The Fall of American Idol

AI is really in the toilet this season. The only contestants I remotely care to see any longer are Anwar, Nadia, Jessica, Bo, and Carrie. This is working out to be what I can only imagine will be a very long season for us, considering the group as it now stands. Here are a couple of random ideas for a better audition process for next season's AI to avoid the fiasco we're experiencing:

1. Have the contestants present their auditions from behind a wall, or better yet, from another room via audio only. The judges should not even see a shadow of their physical presence...hell, there are stylists, plastic surgeons, make-up artists, and veneers to take care of any image issues which arise. From this pool of exceptional voices, have the judges then select the semi-finalists from headshots. This approach guarantees some actual talent makes it to the finals. After all, America clearly had no issues with a Clay/Ruben final - and neither of those fit any "acceptable" music-industry image. Save the beautiful train-wrecks for the audition shows.
2. Adjust the age limitation again, to 18 to 30. Janay and Mikalah are too young to know their style yet. Give those kiddies some time to find themselves before you ask us to vote for them.

Let's hear it, gang...what else could they do to improve next season's AI?