However, the rumors that Fox is looking to tweak the show are not exaggerated. After all, the viewer numbers are still down and the show will be entering it’s eight season next year. Even those of us who watch the show are getting a little fed up with some of the things we’ve seen year after year and are wishing for a few changes.

Ben Grossman over at Broadcasting & Cable got his hands on a 10 page online market research survey Fox put into play last week that gives us a good idea of the kinds of things Fox is looking at. And the answer to that is pretty much everything.

It appears like they may have a special interest in changing up the audition and Hollywood rounds. I found this surprising as those rounds have been some of the more entertaining. One of the questions they’re asking is: “Suppose the first few weeks of American Idol started in Hollywood with flashbacks of the auditions; would that increase or decrease your enjoyment of American Idol?â€Â? What?

I guess I see what they’re going for there. They’re thinking they could spend more time concentrating on the people who actually make it through because we’d see them in Hollywood and then we’d sort of “meet them” in flashbacks. It’s not an altogether bad idea, but I’m not sure how it would play to the middle American idiots who stand in line for three days to make fools of themselves in front of the judges by wearing costumes and singing worse than a tone deaf Tasmanian Devil. Would they even make it on the air? It would be fine with me if they didn’t.

There’s also questions asking about Ryan Seacrest and the judges: Is there too much Ryan? Not enough Ryan? Are the judges (Simon) too negative? Do you like the banter between the judges? Etc. Not that those questions matter. Fox has already stated that Ryan and the judges aren’t going anywhere. The show will continue with all four of them right where they’re at. (They might think about sobering Paula up a bit, though.)

Several of the questions ask for new ideas. We’ve had some of our own here at Pop Critics. Getting rid of theme weeks altogether is at the top of my list. It’s pointless. Quit trying to get me to buy Neil Diamond CDs and try harder to make a good show. Let the contestants pick whatever song they want in whatever style and let the chips fall where they may. If America doesn’t like their style then they’ll vote them out. Who knows, maybe we’ll get a really good reggae singer who couldn’t possibly hope to win singing Dolly Parton but who might do just fine by singing reggae songs every week.

So, what do you think? What are your ideals for making Idol better? What do you like and dislike about the show the way it is now? Are you really going to stop watching after this season if it stays the same? Am I?