Editorials and Articles Archive
Most of WhatNotToSing.com consists of facts and hard data, but we occasionally like to put our two cents in about American Idol. Below is the complete list of editorials and feature articles that have run on our home page; click on any title for the text.
Editorial Archive
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Wednesday, 20 May 2020All things considered, Season 18 was a success...just one we'd like never to repeat
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Sunday, 26 April 2020Season 18 kicks off tonight, in a year like (almost) no other
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Saturday, 25 May 2019Something went wrong after AI17 returned from the Aloha State, but we're not exactly sure what
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Saturday, 4 May 2019American Idol is trending up while WNTS ratings are trending...down?
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Sunday, 21 April 2019A parable of what happens when you put the wrong people in charge of elections
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Wednesday, 3 April 2019A historically promising Opening Night raises our hopes for Season 17
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Saturday, 26 May 2018American Idol partied this spring like it was...2014?
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Sunday, 29 April 2018...or "Six Weeks to a Fabulous Singing Career". No refunds.
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Saturday, 3 March 2018Cranking the Idol (and WNTS) machinery back to life
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Monday, 11 April 2016American Idol 1.0 ends on the highest of notes. What should AI 2.0 be like?
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Sunday, 3 April 2016Or: What a long strange trip it's been
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Saturday, 26 March 2016Billboard released its list of the best Idol performances ever. Here's our take on it.
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Sunday, 28 February 2016A variety of observations as American Idol's farewell Finals commence
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Saturday, 16 May 2015Season 14 wasn't good and wasn't awful, but was it ever unlucky
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Monday, 11 May 2015American Idol will end after Season 15. And, oddly enough, we're good with that.
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Sunday, 10 May 2015We put on our detectives cap to theorize on one of AI14's biggest backfires
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Sunday, 19 April 2015In defense, however weak, of Per Blankens and his changes to American Idol
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Sunday, 15 March 2015Our readers ask, and we answer...or at least we dodge the question deftly
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Sunday, 7 December 2014Can the cycle of madness on American Idol be broken?
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Monday, 26 May 2014Season Thirteen had its ups, its downs, and one huge group of unsung heroes
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Tuesday, 6 May 2014An old friend checks in with his opinions of the past week's silliness
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Sunday, 6 April 2014The Fifth Epoch of AI has arrived, and the theme isn't hard to figure out
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Saturday, 8 March 2014With all the improvements to AI in 2014, why is this season stuck in neutral?
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Sunday, 24 November 2013Season 13 will be very different for American Idol...and for WNTS
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Sunday, 19 May 2013The three-year jinx continues, but there's a road forward in 2014...
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Tuesday, 7 May 2013This editorial is brought to you by the letter Z and the number 9...
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Sunday, 28 April 2013What if you could make only one change to save American Idol from itself?...
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Saturday, 20 April 2013Even online parodies are smarter than AI's production staff
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Sunday, 7 April 2013Has American Idol ever reached this low of a low? No.
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Sunday, 31 March 2013Very little has gone right for S12 thus far. The Judges' Save might be no different.
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Sunday, 10 March 2013How might American Idol improve the "ratings" that truly matter?
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Saturday, 2 March 2013Idol's first-ever quarterfinals were a mixed bag, but an old problem remains
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Wednesday, 2 January 2013With AI12 just weeks away, the WNTS team decides to rewrite the AI rulebook
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Saturday, 26 May 2012There's no time like the present to turn back time...
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Saturday, 12 May 2012Where S11 ranks in the Idol pantheon depends on what matters most to you
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Sunday, 29 April 2012Why has Season Eleven thoroughly reversed a longstanding Idol trend?
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Sunday, 15 April 2012Cheers and jeers at the midpoint of the Season 11 finals.
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Sunday, 1 April 2012Has the "Guy Bonus" increased since our original Idolmetrics study?
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Saturday, 17 March 2012Where the songs are old and the competition is...pretty relevant, actually.
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Saturday, 3 March 2012The AI11 judges are disasters in everything except what matters most
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Sunday, 12 February 2012American Idol historians, unite!...uh, once we get this software working, that is.
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Monday, 23 May 2011Country music fans have the last laugh in Season Ten
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Sunday, 8 May 2011Which contestants have improved...and regressed...the most during their Idol runs?
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Sunday, 1 May 2011An informal Idolmetrics study on song genres
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Saturday, 23 April 2011A thousand pictures are sometimes worth one word: "Wow."
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Sunday, 10 April 2011In the wake of Pia Toscano's elimination, an intriguing correlation emerges
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Monday, 4 April 2011AI needs newer songs for it to remain relevant, but older ones to remain watchable.
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Sunday, 13 March 2011So far, the AI10 contestants have spread the wealth...but that's not all good
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Sunday, 6 March 20112011 will go down in American Idol lore as the Year Of The Drive-By Semifinals
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Wednesday, 19 January 2011Can the new American Idol win back the jaded hearts of its loyal fans?
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Monday, 21 June 2010Why Season Nine makes the case for rebooting America's most popular TV series
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Monday, 24 May 2010The recent American Idol opinion survey hints at the future direction of the franchise
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Sunday, 2 May 2010Reflections on perhaps the strangest night in American Idol history
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Sunday, 25 April 2010What's the relationship between song familiarity and success on American Idol?
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Sunday, 11 April 2010The leadoff slot is still most dangerous on American Idol, but another may be closing fast
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Sunday, 4 April 2010Random thoughts as we approach the halfway point of Season Nine
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Sunday, 28 March 2010...or, "The Perils of Mis-Pimping on American Idol"
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Sunday, 21 March 2010What artists have been butche---....er, covered the most times on AI?
