American Idol

According to The New York Post, The Hollywood round of American Idol 7 will allow to contestants to use instruments while they sing. The audition process begins this week and this is the first time in the show's history that they are allowing the contestants to do this. Executive producer Nigel Lythgoe told The New York Post "If [the contestants] can play an instrument this year we want to be able to see that, and we’ll introduce a couple of days of that during Hollywood week." That may or may not continue to the semi-final and final rounds of the competition in the spring. "We’ll make a decision when we see how many really talented people we have,” he said. He also said that American Idol’s tour may be combined with the tour from his other series, So You Think You Can Dance.

In my opinion, I'd rather not see the two shows combined. I'm a huge fan of So You Think You Can Dance, but I only watch the auditions portion of American Idol because I think the auditions are hysterical. I'd like it if they kept them separate.