American Idol is essentially trimming the fat during Season 14 in order to combat low ratings. The crew held a panel for the Television Critics Association press tour yesterday, Jan. 17, and talked about the singing competition's new format for performance rounds. In the coming weeks, Idol will condense performances and voting to one night a week in order to shake things up, The Hollywood Reporter notes.
"We're pleased to be down to one show a week," executive producer Trish Kinane said. "We have all the drama of an elimination and all the performances. I think it's going to be jam-packed. There's a lot to do in that one show."
Traditionally, Idol held one night of performances and one night of results. The show's airtime is down from 55 hours last year to 41. That means less excruciatingly drawn-out cliffhangers and more focus on the singing action.
Mentor and Big Machine Records head Scott Borchetta, who helped bring Taylor Swift to the masses, drew a lot of attention during the panel. According to Variety, the CEO and his talent team will help develop the next Idol winner. Keith Urban took the time to acknowledge how much of an asset Borchetta will be for the champion.
"This is not the same industry that Carrie Underwood won and went into," he said. "Even the definition of a superstar today is different."
As for last year's less-than-stellar season, Ryan Seacrest could only offer this:
"Why didn't it connect? I think that the show is successful because [of] the sum of all [its] parts," Seacrest said. "We had some great contestants, but they could have done more in certain aspects to connect more with the audience — and we could have done better."
The gang will travel to Minneapolis Wednesday, Jan. 21, and New Orleans Thursday, Jan. 22, for more auditions.
