I don't like Nigel's idea to linit the number of song choices but on CBS' "Rockstar" show- the contestants were given a small list of songs each week- much less songs than on Idol. The performances turned out fine (probably because the Rockstar contestants had more experience performing and doing their own thing). And the song choices were good too.The annoying thing about the miniscule amount of song choices is:
A. The judges bash the contestants for performances they don't like and criticize them for not picking a better song by saying something to the order of, "why did you pick that out of ALL THE SONGS OF THAT DECADE?" or some such crap. It makes us viewers think the contestants made a silly choice, when they may not have had ANY choice. I don't like being fooled - the more honest criticism would be, "tough luck on the song given to you". That's not going to happen, though.
B. There are 12 contestants picking from 24 songs. The reality is some of those songs will NOT make for good entertainment value or as a good vehicle to showcase anyone's singing talent, just like we saw with The Doobie Brother's crappy song ("Long Train Runnin"?) that was sung by Jason Yeager or the Chicago song sung by Alexandrea. No one can make a song like that stand out - some of them have only 3 notes.
