Nope. You can read some of the descriptions from contestants (as posted previously) for more proof. Contestants go to a lower level producer and are passed through or stopped there. Those contestants go to the main producers who make the official call to let people through or to can them. The good and the bad are determined at this stage. By the time people walk in to see Randy/Paula/Simon/Random has-been, the "judges" are already told to either let the person through or to can them. They then do that fake "randy says yes, simon says no, what will paula say?" deal. Not all contestants who get through see those "judges" during the audition round.

The reason? Idol isn't about finding the best singer in the country -- it's about finding the most marketable singers that will 1) boost ratings and 2) sell albums. For that reason, they look for singers who are good and who meet certain personality types. Even when they let through people who wouldn't be thought of as "idol material", they have a purpose.

For instance, Mandisa last season was a plus-size woman who could sing and appeal to people who aren't size 2's (notice that eventhough she didn't fit the "idol" weight, she was still a pretty good looking girl?). Kevin from last season got the "nerd" vote and the "12 year old girl" vote. If he got far enough, I'm sure they'd do a makeover like they did with Clay so people could see the whole ugly-duckling thing ("Oh, I used to be just like him, and now he's a star!"). Taylor was let through because of his personality and appeal to older voters (i.e. house wives) who like that soulful music.

Hell, just look at the group from last year as a whole. There was the soulful singer, the pretty white chick, the rocker, the kid, the ditsy blonde, the obese-but-in-a-pretty-way-kinda-like-Queen-Latifa-so-lets-root-for-the-underdog woman, the guy who is a singing male model with an obscure name, the red-neck country singer, and the legacy. Of the entire top 12, the only people who weren't some tired cliche were Elliott, Lisa, and Melissa McGhee. Lisa and Elliott were both really, really damn good (both better than the top 2) and Melissa was some fluke that good booted early (Ayla was the spoiled rich girl cliche that was probable supposed to make it).

It's like watching the Real World. Before the show starts, you can guarantee 1) someone who is gay, 2) someone who is black, 3) someone from the south or fundamentalist and who isn't used to "city life", 4) someone with some deep rooted problem, like alcoholism or racism or something else

I don't recall this being the case the year fantasia won, it seemed like there were several girls with similar styles and a couple of nerdy guys (the pen salesman and the red haired guy, right?)

Is the phone in vote all staged too, just like all the judging that is done by Paula, Randy and Simon during auditions and Hollywood week? I imagine the producers would want the most marketable singers to finish near the top at least, so I can see them manipulating the voting tallies of the American public in order to ensure that happens.

If I'm not mistaken, an independent accounting firm audits the voting to avoid manipulation.

If it were rigged, Katharine McPhee would have been the winner last season.

You're right about that point, but there could be other means by which they manipulate the voting tallies of particular contestants. They could have some system setup that floods the phonelines with calls for the contestants that they want to advance further in the competition. In the past haven't there been some questionable results in the voting, where some people have stuck around longer than one would have expected and others who you think should have gone further than they actually did.

At that point of the competition it doesn't really matter who wins or loses, so I don't think there would be any need of manipulation of the votes going on but in the earlier stages I could see it happening.

edit: You know, I didn't use to feel that way, but after reading about how the judging done by Paula, Randy and Simon is just a farce I begin to question every aspect of the show and it's credibility

Why do they show so little of the people who get through? These audition shows are turning into a burlesque farce.

It's a freak show with an occasional nugget tossed out.

Three out of twenty who got through at LA were shown. That means we haven't heard a note from seventeen - but we were treated to something like ten minutes of some freak pretending to be a fucking panther and tons of other worthless talent. The old guy was cool though.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind an occasional freak or delusional singer, but show more of the good ones.

Katie Bernard. I kept rewinding the Tivo to hear her again, because I had NO idea why it was such a close vote. Her singing voice was OUTSTANDING. She sounded a hell of a lot like Christina Aguilera. It's weird that her speaking voice is so baby-like though. I think there must be something about the vocal cords that if you can sing great, you talk funny. Because Paris from last season was like that too.

Bullshit

Can you IMAGINE the lawsuit that would ensue when a contestant lost MILLIONS of dollars because Idol rigged it? The phone in votes are on the up-and-up simply because there would be a national scandlal if they werent...the show makes BILLIONS of dollars, you think the prodeucers are gonna throw that away when some reporter trying to make a name for themselves comes calling? Dont you think 1000's have tried already?

Internte conspiracy theorists are retarded.

Paula was definitely on whatever she's on tonight.

And ENOUGH with "the other door" shit. How about marking the door fuckwads?

Wow, it looked like Randy and Paula both got the play signal wrong from the producers when they both said no on the girl who was given the second chance. They both looked like they were in a state shock once they realized how they screwed up the producers call on that one.

But, I had a hard time concentrating on her singing when her face was all contorted through her singing, but her voice was too low, made her sound weird to me.

Joe Cocker makes a lot wierd facial contortions, and I imagine some others singers do as well, so it really didnt bother me that much at all. I liked her, so I would have said yes

Exactly. It's American Idol. not America's Next Top Model. Thought they were judging on their singling talent. Not facial expression. But she was cute. And she can SING! So what's the problem? Look at that some of the other AI winners and runner ups. Not exactly easy on the eyes. Fantasia, Ruben, Clay (!!!!).

But then they couldn't do five-minute comedy montages of people trying to go through the wrong door, could they?

True that. Guess it does give me time to go fix a sandwich. Even though I have Tivo. Oh those hilarious AI producers/writers. Will the beating a dead horse fun never end?

I thought the "other door" montage was the best part of the show. Some of those people really plowed right into it.

Paula really did seem sober and together on this show. It was weird.

Um, which show!? Watch the first 20 minutes again. She was like a deer in head lights.

What was up with Simon playing with his moobs while talking to the girl with the weird facial expression?

Did anyone notice in the segment about the locked door that the girl from the first episode who butchered and forgot almost all of the words to the Prince song had a golden ticket? Black girl, white button up dress shirt, tie, jeans, braids, and she kept saying "yes" when they were all telling her no. Very strange.

Hmmm, I don't know how legit this is, but here's an interesting story about an odd run-around one of the contestants we saw tonight got from the AI producers: http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2007...i-days-hollyw/

Sounds awfully suspicious ... I can't believe the producers would just arbitrarily overrule the televised judgement and tell someone "Sorry ... you're not really wanted in Hollywood". Maybe I have to side with the conspiracy group now. But why would they show his audition if they knew they were going to pull this crap with him?

EDIT: Looks to be legit about this guy being booted. At least according to him, AI told him no reason for the ejection. The only thing he can think of is that he has a misdemeanor arrest in his past (he was caught by the cops with about a joint's worth of pot in his car). He told AI about this when applying right off the bat, and they let him go through. And past AI finalists have had much worse things on their police records. Maybe there's something worse on his record that he's not fessing up to?

Thats terrible if they did that, he was very solid. They should not have showed it, unless they were trying to stir up controversy aka ratings.