The Downfall of American Idol

The popular T.V. show American Idol is spirally down to becoming a canceled show. There are a few key points that are turning into the downfall of the show. These include Simon Cowell leaving after the 2010 season, Paula Abdul leaving the show, and the producers adding a fourth judge.

1. Simon Cowell Leaving- Simon Cowell announced he is going to be leaving the show on January 12th 2010 for a new show that he thinks will be better than American Idol, according to The Star. His new show is from the United Kingdom and is called the X-Factor. Cowell believes that the X-Factor will be more successful than American Idol because contestants will be allowed to try out no matter the age.

2. Paula Abdul Leaving- On August 5th, 2009 Paula Abdul announced via Twitter that she is leaving American Idol. Ellen DeGeneres will be taking the spot which has already received plenty of bad reviews. Paula Abdul will be missed as shown by a New York Daily News Poll. The poll shows that 66% of people will miss Paula and think that she is a key part of the show. Only 22% of people thought that she is dispensable.

3. The producers Added a Fourth Judge- For the eighth season the American Idol producers decided to add a fourth judge to the panel. This spot was filled by Kara DioGuardi who was described on many comment boards on the American Idol Web site as annoying and a person who has to leave the show. I was optimistic after Simon announced that he was leaving for one reason and that was the possibility that he may not be replaced and the show would go back to three judges but I was wrong. The show auditions are not much more vague because now you only need half of the judges to vote you through instead of a majority.

American Idol may not be canceled in the distant future but you can look forward to seeing it fail as time goes by as the ratings fall shown by a Nielsen's rating on USA Today's Web site. Ratings for the last show have fallen 10% compared to last season's equivalent.