The one change that I'm excited about is the return of the group auditions.

The jury's out on the others. I'm not gaga over the idea of going back to the old semifinals system of having groups of different (mostly disposible) contestants perform each week and voting a few through every week instead of voting a few off. I liked it so much better when the group was pared down to the Top 12, and they were all announced at once. Now it's back to building the Top 12 piecemeal, and it won't be as exciting. I don't want to know ANY of the Top 12 until the last week of the semis. I also liked being able to bond with the semifinalists who advanced through several rounds. I'm not happy about the return of the Wild Card, either, except for the fact that it gives the judges an extra layer of power. And I don't want to hear that Clay Aiken or Jennifer Hudson would not have made it if it weren't for the Wild Card. If they had used the Top 24 method of selecting the Top 12 in their respective seasons, both of them would have been voted all the way to the last round and they both would have made the Top 12. They would never have left the competition, and therefore would not have needed to come back in by way of a Wild Card. 

One thing that should be done differently is the third one to go through to the Top 12 each week should be selected by the judges, instead of being the next highest vote getter.

Jan 9, 2009 -- 9:20PM, CracklinRosie wrote:

The jury's out on the others. I'm not gaga over the idea of going back to the old semifinals system of having groups of different (mostly disposible) contestants perform each week and voting a few through every week instead of voting a few off.

In the end, it's all pretty much the same thing. They really are only changing the way they word it. The road from the top 24 to the top 12 has been a really long Wild Card round for the past few years.
This method, in theory, shortens the time we have to endure bad contestants and loads the pool with fan favorites rather then Judge favorites which is good for ratings. It also makes it so everyone in the Top 12 looks like they won their spot and didn't just survive longer then the rest of the losers.
The down side is the potential for tragedy if one group has more talented fan favorites then another, if someone is sick or has an off day at the wrong time, or other such things that aren't as damaging if you only have to not be among the worst rather then having to the among the best.

I'm getting more excited about the new judge. It's going to be great to have a someone willing to sing in public who doesn't have to settle with just telling the contestants what they could do better vocally, but can actually demonstrate it for them. This "singing competition" has been devoid of a singer on the Judge's panel for far too long.

I just wish they'd do away with the dialing race voting so it'd be possible for every viewer's vote to matter. But that's apparently one of their big cash cows so it's not likely going to happen.

I'm excited about the new format, some of the audition cities, and the fact that they cut down the auditions to 3 weeks instead of 4 = D

i am pretty skeptic with the semi finals going back to the format, only thing i feel uncomfortable about is that the number of men and women in the final 12 may be uneven considering that three people go through each group, one male one female and one other that had a high number of votes.  i see pros and cons with kara, she is experienced in the music industry and very stunning, but seems to be just as hard to please as simon.  i'm not sure what to say about them not doing idol gives back this season. i do kind of like the idea of more episodes of hollywood week.

I really don't like the top 36/wildcard format.