American Idol: The 5 Changes We Wish ABC Would Make To Its Revival

This... is our American Idol wish list.

The reality singing competition will celebrate a major milestone when its 20th season (and fifth season on ABC) premieres on Sunday, Feb. 27 at 8/7c. And while there are some aspects of Idol that we hope never change — Kieran and only Kieran should be dimming the lights, thank you very much — the pop culture staple could certainly use a tune-up.

To that end, we've brainstormed five tweaks that we think Idol ought to make in its 20th season and beyond, including more constructive criticism from judges Lionel Richie, Katy Perry and Luke Bryan, and a return to the show's glory days of long, drawn-out eliminations. (You miss them! Admit it!)

Our suggestions also extend behind the scenes: Who will replace Bobby Bones as Idol's in-house mentor? Who should? And after several contestant controversies over the years — including the abrupt exit of Caleb Kennedy in Season 19 — we hope we're not alone in wanting Idol to more thoroughly vet its singers.

While you wait for Idol's Season 20 arrival — including the returns of Richie, Perry and Bryan, plus Ryan Seacrest as host — scroll through the list below to see our five ideal changes to the show, then drop a comment with your own!

It's not that we want Simon Cowell back. For every refreshingly blunt piece of criticism that Cowell lobbed during his time as an OG judge, there were needlessly cruel digs at other contestants' talent, and the fixation that many Idol hopefuls had on impressing Cowell ultimately sabotaged their runs on the show.

That said, surely it's not too much to ask for someone on the current judging panel to offer honest critiques that the singers can actually use. During pre-taped sections of the competition, like auditions and Hollywood Week, Lionel Richie, Katy Perry and Luke Bryan deliver valuable constructive criticism with ease... until the live shows begin, and the trio suddenly swaps out helpful feedback for endless standing ovations and cloying platitudes. It serves no one — least of all American Idol's amateur singers — to ignore the bum notes, flubbed lyrics and questionable song choices; instead, Idol's live performance shows have become multi-hour praise-a-thons, robbing the show of any sense of competition or high stakes.

Nearly four years later, a point that my colleague Andy Swift made back in 2018 still stands: Why is Idol so quick to say goodbye to its eliminated contestants? The show's weekly eliminations used to be as intense and emotionally gripping as any of its performance shows; ousted singers got a goodbye montage and one last opportunity to sing on the Idol stage; even farewell songs like Daniel Powter's "Bad Day" and Chris Daughtry's "Home" became synonymous with Idol throughout the years.

But ever since the show was revived at ABC, the names of eliminated contestants have been read with only a couple of minutes, sometimes even seconds, left in the broadcast, and the show spends zero time bidding a meaningful farewell to the same singers it's urged us to vote for all season long. Surely there's room in Idol's often-bloated episodes to keep those contestants in the spotlight a little longer.

And while we're on the topic of eliminations, perhaps Idol can return to its original format of only booting one contestant per week, instead of casting off two, three or even four singers in one go. Once the Top 12 is determined, the rest of each Idol season tends to go by in a flash, with multiple singers getting kicked off the show each week until, suddenly, we're at the finale — even as most contestants are still trying to figure out their styles and artistic instincts. The breakneck pace robs viewers of an opportunity to get to know these singers better... which might help explain why very few contestants from Idol's ABC era have had breakout mainstream success. We hardly know 'em before we have to say goodbye!

No bones about it: Country radio DJ Bobby Bones was always a strange choice for Idol's in-house mentor, given his relative lack of singing and performance experience. But now that Bones has stepped aside from the series — he confirmed in January that a logistical conflict would keep him from participating in Season 20 — Idol has an opportunity to bring someone more qualified on board to guide these newbies through the grueling TV competition process. And though Idol's A-list alumni like Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood might have packed schedules, surely one of the show's dozens of previous contestants would be available to come back and share their tips for performing on such a unique, national stage.

The sudden resurfacing of a reality contestant's problematic past has, unfortunately, been a regular thing for years. But it's especially jarring on Idol, when a singer you may have championed in real time for weeks is suddenly out of the competition — as was the case with Caleb Kennedy, who abruptly left Season 19 after the publication of an old video in which Kennedy was seated next to someone who appeared to be wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood.

Outside of Kennedy, though, Idol's had a string of contestant disqualifications over the years, often stemming from undisclosed criminal charges. And though we don't know how extensive the show's behind-the-scenes vetting process is, we do know that developments like this cast an unexpected pall over the season... and it's even worse when Idol conspicuously avoids saying anything about the controversy, as it did with Kennedy's departure from the show last year.