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Published Thursday, March 24, 2005 by seanlmccarthy | E-mail this post

WORSHIPING FALSE IDOLS, AGAIN? American Idol executive producer Ken Warwick blames "human error'' for the latest snafu to hit the nation's most-watched TV show.
Idol scheduled an unprecedented revote and rebroadcast last night after an "outside contractor'' botched Tuesday night's graphics, giving viewers the wrong phone numbers for three of the 11 finalists. A new half-hour results show airs tonight at 9 on Fox (WFXT-25). "After four years of everything being perfect,'' Warwick explained to reporters in a conference call yesterday, "you just take your eye off the ball for a second.''
Perfection, we guess, is relative. Consider Idol's track record.
Potential Idol Mario Vasquez already left the show and may have signed a deal with Sean "Puffy Puff Daddy P. Diddy'' Combs. Warwick said he'd heard that rumor but couldn't confirm it.

Last year:

A power outage in contestant Jennifer Hudson's hometown of Chicago may have cost her last year's Idol. No revote occurred.

Elton John accused Idol's voting methods of being racist.

Fox confirmed it had a policy to combat so-called power-dialers from stuffing the ballot box.

In season two:

Questions persist about whether Ruben Studdard really won Idol's final vote against Clay Aiken.

Finalist Corey Clark got himself disqualified because he faced assault charges. Idol did throw out that week's votes and gave everyone else a free pass, including . . .

Finalist Trenyce, who had previously been convicted for theft, despite telling Idol's Web site that she couldn't think of a most embarrassing moment.

Two other semifinalists that year got the boot. Frenchie Davis could have won if not for topless photos she posed for years beforehand, while semifinalist Jaered Andrews was knocked out for his involvement in a fatal fight.

And then there was the original American Idol, which culminated in the less-than-perfect movie, From Justin to Kelly.

Continue reading: ‘Idol’ thought: Give out the right number (Boston Herald)
Related: Official home of American Idol.