I watched the two hour show of American Idol Wednesday night with the guys competing, and I will have to say it was not overly entertaining. At least the solo show Thursday evening let us see a few of the guys shine, but only a few. I definitely could not pick out the next Phillip Phillips or Scotty McCreery from this group. One thing that needs to develop soon is some engaging relationships between the new contestants. In the past five seasons I can always think of a "bromance" or implied romance that kept viewers interested in just watching the relationships that grew between the various contestants:
Season 7: David Cook and Michael Johns
Season 8: Kris Allen and Adam Lambert
Season 9: Lee DeWyze and Andrew Garcia
Season 10: James Durbin and Stefano Langone (and the implied possible romance between Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina)
Season 11: Phillip Phillips and Heejun Han
Notice in each of the last five seasons the winner was part of a bromance except for Scotty's case where he was instead in the possible romance with Lauren. I think showing a male contestant who displays that they can have a tight relationship with another guy helps with their likability and gives them more votes.
Season 7:
Season 8:
Season 9:
Season 11:
In Scotty's case for Season 10, since he was under age that may have seemed creepy if he "man crushed" on some guy over 18, so instead everyone speculated on a possible country teen romance between Lauren and him (McLaina) and watched their relationship develop. Scotty and Lauren ended up having just a close, platonic friendship which is "bromance"-like in that way, and that relationship worked well in their promotional activities leading up to their album releases:
Out of the guys on Season 12 of American Idol it will be interesting to see if any bromances develop. If any of these guys want to win, I believe it is statistically in their best interest to find one!