Miscellaneous News

American Idol is still the number-one rated show on TV. But it's ratings have decreased throughout season seven.

According to Broadcasting & Cable, Fox scheduling chief Preston Beckman acknowledges the slide, stating: "We're not in denial. It's still the biggest show on TV, but that doesn't mean there are things we can't do. The feedback from this year, you'll probably see on the show next year."

Such as?

A market research survey that surfaced last week asks for a broad range of information, but fundamentally tries to discover what's working, what's not and who/what audiences want more (or less) of in future seasons.

Questions that focus on the judges ask respondents to say how much each panelist contributes to their "overall enjoyment of American Idol," on a scale from "very important" to "not important at all."

Perhaps the most telling of the questions, however, is an agreement-rating statement that has nothing to do with the judges, Ryan or auditions. It reads: "I care who wins American Idol."

How would you rate the statement? Do you actually care about the champion? What would you suggest to keep or ditch for next year and beyond?

The winners of American Idol will be featured on limited-edition postage created by PhotoStamps.com.

The net proceeds from the sales have been earmarked for Idol Gives Back, so you can send letters and give to a good cause!

Visit photostamps.com now for more information. The stamps are first-class rate postage valued at 42 cents each, and each sheet (20 per sheet) will retail for $19.99.

Vanessa Hudgens is a star of High School Musical.

But she was almost a star on the American Idol stage.

"I love singing and I thought that to get a chance to do [American Idol] would have been amazing," Hudgens told Australia's Daily Telegraph this week. "The only way I thought that I would be able to get myself out there would be on American Idol. But I was 15 at the time when I said that I wanted to do it and you had to be 16 to audition."

However, once the singer's 16th birthday finally arrived, High School Musical was already in the cards. The rest is Disney Channel history.

"When I turned 16, High School Musical came along and I got to do it," she said. "So I thought I'd skip on American Idol."

Hey, wanna be judged by Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell after singing your own personal rendition of “A Moment Like This?”

Wanna see how you stack up against Carrie Underwood, Clay Aiken and Katharine McPhee?

If so, perhaps you should invest in American Idol: Singing Competition.  This interactive DVD experience allows anyone with a DVD player to let deliver his/her version of 12 classic American Idol songs, while being judged by popular panel itself.

Here's how it works: Pop in the DVD, hook up the tuner and pick up the microphone that American Idol: Singing Competition supplies.  From there, choose any one of a dozen American Idol classics.

Using the provided microphone, belt out your personal version of the song, after which you are judged by virtual versions of Randy, Simon and Paula.  You have the option of singing karaoke style (with the words flashing across the screen) or completely by memory.

Enjoy!

KT Tunstall is not exactly a fan of American Idol.

The singer is furious her hit song - "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" - was used on "a money-making puppet show."

She added: "There's no control given to the people. They are nationally humiliated for being themselves. Horrible."

Ouch. Tell us how you really feel, KT.

USA Today played a fun game with its readers: the American Idol section of the newspaper asked people to write it about what order they would now place season one contestants in.

Six years later, the results are telling (actual results from the whoa re in parenthesis)...

1. Kelly Clarkson (1st): Kelly didn't win in a landslide, but the result was clear. She has done the franchise proud and we don't know that anyone else in this crop could have come close to equaling her subsequent achievements.

2. Tamyra Gray (4th): Clearly the feeling is that Tamyra got robbed by the original voters. She was far and away the No. 2 vote-getter in this poll, a lot closer to Kelly than to the No. 3 finisher. Maybe she did make the right decision in gravitating toward acting and songwriting, but it would have been nice to have seen what she could have done as a singer with a big push.

3. Justin Guarini (2nd): Justin's fast fade from the public eye is reflected in his loss of standing retrospectively. He was the clear No. 3 choice, but was way behind Tamyra in the voting, and only a couple of people cared enough to vote him No. 1.

4. Christina Christian (6th): Substantial support for Christina. It'll be interesting to see where other African-American singers like Kimberley Locke, Trenyce, Jennifer Hudson, La Toya London, Nadia Turner, Vonzell Solomon and others wind up in the revisionist vote.

5. RJ Helton (5th): A bit of a surprise, not that he equaled his actual finish but that he beat real-life third-place finisher Nikki McKibbin to do it (by the slimmest margin between any two finalists).

6. Nikki McKibbin (3rd): Biggest gap between actual finish and revised vote, and well-deserved if you ask us. Always thought Nikki was overrated, and her claim as a "rock chick" quite dubious; Gina Glocksen could probably sing rings around her.

7. Ryan Starr (7th): Fairly substantial gap between Nikki and Ryan, who struck us as substantially more bogus than Nikki, although she was arguably better than her piano-climbing male namesake on Rockstar: Supernova. She was kind of the Haley Scarnato of her day (in terms of teenage boy appeal), but less wholesome.

8. E. Jay Day (9th): E Jay carves out a small triumph by getting voted a notch higher than his actual finish.

9. A.J. Gil (8th): The boy-band-esque A.J. was the victim of E. Jay's success, falling to ninth in the revisionist standings. No great loss.

