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"Nigel Lythgoe has said that the new season of American Idol is appropriate for the current times.  The executive producer told reporters that the climate had changed since the Fox competition first aired and former judge Simon Cowell became a household name because of his &amp;quot;honest&amp;quot; critiques.  &amp;quot;When we brought the show here to America we said that Simon had a role to play of honest judge,&amp;quot; he explained on a press call. &amp;quot;[At that time] we said we&amp;#039;d be tough, honest and, if anything, we might cross the line... Sometimes we did, and the rest of the time we were pretty honest.&amp;quot; He continued: &amp;quot;If Simon felt a kid had spent a lot of money getting singing lessons and wouldn&amp;#039;t be a singing teacher, he&amp;#039;d say, &amp;#039;Sue your singing teacher and get your money back&amp;#039;. It was the right thing to do at that time. Simon took that role and made a star of himself around the world.&amp;quot; However, the music executive went on to say that we are now living in &amp;quot;different times&amp;quot; and the more positive and gentle vibe displayed on the show&amp;#039;s current tenth season - which sees Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler on the judging panel - is appropriate. &amp;quot;We can&amp;#039;t replace what Simon was or brought to the show because it would always be lesser than Simon,&amp;quot; continued Lythgoe. &amp;quot;What we could do was go in a completely different direction. The times we are in, the economic crisis we are in\u2026 now we need warmth, and need to know the positions we find ourselves in we will get ourselves out of at some point.&amp;quot; He added that the &amp;quot;true mark&amp;quot; of a program maker is &amp;quot;judging the times and society&amp;quot; in which their show will be broadcast.  &amp;quot;These are times when we need to be warmer, brighter and need to think we have a future,&amp;quot; he said. &amp;quot;If we can translate that to kids coming on the show from flipping burgers one day to ending up as a star of a TV series, then we are showing everybody we have a way out of our lives at this moment in time.&amp;quot; Lythgoe also said that the competition is in a &amp;quot;very good place&amp;quot; right now, branding this season&amp;#039;s talent as the best the show has even seen collectively, and saying that the viewing figures have &amp;quot;held up brilliantly&amp;quot; for the tenth season.  American Idol airs on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 8/7c on Fox. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/american-idol/news/a304457/lythgoe-welcomes-american-idol-warmth/>