Your ‘American Idol’: Ryan Seacrest?

But perhaps more important for the host of what is essentially a live television program, Seacrest has also become far more spontaneous, showing a quicker wit than four seasons of his jumpy nonsense suggested. It’s as though he has finally harnessed his core playfulness for good, rather than evil. He’s not Groucho by a long shot, certainly. But when he stumbles upon a bit that works (like the recent audition where he continually addressed obnoxiously untalented Isadora Furman as “Julie,” her hated given name), he shows that gentle nudging can pay bigger dividends than forceful pounding.

The same change may also be responsible for his improved interview skills. The old Seacrest typically stuck to the “How does that make you feel?” school of pointlessly broad questioning, and he occasionally answered his own questions on the contestants’ behalf. But being more at ease with both unscripted situations and the singers themselves has made him a more relaxed and inquisitive interviewer. His pre-elimination Q&A with the top 12 women of season 5 was a prime example, as his softballs were designed to engage the singers, rather than simply serve as filler. (Though they did that, too.) And by finishing with a joke made earlier by soon-to-be-booted contestant Brenna Gethers, he got a big, genuine laugh by showing that he was actually listening.

There is still plenty of work left to be done. Seacrest still has trouble pacing the show properly, and the forced and stilted transitions in the audition episodes — “Has Birmingham hit a winning streak? Well, don’t count your chickens before they’ve hatched,” he recently offered by way of introduction of yellow-feather-clad nightmare Margaret Fowler — prove that he still struggles with a script. (Both problems could be the fault of the directors and producers, though.) It remains to be seen whether he’s truly retired “Seacrest out!” And the cheese is baked so completely into his being that the show should be sponsored by Combos.

But gone are the days in which the only way you could say that Seacrest did his job well was if you considered having teenagers find him cute in a sexually nonthreatening way his job. (It kind of was, though.) He is now a perfectly fine host for “Idol,” maybe better than the show deserves. Is it silly to commend Seacrest for finally learning how to do his job after five years? Probably. But learned it he has.

Marc Hirsh is a writer in Somerville, Mass.

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