American Idol: A reason to care?

Discussion in 'Free Thoughts' started by Tiassa, Apr 8, 2007.

?

Is there ever a reason to care about American Idol?

  1. Yes

    2 vote(s)
    7.7%
  2. No

    17 vote(s)
    65.4%
  3. Only if you're a skanky gay weekly columnist in Seattle

    7 vote(s)
    26.9%
  1. Tiassa Let us not launch the boat ... Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    37,882
    Okay, I don't follow the show. But apparently there's a controversy going on that I've encountered a couple of times today. Most recently, the Doonesbury@Slate Strawpoll asks, "What's the deal with Sanjaya?"

    The survey answers available are that it's all about Sanjaya, all about the show, or all about cruelty. Presently, with 3170 votes, 63% of the respondents have voted for cruelty:

    It's all about the cruelty. American Idol intentionally admits a handful of self-deluded no-talents into the Top 100 for the express purpose of humiliating them in front of a vast audience. Now Cowell's complaining when one of them actually catches on? How sweet it would be if the show's cynical formula brought about its own demise.

    Apparently, Simon Cowell has threatened to quit the show if Sanjaya wins. I would find this newsworthy, and find myself considering whether or not to encourage people to take part in the show; it might be worth spending for a few votes if the public can chase Cowell off the show. (Hey, even O'Reilly fulfilled his promise on the WMDs; he came on the air one night, sucked it up, and admitted he was wrong. I'd love to see Cowell show a fraction of the balls.)

    When answering the Strawpolls, the site gives you additional options to help break down the answers. The divisions are usually somewhat relevant, such as gender or political affiliation, or age group. In this case, the division is about how people feel regarding Sanjaya: hope he wins, hope he loses, and don't care. Among the people who hope he wins (591 votes) and the people who don't care (2,116 votes), the sentiment is generally that "it's about cruelty" (72% and 67% respectively) as encapsulated above. But among those who hope Sanjaya loses--

    It's all about the show, which never pretended to be an actual meritocracy. Why else let the Great Unwashed vote? Whether the finalists are virtuosos or croakers, what matters is that people watch. Sanjaya is ratings bait -- the best watercooler fodder to come along in months.


    --61% say it's about the show, and only 29% say it's about cruelty.

    The other answer, that it's about Sanjaya, drew only 6% of the total vote, and 13% of those who hope he wins.

    Meanwhile, all I actually know about the situation in general is what came up in the current issue of The Stranger:

    Around Sanjaya there is much controversy, some curry, one shock jock (Howard Stern), and one monkey-wrenching website (Votefortheworst.com). As Paula Abdul noted, Seattle is crammed with delusional people. Sanjaya proves that they can text. Sanjaya's lingering presence among the top contenders of this year's show has inspired an ambivalence bordering on contention. On one hand, adorable Sanjaya has lentil-flavored eyes that are deeper than destiny, and still 12 months to go before he's legal. On the other hand, Sanjaya has a voice like the first robin of spring, if its vocal chords were shattered and it was getting porked by a sandpaper Q-Tip.

    Sanjaya quakes with darling pathos. Eyeless mealworms deep in a poop pile can clearly see that Sanjaya is way over his floppy moppet head, and that he damn well knows it. And this leads to pity, and pity apparently leads to voting. Voting, of course, leads to advertising dollars and thus does Sanjaya persist ....

    .... And now, as an uncertain Season Finale races toward us like Bruce Willis on an asteroid, who will come out on top? Who will come out on bottom? Who will finally come out? Will the many-armed gods of fate continue to favor Sanjaya against all logic? (Funny because it's racist.) Or will Blake's beat beats beat the beat, beat heat? And are Ryan Seacrest and Anderson Cooper fucking or what? (I'll kill them both!) And will someone, maybe Howard Stern, finally shove a dick in Simon's mouth and shut that bitter snootch the hell up? TiVo this shit and find out in late June when you have more time! (Ryan)

    (It should be noted that Stranger editor Birch Steen, in the table of contents this week, simply capsuled the article with litany: "Too gay. Too gay. Too gay. Too gay ...." Then again, what do we expect? The article is about American Idol, after all, and it is written by Adrian Ryan; the only reason they covered this one at all is because Sanjaya Malakar and Blake Lewis, two of ten finalists, are from the area.)

    So, what the hell is actually going on here? It is too much to ask for that people stupid enough to pay to vote (and sometimes repeatedly) should play a proper practical joke at this scale. (Think of a conspiracy theory; there's just too damn many people involved for the theory to be true.)

