American Idol 10: My First Impression

So, the world's most popular TV show returned to our screens yesterday after much drama during the off-season. But the promos must not be that good in this part of the world, cos a lot of people seemed to be unaware of it. And by "people", I mean "twitterers".

Anyway, I'm a big fan, and it was really a WOOHOO moment for me last night. Couple that with the fact that astro has been giving us a bunch of crap lately, I did indeed heave a huge sigh of relief when Mr. Seacrest announced: "THIS, IS AMERICAN IDOL".

On to the actual show now. Boy, have the stakes been any higher? I mean, last season was a bit of a downer with a bunch of so-so talents and a forgettable winner (although I DID predict that, um, that bloke would win it - hey, it's a Tolong Ingatkan Aku moment!), and not surprisingly, the ratings dipped quite a bit.

Then of course there's the whole thing with Simon Cowell leaving, Ellen quitting and Kara being fired. Well, you know what happened next: after all the guessing game and brouhaha, Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler and that missy from the block, J.Lo, signed on the dotted line (for loads of dough, or so we heard). Some rejoiced, some expressed horror. Me? I preffered to save any judgments until I watched how they'd actually do.

And so last night, we all got a taste of the new Idol. And my verdict? It's STILL a damn good show.

Well, for one, you can always depend on Mr. Seacrest keeping the proceedings smooth and very watchable. And I quite like the new audition set as well. It IS 2011 after all. As for the judges: No doubt Tyler and J.Lo look the part. And reverting to the 3-judge format makes it wonderfully breezier.

Steven Tyler really surprised me. He was fun, and definitely knew what we was talking about. Best of all, he brought a different sort of naughtiness to the table. Not quite "horny rockstar", but he did call out the obvious, letting us know which one he'd probably didn't wanna miss a thing with. (haha).

I tweeted that while we're missing out on the "horrendous" and "cruiseship singer" comments, Steven Tyler gave us "jujubees". And you could could see that the dude was enjoying himself, rhythmically banging on the table and singing a couple of lines himself now and then, putting the singers at ease. It was funny though when he happily sang along with one of the contestants, but when asked of his verdict, Tyler simply said "I don't think so". Haha.

J.Lo meanwhile was rather sweet and not as annoying I thought she would be. And probably because no one ever says "no" to her, she found it difficult to say "no" to people herself. But overall, a good debut.

And the Dawg... well, he's like that lah. Not terribly creative with his comments, but having at least one familiar face at the judging table gives you a certain sense of comfort.

And no, I didn't think too much about Simon. Although I did think it was a big case of missed opportunity when that boy scout dude attempted Sinatra's "My Way". I mean, if it was Simon, the dude would have been hung upside down and set on fire (probably literally), but instead, the "no" was rather soft and forgiving.

What about those who came to audition, you ask? Well, I think there were some real gems in the mix. Don't remember their names, but I think the last dude to audition, the girl from Kosovo and the singing waitress did pretty well.

So far, so good...