10. Jim Verraros (10th): And as it was in the beginning, so shall it be for eternity (or until the next poll comes around). Coming out didn't gain Jim a lot of retroactive support, it appears.

Taryn Southern, a minor celeb who appeared on American Idol in 2004, wrote and stars in a sexually charged video send-up of Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton.

The video, containing strong sexual inuendo, includes such lyrics as:: "Obama is nice, but you've got something he lacks," as Southern, in the role of school teacher, shows her class a white-board with the word "Ovaries" written across it.

Southern also sings, "I know you're not gay, but I'm hoping for i…lingual!"

FremantleMedia - the production company behind American Idol and official licensor for the Fox mega-hit - has inked a deal with Lyric Jeans, Inc. to create a "lyric-inspired" American Idol brand of apparel.

"American Idol is the most powerful and iconic music brand in popular culture today and the perfect tie-in for our creative concept," said Lyric Jeans president Hanna Rochelle Schmieder.  "We couldn't have dreamt of a better partner. Now music and fashion lovers everywhere can feel like a pop star and express themselves through our lyric-driven lifestyle brand."

Reality TV World reports that The licensing agreement, which was announced on Monday, will have Lyric Jeans developing apparel for department stores, mid-tier and mass market retailers, focusing on the demographic of contemporary juniors and girls with the expansion into children's wear a possibility.

Lyric Jeans already produces clothing featuring song lyrics made famous by numerous artists, including The Beatles, Rod Stewart and The Bee Gees.

"Lyric Jeans has taken a unique approach in personalizing musical expression through fashion," said Nora Wong, FremantleMedia North America's manager of consumer licensing.  "Lending the American Idol name to this apparel line is a fantastic extension for both brands and gets to the heart of what the American Idol brand is all about."

American Idols past and present make up 7% (or 14) of the top 200 digital songs. Thanks to USA Today for this report of last week's ranking versus this week's:

• 12-7 last week Kelly Clarkson/Never Again (58,000; 512,000 total): This underperforming single has probably done best in the download realm; half a million is a solid total. Radio has not been so fond of it, and it's been on the decline for a few weeks now, even before the album emerges.

• 15-8  Daughtry/Home (49,000; 718,000 total): Drops 24% and out of the top 10.

• 18-17  Carrie Underwood/Before He Cheats (45,000; 1.43 million total): The Carrie song that even people who hate country like; also, the Carrie song that even people who don't know American Idol like. There's something about bashing a car with a baseball bat that must appeal to all Americans.

• 29-25  Elliott Yamin/Wait for You (32,000; 213,000 total): Elliott sells 2% more downloads than the previous week, but takes an unlucky downward chart bounce.

• 39-9  Blake Lewis/You Give Love a Bad Name (25,000; 156,000 total): In the last three chart weeks, Jordin's This Is My Now won the first showdown with Blake, 74,000 to 70,000 and No. 9 to No. 11. Blake flipped the switch last week, winning the sales battle 60,000 to 54,000 and the chart war 9 to 14. This week they both nosedive, though Blake is still outselling Jordin.

• 49-14  Jordin Sparks/This Is My Now (20,000; 148,000 total): Drops 63% from last week (Blake dropped 58%, by the way). We wonder when (or if) they'll release it as a single in traditional trophy song fashion. It would certainly be able to outsell Mandisa.

• 112-124  Bucky Covington/Different World (8,600; 74,000 total): Finally, an upward-moving Idol track.

• 123-138  Fantasia Barrino/When I See U (8,100; 65,000 total): Fairly modest sales considering its radio success. But it's still trending upward.

• 143-102  Katharine McPhee/Over It (7,200; 441,000 total): Severe (30%) drop in downloads, but the song is still well ahead of the album.

• 151-166  Kellie Pickler/I Wonder (6,900; 81,000 total): Slight (2%) gain in sales

Thanks to USA Today for the following update on how often various American Idol artists are heard on the radio...

Let's start with the Nielsen BDS/Arbitron/Radio & Records custom chart, which measures and weights radio airplay from all formats (and therefore is the toughest chart to succeed on. There are two Idols in the top 10: Carrie Underwood, with Before He Cheats (which moved from No. 10 to No. 7 this week after 39 weeks on the chart), and Daughtry, whose Home makes a huge jump from 21-10 after 7 weeks.

  Next is It's Not Over by Daughtry, declining now and dropping 26-28 after 23 weeks. Fantasia's When I See U drops 43-45 after nine weeks, losing 3.4% in total radio audience from the previous week, but still, even if it's peaked, it's helped revive sales of her album. Carrie's Wasted drops 54-60 after 18 weeks.

Of particular significance, Elliott Yamin and Wait for You rises 88-75. (The significance is that he's now, after Daughtry, just the second Season 5 Idol to hit this chart. Taylor and Katharine haven't done it yet.)

Also significantly, Kelly Clarkson's Never Again drops 64-76 in just its sixth week. Not a good start for the campaign on her new album. Is Clive annoyed, or was he teaching her a lesson in obedience? Finally, Bucky is up 86-84 with A Different World, which as we'll see is doing fine in country.