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American Idol executive producer Nigel Lythgoe came out fighting against rival TV shows, calling singing contest The Voice a ‘gimmicky’ show and making clear he was fed up with defending Idol’s slipping ratings, writes Jill Serjeant.
Reacting to headlines of bumper audiences for this week’s return of NBC’s The Voice, Lythgoe questioned whether other TV talent shows would still be around in 11 years or produce top-level stars such as those that have emerged from Fox television’s Idol.
“After 11 years I am thrilled with these ratings,” Lythgoe said. “Of course there is going to be viewer fatigue. It is the same as too many sci-fi dramas or too many hospital dramas. But after 11 years, I don’t think we should be defending ourselves.”
Roughly 19.7 million US viewers watched last Wednesday’s episode of Idol, which has seen a 20 per cent audience decline since its return to TV in January and is fighting to retain its crown as America’s most-watched TV show.
The programme also has a large following in Bahrain and across the Gulf States.
By contrast, the second season premiere of The Voice was watched by 37.6 million Americans immediately after Sunday’s Super Bowl. Around 17.7 million – a 50 per cent increase over last year’s debut – returned for the following day’s regular episode as the biggest challenge yet to Idol’s supremacy in its genre.
“We have survived for 11 years and whatever bad press we are getting about these ratings! The rest of the world would love these ratings,” a clearly frustrated Lythgoe said.
He added that there would be no major changes to the Idol format which entered its popular Hollywood round last weekend. “Why on Earth would we start looking at other things to put in there? I have no idea ... American Idol is now in the history books and will remain there. And, let’s hope all the other shows like X Factor and The Voice continue to be successful for 11 years ... I will keep my fingers crossed for them,” he added.
Lythgoe said The Voice had a ‘fun format’, in which judge-mentors Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, Blake Shelton and Adam Levine initially turn their backs on contestants before competing among each other to mentor the new talent to stardom. But he added: “It is very gimmicky which is interesting at this time. I particularly like the relationship between Blake and Adam. Other than that, I think they need stronger talent.”
Lythgoe was just as dismissive of Simon Cowell’s glitzy The X Factor, saying its arrival on US TV last autumn ‘feels like two Idol singing seasons (a year) on Fox’.
He claimed it was Idol that was turning out true stars like Grammy winner Kelly Clarkson, who has been hired as a mentor on The Voice, and Katharine McPhee, a 2006 Idol runner-up who is now starring in NBC’s musical drama Smash.
“If what you want is real good talent without gimmicks, without fireworks going off and without flashing lights, just good talent on the stage, then watch American Idol because that is what you are going to get,”Lythgoe said.
