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RE: What was behind AI's unbalanced judging?
My take is that the AI producers -- Nigel and company -- identify early on who that want in the finals. Lauren and Scotty were selected early and James was solidified in the middle rounds as a choice. Slezak nailed it with his comments about her crashing the party and other observations. The judges are just tools: Randy-head tool and JLo-guest tool. The producers want to create a glide path for the favored contestants and this is done in several ways including the back-story or lack of, the edits, and the feedback. Normally they could be subtle about this and people don't much remember the details from early on. The negative feedback demoralizes the contestant and influences voters (and journalists and bloggers -- a narrative is created that they buy into or repeat because they are lazy). But Haley kept nailing it and getting better, so the producers had Randy and JLo crank up the negatives. They even got ST to throw in a "started kind of slow" remark about RITD, although JLo and ST balked at scripted criticisms after she sang Beautiful. The producer's people watch the dress rehearsals provide the judges with the spin they want in their comments.
Of course, eventually Randy and JLo looked stupid, mean and nasty. After HOTRs and IWHN it was apparent that the nastiness wasn't working -- it just fired up Haley and gained her some sympathy. I think Randy's standing ovation after WIASNB was actually a kind of reversal of their psychology-- don't trash what was obviously great. They may have known she would have some trouble with parts of YOK, which would be her last performance of the night. They also were seeing the weekly vote numbers that showed that Scotty was clearly going to win it.
Ultimately the producers ignored the fact the their #3 choice, James, was voted off. He had a homecoming concert anyway (heck the plans were already in place). He got his record deal etc. It's worth remembering that this show is American Idol, and the producers aren't that concerned with finding the best voice -- they are looking for a marketable performer/package. Haley did not fit their mold (and they don't fit hers). I do agree with comments I read that in the way they unfairly handled Haley, they ultimately gave her an experience that helped her grow, and they unwittingly allowed her to create her own narrative.
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