Nigel held a press conference today about Idol, this is the blurbs from brian_mansfield on twitter
Nigel Lythgoe says Jimmy Iovine will be returning to "American Idol" this year. Plus, the show will have guest mentors. Nigel says he hasn't gotten a response from President Obama to appear on "Idol": "I've got a feeling he's a little too busy to answer me."
After 11 years, Nigel Lythgoe says he's thrilled with the audience "American Idol" pulls. "We're constantly compared against ourselves and against our own ratings. Of course, there's going to be some deterioration in the ratings." That said, The X Factor and The Voice have diluted the ratings. But Nigel says he's more worried about getting the show right.
"We always said we were not going to do two series of 'Idol' a year," Nigel Lythgoe. But now, with "The X Factor" and "The Voice," it feels like three. "Of course, there's viewer fatigue," he says. But, after 11 years, he doesn't feel like "Idol" needs to defend itself against criticism about ratings.
The difference between Simon Cowell's criticism of singers and the kind artists like Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler give them is that Simon is coming from the attitude of "Can you make me money?" The artists, on the other hand, "are as honest as I think they can be for themselves and, at the same time, as supportive as they want to be for the artists." If all a viewer wants is negativity, "then don't watch." But if you want great talent, then tune in, "because that's what you're going to get."
"We have survived for 11 years: Whatever bad press we're getting about these ratings, my God, the rest of the world would love these ratings," says Idol's executive producer Nigel Lythgoe. "Why on earth would we be looking for something else to go in there?"
Nigel Lythgoe says that, after so many years of watching "Idol," he's surprised contestants "still don't realize how tough Hollywood Week is." He chalks up a lot of this year's problems to dehydration and general stupidity. "They were dropping like flies." He adds that "tent girl" Amy Brumfield brought a bug to Hollywood that got passed around.
Simone Black was the contestant who fell off the stage, and Nigel Lythgoe was right beside the stage when it happened. "It was almost like slow motion," he says. Nigel says Group Night will be very dramatic this year "because of all the passings out."
Nigel Lythgoe says he loved Idol Season 10 because of the diversity of talent. "That has brought more and more diversity to the judges this year, so the jazz singers felt more comfortable in coming." And Adele had a huge influence with this year's contestants -- both boys and girls. "That shape of singer ... has come out and feels proud, and rightly so, to come to the audition and expose their talent."
Nigel Lythgoe says he didn't always agree with who the "American Idol" judges kept and who they kept. But "That's what makes it subject, that's what makes it interesting."
Nigel Lythgoe on the prospects of American Idol without Ryan Seacrest: "There can always be an Idol without anybody. ... I believe that Seacrest is probably the best host in the business ... I would hate to think of him leaving American Idol. ... I hope he doesn't leave, to be frank with you."
Nigel Lythgoe says the Idol's producers are trying to get all the potential finalists in front of the viewers before the end of the "green mile" episode. "At this moment in time, there's an awful lot you haven't seen yet. A great many you haven't seen yet."
We are as strong or as weak as our final talent as the final talent that we present to America, says American Idol executive producer Nigel Lythgoe. And thats what we have to stand by.
I believe Eonline may have more but that's the general gist.
