I bet they only show bottom 2 Wensday

[Sixth_Rule]

i don't think they will go to the bottom 3 unless sanjaya is in the bottom 3. They don't want to reveal who out of Jordin, Lakisha and Blake are in the bottom 3 because they want them to last longer then sanjaya.

[thing85]

Huh? This is perhaps the most speculative thing I've read on this forum in a while. If they want one of those three to last longer than Sanjaya then they WOULD want to show whoever it is in the B3. This would likely motivate the contestant's voter base and "save" that person, if only for a short time.

[StellarWind]

[ QUOTE ]
i don't think they will go to the bottom 3 unless sanjaya is in the bottom 3. They don't want to reveal who out of Jordin, Lakisha and Blake are in the bottom 3 because they want them to last longer then sanjaya.

[/ QUOTE ]
Your basic premise is silly. AI management would have to be out of their minds to be plotting against Sanjaya.

American Idol is a business. Specifically they are in the television business where ratings and revenues are essentially the same thing. Sanjaya is very good for ratings and hence very good for business. Every week he survives is money in the bank. Protecting the other contestants from him is the last thing they should be doing.

With only seven contestants and an hour to fill, they are going to want to maximize drama opportunities. A repeat of the week-of-11 bottom two format seems very unlikely. That was a half hour show with too much stuff (most commercials [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]) in it and the quick reduction to bottom two saved some time.

[Sixth_Rule]

[ QUOTE ]
Sanjaya is very good for ratings and hence very good for business.

[/ QUOTE ]

You mean This year.

If this guy wins, partly because of things like vote for the worst or Howard Stern, then this show loses cred with any serious viewers and it will be known as a joke.

[thing85]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Sanjaya is very good for ratings and hence very good for business.

[/ QUOTE ]

You mean This year.

If this guy wins, partly because of things like vote for the worst or Howard Stern, then this show loses cred with any serious viewers and it will be known as a joke.

[/ QUOTE ]

I guarantee you, Sanjaya winning would bring even more popularity to the show. The loss of viewers, if any, would be insignificant.

[Shrug]

If Sanjaya wasn't in it this long, the show would have jumped the shark. Although, who is to say it already hasn't......

[smbruin22]

[ QUOTE ]
If Sanjaya wasn't in it this long, the show would have jumped the shark. Although, who is to say it already hasn't......

[/ QUOTE ]

i agree.... if sanjaya weren't still around, i think this season would have been a complete train-wreck and people would be questioning how long it will remain a phenomenon.

for whatever reason, i don't think they want jordin in the bottom 3. i think bottom 3 does rally the troops (jordin's voters) but i think it leaves a taint too with other voters (who may not move to jordin when their person is eliminated)... so in my view, bottom 3 survival is good short-term, bad long-term.

[LKJ]

I wasn't watching a few years ago, but wasn't Fantasia in the bottom three around this stage in the competition? If so, that would be one counter-example to the potential tainted appearance of a contestant who appears there.

[smbruin22]

[ QUOTE ]
I wasn't watching a few years ago, but wasn't Fantasia in the bottom three around this stage in the competition? If so, that would be one counter-example to the potential tainted appearance of a contestant who appears there.

[/ QUOTE ]

i understand there would all kinds of good counter arguments ... i just get the feeling that AI wants to keep certain people out of elimination showdowns (for whatever reason). that one week (or was it more?) they went to only the bottom 2, i wonder who was the third person??

[cgrohman]

It is a joke.