American Idol was the Victim of its Own Success

Norman Weiss May 11, 2015, 12:35 pm

American Idol was the victim of its own success
The news that Idol is ending next year after 15 seasons isn’t surprising, says Daniel D’Addario. But “there’s still something surreal about the end of Idol, not least because at the show’s peak, it seemed like it’d never come,” he says. Despite its dominance, he adds, “Idol seemed to learn all the wrong lessons from its success, doubling down on the show’s worst and most annoying aspects. The fighting between judges Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul, always ancillary to the main action of the show, amped up year after year.” PLUS: Ryan Seacrest reacts, Fox says it was a “pretty emotional decision,” and Simon, Paula and Randy will likely return for a cameo next season.

Did SNL steal a sketch from Canadian TV?
Saturday Night Live‘s recent Prophet Muhammad/Pictionary sketch bares quite a resemblance to a sketch that ran on CBC’s sketch-comedy series This Hour Has 22 Minutes.

Fox unveils its fall schedule: The X-Files to premiere after NFC Championship game
Fox’s new schedule pairs Rob Lowe’s The Grinder with John Stamos’ Grandfathered on Tuesdays, followed by Ryan Murphy’s Scream Queens. Minority Report will join Gotham on Mondays and New Girl will return for midseason. PLUS: Weird Loners canceled.

Empire‘s 2nd season will kick off in the fall — 9 episodes to air in fall, 9 in spring
Ne-Yo and Timberland will be writing songs for the 2nd season.

The Wiz Live! adds Stephanie Mills
Mills, who played Dorothy on the Broadway version of The Wiz, will play Auntie Em on NBC’s live three-hour musical.

CBS moving the Grammys to Monday
The 2016 Grammys will continue using a tape delay for West Coast viewers.

Mad Men needs to do a time jump for its final episode
Next week’s episode should deal with loose ends and characters. PLUS: Mad Men‘s penultimate surprise was pretty impressive, last night’s episode brought us full-circle back to the pilot, Don Draper went Gone Girl, this episode was a callback to Season 1’s The Hobo Code, how are we supposed to feel about Pete Campbell now?, The Milk and Honey Route felt like the second-to-last bar of a song that’s about to fade out rather than end, and why Mad Men needed Betty.

Archie Panjabi: I doubt Kalinda will return to The Good Wife
“Kalinda believes it’s the right time to leave,” she says. “She’s done all the things that she needs to do, so I believe it would be unlikely for her to come back, given the situation. But you never know with this one. She often surprises me, let alone the creators and the audience.” PLUS: Do Panjabi and Julianna Margulies hate each other?, was trickery used to film that scene?, and behind that “complicated relationship.”

Selma Blair cast to play Kris Jenner
Blair is the newest addition to FX’s American Crime Story: The People vs OJ Simpson.

John Oliver calls out Mother’s Day hypocrisy
The government, he says, fails to support legislation that would improve the lives of mothers.

What is Game of Thrones‘ greyscale?
The fictional disease has been the focus of recent episodes. As Joanna Robinson notes, “viewers don’t need to know every specific of the book version of this disease—there are fatal and non-fatal kinds, it can go slowly or quickly—but they do need to understand the stigma associated with it. The closest real-world equivalent is leprosy, and the environment of fear and ignorance around how greyscale works is why poor Shireen is treated like an outcast by her own mother.” PLUS: Alfie Allan talks last night’s awkward dinner, Iain Glen on his twist, Michael McElhatton on the Bolton Boys, last night’s episode broke a piracy record, and how stuntmen became stone men.

RIP Revenge
How the once-promising drama quickly went off the rails — long before the series finale. PLUS: Revenge should’ve been a limited series.

Fear the Walking Dead has “a completely different vibe. A completely different feel”
Viewers of The Walking Dead companion series will be able to watch without having seen the original series.

Watch the newest Orange is the New Black trailer
The new Season 3 trailer is set to Jump on It!