It’s a tale of two talent pools

And so the understated “American Idol” Season 7 audition tour glides to an understated final stop in Miami.

Co-executive producer Nigel Lythgoe has dangled the very specific number three as the quantity of unmistakable earth-shattering talents we would meet in the preseason. Though this critic is more of a theater gourmand than a licensed arbiter of musical abilities, I nonetheless am not quite sure which three he was talking about. Along this audition trail we have met a good number, perhaps as many as 20, of very credible talents with great growth potential (not to mention tear-jerking back stories). But I can’t say I’ve had the “Oh my God” moment that I remember when first watching Katharine McPhee or Melinda Doolittle sing.

Then again, both of them lost in respective seasons, and I have little to no memory of the first visions of Carrie Underwood, Jordin Sparks or Fantasia Barrino. I remember Taylor Hicks’ first audition all too clearly, but for different reasons. Kelly Clarkson’s audition wasn’t aired during the Season 1 tour, proving that the fates can be capricious to the producers’ attempts to construct an orderly narrative out of this vast, sweeping process.

Admittedly, the audition tour is not my favorite part of the “Idol” journey; I appreciate the drama of those moments of truth, but I find too little real suspense during the auditions. It is too easy for the judges to hand a golden ticket to those with any discernible talent, and the fates of those without are soon all too clear.

The producers insist that without the magic of finding raw talent in the masses’ midst, the rest of the journey would be incomprehensible, and I believe that. The discovery of a McPhee or a Doolittle is an incomparable moment. But it would be nice if we could experience more strongly the stakes during the six-stop tour.

Perhaps the problem is that half the auditioners, the weirdos, are being brought forward just to be discarded. Perhaps a more dramatic, and fair, system would be to send auditioners to one of two parallel competitions. On the top end, the traditionally blessed contestants would continue on to “Idol” as we know it, but on the lower end, the rejects could go head-to-head in their own season-long sing-off, competing for the William Hung throne. I propose that this solution would not just be more equitable and more dramatic, but more efficient -- wringing every ounce of entertainment potential out of “Idol’s” masses. No singer left behind in ‘09!

Another interesting phenomenon in Season 7 is how nearly every auditioner walks in the footsteps of a previous “Idol” luminary. ‘Twas a time when “Idol” was new that the contestants aspired to be Mariah Carey and Celine Dion. But now the shadow of past seasons weighs heavily over the long lines of Bo Bice clones, Clarkson fanatics, country girls who often seem more Kelly Pickler than Carrie Underwood, hard rockers drawn to walk the Chris Daughtry trail, and in Miami, one devoted Jasmine Trias acolyte.

Yet going into this season, I must say I feel more optimistic than I did a season ago. Though no automatic favorite leaps out at me, we’ve seen enough charismatic high performers that one has a general sense there are the makings of a strong 12 in there somewhere.

Of course, on the first day of Hollywood week, every one of those potential stars might be swept away. But then the season, Season 7, really begins.

richard.rushfield@latimes .com