Watch American Idol S12E13 Online 27 February2013

Watch American Idol S12E13.American Idol has become a battle of the sexes in the past several seasons and this year looks to be no different.  We’re halfway through the Las Vegas rounds and production is making it clear that they don’t want a guy to take home the crown yet again for American Idol 2013. An obvious attempt at control can be found during this stage as the singers are no longer intermingled but rather are split by sexes. The girls can’t be knocked out by a guy. Not only that, but the judges are the ones picking who will move on to the Top 20. That means they can pick the weakest male vocals to go up against some real powerhouse girls.  On Thursday night I was really surprised by the praise heaped on some pretty poor performances. Of course these male singers had done much better in the past, but when they put out a real junk performance the judges need to be ready to admit it. Instead some of the worst were sent on to the next round, the live portion of American Idol 2013. Heck, even Randy Jackson called out the other judges for heaping on the praise when it shouldn’t have happened.  Maybe I’m just being paranoid and maybe production isn’t out to sink the guys, but so far it sure seems like it. What do you think?

Fox's American Idol Season 12 debuted Wednesday night with Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban as the new judges. And though Carey, "the most qualified Idol judge ever," Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban provided star power while also connecting with the contestants, People magazine thinks they should "try harder."   From People:  During auditions in New York City, they mostly sat there glassy-eyed. They seemed uncomfortable with each other and uncommunicative. They could have been poll watchers, pencils in hand, waiting at their cardboard tables by the voting booths.   Ouch! Let's not forget that, according to Forbes, Fox paid $54 million for the show's new lineup (including host Ryan Seacrest).   Perhaps the problem is not the judges, but the format. Reality television has been around since approximately 2000 — that's over a decade; and in all this time the genre has kept pretty much the same formulas (drama-inducing antagonisms, clashes of egos, mean judging etc.) that made it a novelty then, but might make them predictable and repetitive today.