Taking a page from James Dinan, I present:

Making it Better: American Idol

So you may be thinking, making it better? It's one of the top-rated shows on TV. It made a star of an unknown Kelly Clarkson, and may do the same for as many as five others. Every network is ripping it off, even the home network of Fox. So what's to improve?

Quite a bit, actually.

1. Hire someone who can produce plausibly live television. One of the consistent problems this season was the every episode seemed a little off. Ryan Seacrest would introduce the contestants, and the camera would be late in tracking them as they entered. Seacrest would walk over to interview the kids to save the time it took for them to walk to him. Some shows ended with extra time, some were too short to allow the person voted off a chance to sing. Graphics were often late, and at times mis-identified people.

I tend to think that there were a couple changes from last season that exacerbated the problem (see numbers 2 and 3), but I also have to think that there is a producer or production team out there that could handle this better than the current folks. The problems above aren't gaping problems, but they give the show a shoddy feel.

2. Ease back on the commercials, real and otherwise. Of course, TV is about selling product. Heck, this entire show is about creating a new product to sell. But if there was one major difference between the first and second seasons, it was the amount of promotional material. I'm not only talking about obvious ads, but also the product-placement segments. Did we need to have the kids get their hair colored by the Herbal Essences folks? Or have Seacrest demonstrate a Nokia phone that also takes pictures?

While fewer real commericals would help, I can see where that's unlikely to happen. Replacing some of the placement spots with other information on the contestants and their doings will help develop a stronger brand identification, ultimately allowing those who release albums to have a better fan base. Which means more money. At least for those with a cut of the music.

3. Go back to 10 finalists or break up the group of 12 finalists. The addition of 2 finalists allowed for more episodes, but also created more congestion. It also allowed for non semi-finalists to get another shot at the finals, which is how we wound up with Carmen Rasmussen. Avoiding a repeat of both of these results would be optimal.

One way to do it is to go back to 10 finalists. Fewer people give each individual more time to become a known quantity. I don't see this change happening, as this year's format allowed each judge (and the public) to pick a wild card. I don't think the judges will want to lose this, and giving the public a vote creates that much more connection between them and the contestants.

So, if we're staying with 12 finalists, have the first two rounds of competition involve two pools of finalists. That way you have six people singing each night (to start), then merge the groups after a week or two. Not only do you get even more shows out of this, but the producers get an even better chance to monkey with the groups.

4. Bring back live music and backing. The karaoke backing tracks and often over-wrought backing vocals can influence how a performance is seen by the public, and thus hurt a contestant through no fault of their own. Having the contestant out there alone also took away from performances, as the contestant would look like they were singing in a vacuum, not connecting to anything.

One of the best weeks from the original series was the big band week, as the live music allowed for more energy in performances and gave us a chance to see how each contestant interacted with other performers. It doesn't have to be big band, just a band. I caught part of the first episode of Fame tonight, and the opening number was much better for having a live band than if the music was piped in.

5. Give up the "humor". A basic fact of the show is that none of the regulars are that funny. They can throw out the off quip, but they don't carry off the scripted stuff very well. It doesn't help that the jokes they do get aren't particularly sharp. The writers should either focus on the quicker hits, or just drop the humor completely and let the regulars fend for themselves.

6. More information, less filler. One of the promised facets of the show this year was supposed to be reports from the house, giving some level of inside info on the contestants. We got zero reports, and in fact saw less of the house this year than last (except when it served as a backdrop for product placement purposes).

On the one hand, I'm not complaining as it meant no more Kristin Holt, a grating retread from the first season. However, the limited information we got on each contestant didn't give much insight. I feel like I know much less about Clay and Ruben than I did Kelly and Justin. In some cases that may prove to be a good thing, but it was ironic to hear Simon talk about how he didn't know anything about Kimberly Locke. When did the show even bother to provide some background to help that process out?

7. Less repetition. I got a little sick of "worst singer in the world" Kevin the 93rd time I saw him. I don't think I'll be able to listen to Ruben's first single, "Fly Without Wings," as he sang it five times in the 25 hour period of the finals and final results. The way each week's result show is staged makes kabuki look like a night at the improv.

There are tendencies in the show to repeat things. Break them. I know showing different things is a crazy idea, and may actually require spending money or writing new material, but it makes the show less stale.

And finally...

8. Let contestants sing the entire song. OK, it could be in the first week or two you have to truncate songs to get everyone in. But why, when there are three contestants left, do we have them sing parts of three songs instead of two full ones?

There were weeks where a contestant's entire performance was one verse and the refrain sung three or four times. What does that tell us about the contestant? Make each person memorize and entire song and try to sell it on national TV. That will tell us more about their ability to be the American Idol than a minute and a half of a partial song.

Oh, and 8a: Let them sing some newer songs. Sarah read an article comparing the show to Britain's Pop Idol, and one of the big differences is that on the British show they tend to sing much more recent material. Most of the songs from this year's American Idol were from before 1985. Some of this was due to the choice of judges and themes (hard to sing a post-1985 Neil Sedaka song), but there's not much to learn about how a kid will do as a pop star by singing "Smile" or "Over the Rainbow." There may be a rights thing, too, but the show's making enough money. Spend a little so that we get post-2000 songs on more than the Ford ads.