‘Idol’ is in top form, if Randy’s any judge
IT’S ALL good again with “American Idol,” says Randy Jackson.
Sure, this season’s head mentor told a conference call, “Idol” was getting a little tired by the end of last season.
“But now it’s ‘Idol’ 2.0,” he said. “It needed a refresh, and it got it.”
And yeah, personally he was kinda burned out on the judging thing he’d done since season one. Moving to mentor fixed that. “I love being a mentor,” he says. “That’s what I do all day anyway when I’m managing artists. I help develop talent.
“I don’t miss anything about being behind the judges’ table. After doing it so long, you can’t even figure out another way to say stuff.”
He praised the current judging panel of returnee Jennifer Lopez, holdover Keith Urban and newcomer Harry Connick Jr., who has been called “Harsh Harry.”
“I don’t see him that way,” said Jackson. “I love what he’s doing. You have to call it as you see it, and he’s doing an amazing job. He’s honest, he’s hilarious, he’s not just being harsh.”
What civilians may not know, said Jackson, is that in real-life auditions, “You might not even get a comment. They just say, ‘Next.’ ”
Jackson avoided any comment of his own on last year’s judging panel, with Mariah Carey and Nikki Minaj. It’s tricky, he said. “You want the kind of natural chemistry we had with (the original lineup of) me, Simon (Cowell) and Paula (Abdul),” he said. “You can’t fake that.”
So far, the audience hasn’t completely caught up with Jackson’s enthusiasm for “Idol 2.0.” Last Thursday’s show, competing against the Olympics, dipped below 10 million viewers.
Jackson says viewers who strayed should come back.
“We’re got great talent this year,” he said. “We’re still the only show that can say we’ve had successful contestants from this format. No other show can.”
dhinckley@nydailynews.com