I haven’t talked much about American Idol lately, either on the radio show or on this blog, but they have been busy. Randy Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, and Steven Tyler wrapped up the Judges’ Auditions portion of the show a couple of weeks ago, as noted by the tweet below.

So sometime in the next few weeks, most everyone who received a Golden Ticket will be flying out to Los Angeles to take part in Hollywood Week, a week that I think is still one of the most grueling weeks of all the talent competition shows out there.

You might have noticed that in the above paragraph, I said “most everyone who received.” I said it this way for a reason. Yes, there seems to be an idiot or two every year who does something that causes the American Idol producers to yank their Golden Ticket back. But that’s not why I used the phrase. Instead, I used it because I saw a passing tweet a few months ago that mentioned one of the audition cities had Golden Tickets taken back because the judges let too many of them through to Hollywood.

Can you imagine? You try out for the judges and get at least two of them to say yes. After grabbing the Golden Ticket, you scream, cry, and call everyone you know while shouting in excitement. Then a producer calls you and says, you know what? Never mind. The judges sent too many people through and we’re taking your Golden Ticket back.

For the record, I can’t remember which audition city this happened in last year or who I saw tweet this, though my memory says Los Angeles and Pia Toscano.

One of the biggest gripes by American Idol fans over the past couple of years is the number of people the judges have sent through to Hollywood Week. Fans see a so-so audition and wait for the judges to squeeze tears out of the auditioner, only to watch in disbelief as two, if not all three, of the judges send the person through.

I’m a supporter of giving borderline auditioners another chance, even if that second chance occurs during Hollywood Week. But under no circumstances should there ever be a situation where someone who has been sent through is called back and told, “Whoops. You’re not going after all.” Especially when there is an easy fix to this.

Hollywood Week consists of three rounds: Round 1 has all the auditioners singing a short clip from a song a cappella; Round 2 is the Group Round; and Round 3 is where all the survivors work with the band and coaches to give one final performance. An additional Las Vegas round was added last season, but whether that round comes back this season or not is not instrumental to this discussion.

Hollywood Week should remain as is with one exception: any auditioner who got all yeses from the judges should NOT have to participate in Round 1. Instead, they would go straight to the Group Round. This would leave only the auditioners who got 2 out of 3 yeses to participate in Round 1.

When a judge says yes to an auditioner, it’s suppose to be because the judge sees something in that person. For some, they not only have a great voice but a great personality. For others, either the voice or personality is lacking. But there is still something there, something that is worthy of a second chance.

By making this change, the three judges would, theoretically, at least, would be more aware of what their “yes” could mean. This might give a judge, especially if it’s the third judge to vote, pause in saying yes. An auditioner who is marginal but gets yeses from the first two judges could get a no from the third judge simply to keep them from going straight to the Group Round.

This change would eliminate the need to take back Golden Tickets because of too many people being sent through. Group 1 could then be used to determine which auditioners are good enough to join those already in Group 2. And you can modify how many people from Group 1 are allowed to go through to Group 2 based on how many people are already in Group 2. If the number of people in Group 2 is low, then maybe 75% of those in Group 1 will make it through. If there is a large number of people in Group 2 already, then only 25% of those in Group 1 will go through. It’s an easy adjustment that can be made each year based on the level of talent in the initial auditions.

Such a change could also have a side-benefit: the judges simply stop allowing marginal auditioners to make it to Hollywood Week in the first place. This would force the producers to seek out greater and greater talent in order to ensure enough people make it through to Hollywood Week. And that, in turn, should give us, the fans, more talent to cheer on when the live shows start.

Even if my delusions of grandeur were actually true and every American Idol producer read this blog, it’s probably too late for them to make this change for Season 11 since the judges wouldn’t have known about it during the Judges’ Auditions. But then again, making the change now could show the judges just how important their yeses are and would give them something to think about while waiting for next year’s Judges’ Auditions.

One can hope, anyway.

So what do you think? What other changes should American Idol make to help ensure a better crop of contestants make the live shows? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.