “pre-selecting the finalists.”
Some Fans Want Fewer ‘Sob Stories’
In a Reddit thread from March 7, 2022 titled, “Is this ‘American Idol’ or American playtime and story hour?,’ fans of the show talked about how much of the time is spent talking about the backstories of each contestant.
“They waste time with playing around too much and stories,” the poster wrote. “It’s annoying. Nothing wrong with some back story and some joking, but when you spend 20 minutes on one person then commercials. You get a wasted two hours.”
The post also says that “American Idol” pushes for certain contestants to win by giving them the “best story,” and they say it has been that way since the show was rebooted by ABC.
“My thing is just how bad the show has gotten at telling stories,” one person replied. “It’s always been about telling the contestant’s stories, about making you root for them as people and as products you would buy.”
Another person wrote, “Yeah, the stories/jokes that they show that I’m assuming are supposed to draw me in emotionally or whatever usually end up just boring me. That’s why I watch it recorded and I can fast forward all the nonsense.”
“American Idol” airs on Sunday nights at 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific time on ABC. Later in the season, the show will air on both Sunday and Monday nights.
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