American Idol Season 10, NY and NJ Auditions

American Idol is starting its 10th season, and for many it is either a guilty pleasure, or the show you love to hate. After a decade of propelling unknowns to stardom or infamy, it has become a permanent TV institution. But will it stand the test of time? Will it regain viewers who have wandered away because it became routine or typical in it's format and results? With the injection of two new judges, Steven Tyler and J.Lo, and a very visible executive Producer, Jimmy Iovine, die-hard American Idol fans are hoping for TV magic.

Here is a rap-up of the very first show of season 10, the New York/New Jersey Auditions.

The first 15 minutes of American Idol season 10 was essentially hype. Let's get the crowd excited about the new judges, let's make American Idol magic type of stuff. Once they judges settled in at their table, you could tell the atmosphere in the audition room has changed. First, no one insulted any of the Idol hopefuls. Second, they did their best to be nice to everyone. Still, there were times, when they could barely hold it together. Let's face it, Tyler's face is practically rubber. There were times when he lost all elasticity in his features and no matter how nice the words coming out of his mouth were his face read "that was terrible." J.Lo looked embarrassed when someone was bad and had a very hard time saying the word "no". She looked as if she wanted to disappear. Randy was his usual self, and probably the most direct about telling someone that American Idol "wasn't for them... dog".

The new dynamic of the Judges is still developing, but American Idol will probably be a more fun and up-beat show, thanks to Steven Tyler. Like Randi's "Yo, yo, yo- You're my dog" tag lines, we can expect a level of predictability from Tyler. Some of the quotes from Steven Tyler so far are:

"You got the what-it-is-ness"
"I don't think you're American Idol stuff"
"That was a dessert to the lunch"

He also participated auditions, adding a beat and sometimes a riff at the end of the performance. He certainly wasn't above making cat calls at the attractive ladies who auditioned.

But the show would be nothing without the contestants. There were a number of American Idol contestants that stood out from the crowd in this first round. Many of them were packaged with back stories where their families were profiled and and introduced. They are Rachel Seveda, a contestant who returned from season 6, Caleb Hawley, Kensey Palmer, Melinda Ademi, Brielle Von Hugel, Travis Orlando, a 16 year old who has been homeless, and finally Robbie Rosen, probably the best singer of the bunch.

American Idol didn't forget the include the worst of the worst. After all, that is the best part of the show for many viewers. They did however, keep this public humiliation to a minimum. We did however, meet Achille Lovle a woman from the Ivory Coast, who did the worst Grace Jones impression ever. To make matters worse, she wasn't trying to impersonate Grace Jones. As for the Break-out bad, worst performance of the show, we have Yoji Pop Asano, who danced like an awkward Micheal Jackson and sang "Party in the USA" by Miley Cyrus... if you can call what he did singing.

So how did they do? The first reports show low ratings, in comparison to previous years. According to Bloomberg.com, "American Idol" averaged 26.1 million viewers to the two-hour opening of the 10th season on News Corp.'s Fox TV, a drop from past years that may jeopardize the network's ratings dominance."