Phil Stacey blog:

Welcome to Season 8 of “American Idol.” I believe we are in for a good season! The touching montage in the beginning piqued my interest and made me want to spot the next Chris Daughtry, Carrie Underwood or Kelly Clarkson. The rumor is that this season has some changes in store for us, which is also very intriguing.

Obviously the new judge, Kara DioGaurdi, will make one of the most front-of-camera impacts. I really like her. She is fun and opinionated and a real expert in her field. Kara’s songwriting/song choice expertise will add to the show. I learned firsthand how song choice could make or break you (“Where the Blacktop Ends” helped secure me a record deal). I just hope Kara is OK with answering to “the other judge” for the rest of her Idol career.

Hardcore fans already know that Nigel Lythgoe, Idol’s co-executive producer, has left the show to pursue other projects. Nigel had a huge impact on how Idol flowed and many have predicted that his absence would be detrimental to its existence. However, Ken Warwick, the other executive producer, proved himself a highly valuable commodity tonight. Only time will tell how Nigel’s absences will affect the show.

There were several auditions that stood out to me, but since it is only the first episode we can assume that only one or two of those auditioning will make it to the finals. If I were to guess, I would give the edge to Emily Wynne-Hughes and Scott MacIntyre. Emily was the rocker girl who sang “Barracuda” at the very beginning of the show. Scott is the talented pianist/singer who has overcome a disability to do extraordinary things. The reason I would pick them is because they were given more face time on camera, thus endearing the audience to them a little more than the others.

On a side note, this show reminded me of a Mr./Miss “American Idol” pageant. First, Miss Congeniality would be awarded to Lea Marie Golde, the young Kara fan who donned an entire pink matching costume, cowboy hat included. I felt she was a sweet girl who would find great success in a small town beauty pageant. I would give the Public Service/Platform award to Arianna Afbar, who was pushing the “adopt a grand-friend” program. Arianna also has a great voice and would do great in the talent competition! Of course, the bathing suit competition would go to Katrina Darrell, the only contestant to wear a bikini on the show. By the way, props to Katrina for finding a way to stand out, even if it does offend half the Idol viewing audience and makes parents rethink its family friendly label. Getting through those first rounds is all about luck unless you can pull (or take) off something like that …