American Idol

Woohoo, it's back! I had some trepidation about the new judge. I knew she'd been a friend of Paula's and thought there would be a lot of pointless collusion ... but instead, it's been a breath of fresh air. To have a judge who really knows the music industry from the artist's standpoint, says what she thinks, and cuts straight through all the nonsense - it's a big improvement. Nice to have two people saying relevant things on the panel!

The change to showcasing the good singers who go through to Hollywood has also been quite welcome. There's been much less of the bad singers, and more time devoted to a number of the good singers. Hopefully that will cut down on the "who is that?" factor in Hollywood and the early rounds.

The only thing I've noticed that I find concerning is the number of people being put through who clearly have no chance. It's one thing to take a gamble on one quirky singer like Taylor Hicks (although an argument could be made for that as a pretty major mistake) ... it's quite another to put through obviously bad singers on a whim, which they've done several times already. I suppose it gives more cannon fodder in Hollywood, but it is the one place where the fourth judge seems to have caused a problem.

Still, definitely a more interesting season already than last year's. Looking forward to this week's installments!