In a few words (or more) describe each of the seasons of ABC's American Idol. Rate them too if you like

[nigelsimon]

In a few words (or more) describe each of the seasons of ABC's American Idol (16-22). Rate them too if you like (1-10 scale).

Example from a random season of Fox's AI:

Season 7- Likable cast w/ diverse genres; Each w/ different looks & personalities. Hard to mistake one for another. The cast lacks a relevant, hip female pop singer, but still a very enjoyable & entertaining season. Easily in my top 3 favorite Idol seasons. Rating -9-

[m1key]

this made me realize there was never really a rate the ABC era seasons poll after S22 ended so ill use this as the opportunity to do that! 

 

1. Season 22 - the best season of the ABC era. great format, diverse/memorable contestants, and satisfying winner. i don't really have any complaints about this season and it will be hard to top imo.

2. Season 19 - the most entertaining season to watch in the ABC era with all of the drama that occurred (Benson dropping out, Cecil being arrested, Calebs KKK scandal, Arthur Gunn and the comeback twist, etc.) a really strong group of contestants overall. 

3. Season 16 - i feel like the vibe of this season was really fun and refreshing! the format unfortunately wasn't that great, definitely too short. had a lot of memorable contestants and a satisfying winner! 

4. Season 20 - the most predictable and stereotypical season of the ABC era (a WGWG winner, country top two, etc.) contestants like Leah/Fritz/Nicolina carried imo so at least they all made Top 5. Kenedi dropping out was unfortunate, but spawned some fun drama and discourse. not a very memorable season.

5. Season 21 - the 20 -> 12 cut ruined a lot of interest i had in the season, in the sense that there were questionable results *and* it made it feel like the season was being rushed. this season was basically Iam Idol featuring a few co-stars like Megan, Colin, and We. he was a deserving and unique winner, but as a season overall it was not the most entertaining to watch. 

6. Season 17 - continued with the short format that s16 had, but with worse talent. Jeremiah/Laci carried and the episode of them being in the bottom 2 together is the most tragic of the ABC era imo. otherwise filled with mediocre/divisive contestants.

7. Season 18 - had potential but was largely ruined by the pandemic. 

Edited August 16 by m1key

[nigelsimon]

2 hours ago, m1key said:

this made me realize there was never really a rate the ABC era seasons poll after S22 ended so ill use this as the opportunity to do that! 

Hey m1key. That's a name I remember from old IDF days. Good to hear from ya. Here's some of my thoughts on your insightful summary:

-You have season 18 as the worst in the ABC era huh? I guess I picked the wrong season to give Idol a chance then. Season 18 was the one I watched the most early on. Lauren Spencer-Smith was my favorite from auditions & her elimination was pretty much the nail in the coffin. It wasn't a shocking elimination & I saw it coming based on her song choice. It was just so disappointing to see yet another promising young pop singer not knowing how to play "the singing competition game". I did also like Makayla Phillips. However, given that Lauren was cut so early & I thought she would really appeal to the Idol demo w/ her tone, big voice, sweet smile, & overall likeability, I gave up on Makayla & the rest of that season.

-Season 19- I heard that Arthur Gunn was brought back for season 19 after coming in 2nd the previous season. I thought this was a terrible look. This just defeats the purpose of the show for me. This isn't Big Brother or one of Gordon Ramsay's cooking shows. Arthur had many weeks to showcase himself the prior season. If he hasn't gotten signed or hit it big from that, that's just tough. It was actually unfair even to have him in the pool of candidates given how far he made it the previous season.

 

[nytsch]

I’ll rate the winners and then the seasons overall

 

1. Abi - ok after watching Maddie’s run this was closer than I thought it would be but Abi had more standout performances overall imo

2. Maddie - the clear winner of this season, other than maybe Catie but she crashed and burned top 7 week anyway so eh. I loved her song choices and the flip into her higher voice(?)

3. Iam - best male winner easily, not the most diverse but he did have some performances with more power (Bring It On Home) and it was nice to see him showcasing some Hawaiian music too

4. Just Sam - a little hard to judge because of the shortened and remote season, Como La flor was definitely a season highlight though

5. Chayce - best of the WGWG winners imo, more consistent than the others and made at least a few interesting song choices

6. Laine - I guess unpop but I actually liked Alejandro lol? Not obsessed with him like some other places online but he was interesting at least, would’ve definitely preferred him as a winner. Laine had some pretty good performances but also some I didn’t like at all (Hey Jude)

7. Noah - meh

 

seasons overall:

1. 22

2. 16

3. 20 (the top 2 was the weakest of all the top 5 imo, but overall plenty of great performances here with the highlight being Jay’s Lilac Wine, even earlier eliminated contestants like Lady K and Ava were strong plus the results were interesting with this being the only ABC season the wildcards didn’t get eliminated right away)

4. 21 (the SF results were horrible but 3/5 contestants I really liked in the top 5, including the top 2)

5. 19 (it was strong but not that memorable at least for the performances imo? Maybe needed better song choices, Casey was the most interesting artist here imo)

6. 17

7. 18

[m1key]

3 hours ago, nigelsimon said:

Hey m1key. That's a name I remember from old IDF days. Good to hear from ya. Here's some of my thoughts on your insightful summary:

-You have season 18 as the worst in the ABC era huh? I guess I picked the wrong season to give Idol a chance then. Season 18 was the one I watched the most early on. Lauren Spencer-Smith was my favorite from auditions & her elimination was pretty much the nail in the coffin. It wasn't a shocking elimination & I saw it coming based on her song choice. It was just so disappointing to see yet another promising young pop singer not knowing how to play "the singing competition game". I did also like Makayla Phillips. However, given that Lauren was cut so early & I thought she would really appeal to the Idol demo w/ her tone, big voice, sweet smile, & overall likeability, I gave up on Makayla & the rest of that season.

-Season 19- I heard that Arthur Gunn was brought back for season 19 after coming in 2nd the previous season. I thought this was a terrible look. This just defeats the purpose of the show for me. This isn't Big Brother or one of Gordon Ramsay's cooking shows. Arthur had many weeks to showcase himself the prior season. If he hasn't gotten signed or hit it big from that, that's just tough. It was actually unfair even to have him in the pool of candidates given how far he made it the previous season.

 

for Season 18, i agree that Lauren was robbed (her Top 20 performance was the highest rated on WNTS for a reason!), but she was sadly dead on arrival regardless due to lack of screen time. because of the extremely jarring format of 20 -> 11 -> 7 -> 5 used on that season, the results heavily depended on screen-time during Auditions through Hawaii as opposed to talent imo. 

 

and yeah i agree with your thoughts about Season 19 as well! the comeback twist was not a great idea overall imo, but the controversy could have been minimized by limiting it to contestants who didn't make Top 7/Top 5. 

[CarmenSandiego]

Here’s my rankings:

 

1.  Season 22 — the best season of the ABC seasons so far, especially since Abi won since I voted for her.

2.  Season 19 — hard a Top 4 that might have been the best Top 4 so far.

3.  Season 16 — this was the first season that my first favorite actually won.  Also, I got to see Maddie on tour.

4.  Season 21 — I had no major issues with Iam winning, but plenty with Colin getting to the finale.

5.  Season 18 — had it not been shortened by COVID, it would have ranked higher since Just Sam was another first pick who won.

6.  Season 20 — big letdown for me after Kennedi chose to withdraw.

7.  Season 17 — the weakest season in terms of talent on ABC.