I was hopefully in them during the auditions and bootcamp, but after seeing them in the live shows - they really are not that good.

Rubbish, meaningless, over the top, and too nice.

On the other hand, glad that Randy is stepping up and being a little more honest (although he can be over the top as well).

To be fair, they had very little time between acts this week because there were so many of them. I reckon it'll be different when it gets down to the next 13 next week

Having watched those two making Cheryl seem cutting, concise and worth listening to, I wish I'd watched some shows in earlier series to see how the previous judges compared.

They're fine. Steven might not make the most intellegent remarks, but he's never uninteresting, and still kicks Cheryl Cole's non-entity behind.

I loved them in the auditions, I thought they were refreshing and so real.

A real change from Mr fake Cowel who in the last couple of years had nothing interesting to say and everything he said was calculating and false.

However on the live shows J.Lo and Steven have been so boring and wrong in their assessments.

Judge them when the competition really starts next week, that's what I'm going to do.

i go with you on that one. I really want them to be good.

I'm sure they will be

Have been really trying to get into Idol this yr and found the audition stage good but the live shows are a bit meh...
Jlo and Steven seem to be sucking up to the contestanats...Randy has to be the hard man... doesn't suit him as much as it did Simon

I agree that they were kinda to nice to everyone, especially people who weren't that great, but i do like them both, Randy is the best judge by a mile.

At this stage they have a dilemma, they chose the 24 so must be reasonably supportive of their choice even if the singers fail to perform.
Under their guidance the US public without doubt chose the best 5 men, unfortunately, they did not with the women. When it came to it whatever the judges said during the initial judging, they did their job well when they added the correct 3 wild cards. Obviously they added the extra female because of the failings of the US public.

I think they did a good enough job, theyve just started out on the live shows and I dont see the point in them being too negative about anyone yet. Considering half the acts were going to be leaving the competition I think it would be a bit harsh if all the judges were critising those who made mistakes as they were likely to be going home anyway. Hopefully they will get better once the top13 gets going.

------

How anyone can rate cheryl as a judge over them I dont understand. Steve and Jlo on a bad day are still 10 times more interesting and knowledgable than Cheryl is on the X factor and I've never been a Jlo fan at all.

Considering that it was their first (almost) live show, I think that they did quite well, much better than Kara or Ellen did.
They need to get used to the time constraints and TPTB script (I am convinced that they are told who to pimp and bus).

I am hoping that they will move to more to-the-point critiques as they find their feet though. The show would gain in having an all round articulate and professional judge panel.

Frankly, being a judge on these shows is an easy and very lucrative gig! Whilst J-Lo and Steven are okay, I'd love to have Kara back.

Yes, I agree with that.

They were never going to go for the jugular on the first show with the prospect of so many going. Too risky. Bet they get stuck in later.

They would have come across as unnecessarily harsh if they had been too honest at this stage. I'm sure they'll be more constructive when the proper live shows start.

No thanks!

"You just demonstrated what true artistry is all about.....you're a true artist" :yawn:

Any poll i have seen with Kara says it all. She was the most disliked judge ever. She had a good first season and then she started flirting with Cowell in her second season. She tried to be Paula.
It didn't work. You go on the idol forum and you would be lucky to find anyone that liked her as a judge.

Simon's face say it all when Jay Leno asked how does it feel that the show is doing better without him.

JLo & Stephen dont need this gig & they dont need their cred dented by working to someone elses script. The great thing about Idol vs XF is that Idol does not now suffer from a judge with a vested interest in the eventual disc sales.

Steven had me in stitches with his swearing. I really think the show's worth watching for him alone.

I really like the new panel. I think that the contestants respect Jennifer and Steven much more than any previous judges, except Simon. His opinion was always the one that mattered, but now people are desperately seeking approval from all three of them.

Randy gave the most honest comments this week, but I think Jennifer and Steven will become more honest as the weeks go on. They maybe didn't want to be too hard on the people that they had personally hand-picked.

Stevens adoreable.

Remember the 2 new guys are actually stage performers who have actually had critcsism in the past. They are most likeyly to be kinder, they are more experienced at getting first hand feedback.

You think the judges are saying what they really think and you don't think the sponsoring record company has had a say in selection and will have a say in who is being and who will be pimped? They're not a charity and playing Lucky Dip didn't form part of their contract.

Partly because they didn't want to risk a repeat of last year's snoozefest, partly because they didn't know how things were going to go without Simon, and partly because the new record company wanted an idea of what it was getting, the show had decided who most of the top 24 were going to be before the auditions had even started by re-calling several previous auditonees, all of whom are there in the last 13.

This is the most pre-scripted and generally pre-packed series of Idol ever.

Being performers doesn't entitle them to give the contestants false hope by giving them undue praise and denying them due criticism.

The so-called judging this year is laughable. There's a part of me that thinks neither Jennifer nor Steven wants to be instantly disliked or they have been instructed not to say anything too critical or derogatory until the public's reaction to them as judges has been gaged (and this can only really be done in the live shows as auditions are so heavily edited).

Steven is hysterical and seems really nice and relaxed.
It's actually funny hearing him or Jlo or Randy gush about the likes of Hayley or Stephano or whatshisface who are just soooo boring and have nothing special whatsoever.