Conference Call With American Idol Producer, Ken Warwick

This afternoon, I was able to participate in a conference call with American Idol executive producer, Ken Warwick.  I did my best to type out his answers to most of the questions.  Here’s what he had to say:

On the reinstatement of the wild card system: Ken says that he feels it will be less boring to go back to using the Wild Card system which allows the judges more freedom to put someone back in the show who maybe picked the wrong song or had an off day during the Hollywood round.

He also said that auditioners are more savvy than they used to be since they know the show so well now.  He feels that some people try to "play the game" rather than be genuine during their try-out.  Those people turn him off and they try to be careful about weeding those folks out.

Someone asked "is there a change in tone this season?" since there have been rumors that this year will be more "inspirational."  Ken said that there will probably be fewer horrible singers shown on television but added that places like Puerto Rico will show that there are still some really bad auditions. 

When asked about the new judge, Ken said that Kara is "probably the best qualified person to know what we’re looking for."  He praised her for her youth, songwriting skills and singing abilities saying it has added another dimension to the judging this year. 

Someone (don’t we all?) wanted to know if the Paula situation has changed their process for letting people through to the judges?  They’ve stopped people in the past who seemed like a threat so the actual process hasn’t changed.  Ken said he wasn’t "aware that this person [Paula Goodspeed] was a little more than a fan."  He said the obsessed fan’s death is unfortunate but it hasn’t changed how they operate the auditions. 

He also said that he was in the room when Goodspeed auditioned and does not remember thinking there was a problem.  Ken was adamant that Paula Abdul did not ever tell him anything about Goodspeed and how dangerous she could be.  He also was very clear that there has never been a discussion about Paula not being a part of Idol and even went as far as to say that he hopes she’s on the show until it goes off the air.

Ken mentioned that they might start doing Idol Gives Back every second year since it’s very difficult to keep the main show’s standards up and prepare for a finale right after the special. 

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