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Sunday, 14 March 2010A mind-boggling Top 16 Results show puts a damper on AI9...but all is not lost.
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Sunday, 7 March 2010Week Two of the semifinals brings a little hope and (thankfully) a lot of change
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Sunday, 28 February 2010OK, so Week One of AI9 wasn't exactly a blockbuster. Give it time.
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Sunday, 21 February 2010The $%^&* producers of American Idol have finally gone too far....
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Thursday, 21 January 2010The unpleasant memories of AI8 still cast a gray shadow over AI9
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Saturday, 20 June 2009Season Eight promises to unfold very differently at Camp Should-A-Been
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Saturday, 13 June 2009Some candid reflection as we try to make WNTS a better place
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Saturday, 6 June 2009X marks the spot of where American Idol is headed if Simon has his way.
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Saturday, 30 May 2009Kris Allen's win presents AI with a golden opportunity. Will the producers take it?
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Monday, 25 May 2009How Kris Allen broke American Idol, and why we may all be better off for it.
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Sunday, 17 May 2009The journey to the AI8 Promised Land has been one to forget. Except we won't allow it.
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Sunday, 10 May 2009Ever wonder why the producers don't show the backstory of every semifinalist?
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Saturday, 9 May 2009On American Idol, no good deed goes unpunished
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Sunday, 3 May 2009'Tis the season for deaths by mysterious circumstances on American Idol
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Sunday, 26 April 2009The latest era of American Idol is drawing to a close. What will follow?
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Saturday, 18 April 2009Is it true that singing lesser-known songs on AI is a risk? It's time to find out.
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Sunday, 12 April 2009Random thoughts and observations as we reach the halfway pole of the AI8 finals.
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Saturday, 4 April 2009...for making good song choices on American Idol
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Saturday, 28 March 2009An American Idol fairy tale in one long silly act
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Sunday, 22 March 2009Among the casualties of AI8's tightly-scripted format: memorable moments
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Tuesday, 17 March 2009There's life on AI after a trip to the dreaded B3...but it's probably just temporary.
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Saturday, 14 March 2009The only people at American Idol who need to be "saved" are the producers.
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Sunday, 8 March 2009The producers hand-picked the Final 13. Woe be to them if their plants don't bloom.
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Sunday, 1 March 2009Selling The Drama and Cursing The Darkness on American Idol
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Sunday, 22 February 2009The new season of American Idol gets off to a slow start for the same old reasons
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Sunday, 22 February 2009If you think the new semifinals format is awful now, you ain't seen nothing yet
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Saturday, 14 February 2009Three open letters from the WNTS.com staff at the advent of Season Eight
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Saturday, 7 February 2009How race and ethnicity affect the voting outcomes on American Idol
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Saturday, 31 January 2009How the South is getting its revenge on the North through American Idol
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Sunday, 25 January 2009They say teenaged contestants have a big advantage on AI. They'd be mistaken.
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Sunday, 18 January 2009What traits might help you succeed on Al? A Y chromosome is a good start.
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Sunday, 11 January 2009Studying the science of survival on American Idol
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Tuesday, 23 December 2008The return of the Wild Card Show for AI8 isn't exactly a change we can believe in.
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Tuesday, 26 August 2008Kara DioGuardi's addition to the judging panel is a promising start to AI8
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Sunday, 13 July 2008The belated AI8 audition schedule plus some announced rule changes have us concerned
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Monday, 9 June 2008What if American Idol viewers had voted strictly on performance? Let's find out.
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Sunday, 1 June 2008Everyone has ideas for how to improve American Idol. Here are some of ours.
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Sunday, 25 May 2008David Cook, 19E, and the Second American Revolution
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Saturday, 24 May 2008Those great iTunes downloads cost AI fans more than just 99 cents apiece
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Saturday, 17 May 2008Idol contemplates lowering the audition age to 14. We have a better idea.
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Saturday, 10 May 2008A requiem for Idol voting rationality
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Saturday, 3 May 2008Any attempt to improve the AI voting system must keep the Prime Directive in mind.
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Sunday, 27 April 2008American Idol, Human Nature, and the "Sesame Street Effect"
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Sunday, 20 April 2008How performance order does (and does not) make a difference on American Idol
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Monday, 14 April 2008Will a finalist ever complete their AI run with no below-average performances?
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Saturday, 5 April 2008Water-cooler moments are becoming scarce as AI evolves
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Sunday, 30 March 2008A reader's research leads us to muse about the past, present and future of American Idol
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Wednesday, 26 March 2008Does a simple shout-out indicate a worthy attitude adjustment is underway on Idol?
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Thursday, 20 March 2008Give the devil his due: VFTW has been, on balance, an asset to Idol viewers
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Friday, 14 March 2008Two Idols give a lesson on how and how not to handle a performance flub
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Sunday, 9 March 2008Are you conceding that a guy will win AI7? Not so fast.
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Sunday, 2 March 2008Tired of the producers' rampant favoritism? This idea ought to set AI7 right.
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Thursday, 28 February 2008Ouch! It's time to formulate Da Rules for selecting a song on Idol
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Saturday, 23 February 2008AI7's tweaks lead to a strong opening week (really!), but one change has got to go.
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Wednesday, 20 February 2008One component of the AI machine is still in need of a tune-up
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Wednesday, 13 February 2008The producers have held up their end of the bargain. Now it's up to us viewers.
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Saturday, 9 February 2008Does web reaction to a purported Top 24 "spoiler" list bode ill for AI7?
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Sunday, 3 February 2008Talent makes a comeback; will it last?
