Donny Osmond Predicts The End of 'American Idol'
Las Vegas Weekly
by Robin Leach
January 21, 2011
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Nice guy Donny Osmond didn’t pull any punches, as he predicted the end of American Idol this year moments after the Season 10 premiere was over. Hours later, it appeared that he was vindicated when the ratings with new judges Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler had dropped drastically.
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Over two consecutive nights, it was a tumbling trajectory. Last night, there was a 12 percent drop on top of the 16 percent loss Wednesday.
Second-night Nielsen ratings had 22 million viewers vs. 26 million last year, but it was still strong enough to give Fox its highest-rated Thursday of regular programming in 15 years!
Donny records his nationally syndicated radio show in a studio he set up at his Flamingo dressing room. He described A.I. as “unimproved” and added: “Lots of pressure for the show, and a lot to prove. It’s a TV program -- not reality! It is packaged for entertainment. The first rule of entertainment is there has to be some kind of conflict. Conflict is what makes it interesting. I’m sorry, but without Simon Cowell, there is no conflict. With Steven, Jennifer and Randy Jackson, you have three white hats and no villain. It just doesn’t work! There were lots of ‘I’m sorries’ and ‘you are so sweet’ and ‘I really like you’ ... no way. |
