I’ve been a fan of all the changes Idol has foisted upon its viewers in hopes of keeping the show fresh.

The addition of Kara DioGuardi, the new “judges save” option, the longer Hollywood week — all have managed to heighten the drama.

However, this week Idol made the single worst strategic decision in its eight seasons. The show put a muzzle on Simon Cowell.

Let me speak for America by declaring I don’t care what Kara has to say. I don’t care what cliches Randy has to dispense. And I really, REALLY don’t give a hoot about any inanity that drools from Paula’s mouth.

I watch the show for the sole purpose of seeing how Simon reacts to contestants.

Unfortunately, the inability of the judges to keep their criticisms brief and on point has caused two major time screw-ups during the last few weeks. The show has been running long — which in the era of DVR is a huge problem. So host Ryan Seacrest explained time constraints meant only two judges at a time would give their opinions about how the remaining seven contestants performed.

I now officially like the show half as much as I did last week.

The producers must’ve had some inkling as to this predicament, which is why they started in the middle with Paula then Simon, rather than at the traditional left with Randy then Kara. This insured Simon got to make four sets of criticisms to Randy/Kara’s three.

Thus Allison Iraheta first got to hear what the Paula/Simon tandem thought of her spin on Aerosmith from the not-so-beloved “Armageddon” soundtrack.

Oh yeah, with all this drama it became easy to forget this was movie night, in which contestants rendered a song written for a film soundtrack. Guest mentor Quentin Tarantino — arguably the most hands-on film director when it comes to incorporating a soundtrack into a picture — got to give his wild-eyed advice to the contestants. No one could say this element was boring.

What Quentin didn’t question about Allison was why she was singing a forgettable Aerosmith ballad that absolutely no one ever needs to hear again, when she had the entire history of non-silent cinema from which to showcase her amazingly toned voice. Instead, her gifts were wrapped around a lazy tearjerker popularized in a meteor-strikes-earth romp.

Anoop Desai went for an even less inspired choice with the Bryan Adams hit from “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.” Quentin advised Anoop to rough up his voice, which is a little like telling white bread to taste more like a jalapeno corn muffin. Anoop is simply edge-free. He’s a good singer with a smooth delivery and strong sense of pitch, but he’s never going to front an AC/DC tribute band.

On the other hand, there’s Adam Lambert. Although last week Adam delivered his soundtrack moment with a restrained Tears for Fears remake that was integral to the ominous cult fave “Donnie Darko,” he once again defied expectations by revamping Steppenwolf’s punchy “Born to Be Wild” from “Easy Rider.” While the arrangement was borderline garish (dig the cello players in the background air-pumping their bows in unison), Adam delivered a real showstopper. Anybody else notice how much his stratospheric high notes sound like those of Ian Gillan from Deep Purple?

Matt Giraud exhumed ANOTHER Bryan Adams song, this time from the best forgotten “Don Juan DeMarco.” A lame arrangement of the Latin-tinged ditty made Matt seem more unremarkable than he actually is. At least he somewhat stood out by being the lone contestant to perform with an instrument (piano).

Danny Gokey retreated one step further in his search for the most irrelevant, dated artist to cover by choosing Lionel Richie. It can be argued that “Endless Love” was a personal choice in reference to his late wife, but wow what a dull tribute. At least his voice featured tons of character no matter what type of crap he sang.

Finally a great song! Kris Allen selected last year’s Oscar winning “Falling Slowly” from the amazing Irish musical “Once.” But while the song is arguably the best tune to win that award in decades, its power is derived from the fact it is a male/female duet. Yes, a female background singer took the high harmony, but the lack of a partner for Kris to play off of made the selection seem quite disconnected. The 2-minute version also severely clipped the dynamic build of the track. Overall, it was a bust.

After doing her best impression of Tina Turner last week, a newly made-over Lil Rounds hit the stage with a saucy version of Bette Midler’s title track from “The Rose.” She really added her own vibe to the arrangement, with gospel-influenced chord changes and tempo shifts. However, she sang it poorly. At times I thought she was trying to fight back tears, though there didn’t seem to be any explanation why that would be the case. She was unfairly hammered by Simon for not thinking outside of the box, but totally let off the hook for her sloppy vocal presentation. If only Kara or Randy would have been allowed to speak … Yeah, right.

Bottom three prediction: Anoop Desai, Lil Rounds and Matt Giraud.

Loser: Anoop Desai — though it’s an inevitability that this same bottom three will all exit in some combination during the next few weeks. No judges save will be necessary.