But in 2010, a slight shift could be noticed in the priorities of the Idol producers. Ellen DeGeneres was brought on as a judge, despite her noticeable lack of relevance within the music industry but definite sway in terms of a broader entertainment demographic. The next two seasons, Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez joined the judges' table with mainstay Randy Jackson. Though their inclusion on the show didn't leave folks scratching their heads in the way DeGeneres did, it was nonetheless evident that Idol was looking to boost ratings with this new crop of judges, though said judges never really outshone the singing talent.

Then came 2013. After the departure of Tyler and Lopez, Idol enlisted country star Keith Urban, pop icon Mariah Carey and hip-hop superstar Nicki Minaj as the new guard of the show, joining the cockroach of Idol's judges table, Jackson.

What has followed is a strange, strange season of the flailing singing competition, during which many are only just now getting a handle on some of the contestants at all � and they're already down to a mere eight. During certain audition episodes, there were barely even any major moments or even many auditions at all, put on the backburner in favor of the judges' crazy sayings, disagreements and even arguments that were played up for a live TV audience. Chief among these were Minaj and Carey's Charlotte spat that made headlines for months after the two disagreed on something as miniscule as contestant Summer Cunningham's diction.

Even with the new judges and the allure of the Minaj-Carey fight, it hasn't been a spectacular year in terms of ratings for the former Nielsen juggernaut. The show premiered with a mere 17.8 million viewers, down a few million from the 21.9 million viewers who tuned in for 2012′s premiere.

This season's sole bright spot has been the aforementioned Charlotte audition show (i.e. Minaj and Carey's beef hour), grabbing the top ratings spot that night with 16.07 million viewers after loads of pre-promotion for the episode. Still, that was still a drop from the premiere, signifying that viewers were, indeed, already getting bored of the experiment. That said, its premiere still topped that of The Voice, which debuted to 13.64 million viewers this past Monday (March 25).