It's almost that time again

The end of the year is quickly approaching January is just around the corner, and you know what that means? American Idol is coming back!. Woo-hoo!. Yeah I know kinda pathetic to get this excited about a reality show.

Every year I say to myself I won't watch it, and every year I break that promise lol. I guess the allure of those first few weeks of bad auditions is just too strong to resist. lol

Then of course there's Paula's crazy antics (I for one will be tuning in especially for that lol) and her feud with Simon Cowell. Plus Randy's dog pound shout outs and Simon Cowell's honesty. Ah, yes what a great month it'll be lol. Looking forward to it all.

Of course while the viewers rejoice about American Idol's return, the networks are getting ready for the fall out and the ratings slump all of their shows will experience in the months to come. Case and point:

Article Source

In Seabiscuit, Laura Hillenbrand writes about a pile of manure at a racetrack that a flood turned into “a mighty shit Godzilla” that left buildings and structures destroyed in its wake. That is essentially how the other television networks see FOX’s American Idol, which is about to leave skid marks all over their schedules for the next five months.

One nameless network executive tells Variety, “Early on, I think it was easy to dismiss it as something that would fade. But as the body bags piled up, it became less and less easy to ignore.” NBC’s Mitch Metcalf goes on the record and compares the show to a “hurricane that blows in. We know it’s gonna come and when it’s going to hit. We just have to buckle down and prepare for it the best we can.”

Preparation is a good idea, because Idol “has vaporized nearly two dozen [shows] that have tried to compete against it,” according to Variety. The concern is about more than just shows airing on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Other networks “worry that Fox will add extra episodes of the show if it needs the added ratings juice, or fret over the always looming (but still unlikely) threat that the net might choose to move the ‘Idol’ results show to Thursday nights,” Variety reports.

The hope, of course, is that this year, finally, the show will slip, and start its march toward eventual obscurity. “At some point, it’s got to go down, right? I mean, all shows go down eventually, don’t they?” one executive said. Another network executive says that, “One of these years, it’s going to be down 5% or 8%, and everyone will say, ‘Hmmm, it’s slipping.’ But when that happens is anyone’s guess.”

As for that last paragraph, I think the network exec's will just have to keep dreaming lol. 'Cause as long as there are teenagers in the world that show will go on.

I think the only thing that could possibly get people to stop watching is if they all of a sudden changed the format drastically, say by changing the judges.

But since the chances of that are as slim as Canadians (in the Toronto area) getting snow for Christmas lol, guess they'll just have to suck it up and weather out the storm. The new season of " American Idol" begins January 16th 2007.