    But I'm torn; it's clear to me that American Idol is all about ratings and advert revenues. It's also difficult for me to refute the notion that Americans have about them a certain sense of cruelty; sometimes it gets to the point that I think we actually elect the politician we like least, so that we get to complain more. ("Throw the bums out! The longer they're there, the more corrupt they get! What? Him? You want me to vote for that guy? No way! He doesn't have any political experience. And our state will lose its clout in the House of Representatives if we take down our senior legislator!") In entertainment, this involves our idolization of celebrities. Look at "American tabloids"; if they're not pure fiction ("Ancient Vikings in America: Massive Snow-Fort Discovered in Canada!"), they are invasive, judgmental, and cheap ("Bobby Furious at Whitney's All-Night Girls' Drug Orgy!") American humor is more often cruel or depraved than poignant and refined. So, yes. I do wonder if it's like the South Park episode when Timmy joined The Lords of the Underworld. Because yes, some people do like to laugh at handicaps. And yes, I also understand the point that at least he's up doing it.

    But is it just a ploy? Another way to stick the show back in the headlines, since Paula can't screw the pretty boy every season? Perhaps the cruder ploy, to play on people's sense of cruelty? Or, perhaps, the people need no encouragement. (After all, they're calling in and voting in the first place.) The power to judge, even if it's just inwardly, is persuasive.

    Remember, gadflies are to cruelty like flies are to dogshite. They swarm, the feast, they move on to the next pile they can find. And what the hell are these people if they're paying to vote, wasting their time 'round the water cooler?

    And, to that point, should any of us care at all that American Idol has somehow managed to make itself even more ridiculous and unpalatable than ever before?

    Ye gads. One night I unwisely got into a car with a woman who'd had too much to drink. Indeed, we made it to where we were going without hurting anyone, but I had to listen to the freaking Kelly Clarkson album all the way there, and that album is proof that American Idol fans are in it for the cruelty. They've already injured the public at large. Now, just maybe, they're looking to toy with a little mouse named Sanjaya.

    I tried reading through some other articles at MTV.com and WashingtonPost.com, but I just can't take any more of this. Sorry, pop culture; I tried to take you seriously for a few minutes. I should know better.

    What the hell is going on? Why is this show still on the air? Can we please pass some legislation that makes voting for reality show contestants something the court can hold against a person in a child-custody case?

    Or maybe we should simply beg folks to vote for Sanjaya, and then dare Simon to quit. Unfortunately, he'd probably get another job on television.

    Oh, wait a minute. There's the ultimate question: Why do I care?
    ____________________

    Notes:

    Doonesbury Straw Polls are available at the Doonesbury@Slate Town Hall. I do not know when this poll expires. See http://cgi.doonesbury.com/

    Ryan, Adrian. "They're the Tops". TheStranger.com, April 4, 2007. See http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=191780
     
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  3. Syzygys As a mother, I am telling you Valued Senior Member

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    You wrote a fucking long post for someone who doesn't care. I lost interest halfway through.

    AI is a popularity show first, and a singing competition second. In the top 12 there should only be excellent singers. But that would also make the show BORING.

    They should cange the rules, so te judges could save 1 singer from the bottom 3, thus ensuring talented people don't get voted off too early....

    Otherwise if you don't like it, don't watch it....

    P.S: Speaking of Simon. It just shows that people can't handle the truth and today's youth are a bunch of whiny crybabies...Judges like Paula are worthless, only good for sleeping with the contestants. Give them the straight dope.
     
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  5. swivel Sci-Fi Author Valued Senior Member

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    Agree, but you have to admit that Paula has been a TON better this season. I think they changed her dosage.

    And even though Simon gets booed every night, the audience KNOWS he is right every time. Their boos are just support for the singer. Nobody cares what the other two judges say.
     
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  7. Killjoy Propelling The Farce!! Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    5,289
    Join the club.
    Kudos for the fortitude required to do even that.
    He must always get long-winded at :m: :m: time.

    My sentiments exactly.
     
  8. phonetic stroking my banjo Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    2,157
    I didn't get quite to the half way mark.

    Who gives a shit?

    It's not the end of his world if Sanjaya (whoever the fuck that is) wins.
    He is totally fucking loaded. He's worth millions and millions and millions.

    He's a wanker.

    The point of the show is to make money!

    "Let's string everything out for as long as we can and have an absolute shitload of adverts in between."

    "Let's offer (I like the phrasing, Tim! *boss man*) the tv viewer the opportunity to vote for only £0.99 per text, *cough*plus standard network rate*cough*."

    The show has absolutely nothing going for it. Cowell's a twat. The rest of the judges are cunts. The people singing are a bunch of shallow fucks.

    My blood's boiling. I might come back later to balance my post a little once I calm down.

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  9. outlandish smoki'n....... Registered Senior Member

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    4,033
    any country that elects a talentless nobody as its leader should have no qualms about a talentless nobody winning a talent contest.
     
  10. Syzygys As a mother, I am telling you Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    12,671
    Although I generally agree with you, Cowell is one thing to watch the show for. Also the girls are very talented this year, the boys are generally bad. If we count that they came from a pool of tenthousands, that is really pathetic.

    My secret wish is that Haley gets a wardrobe malfunction and I can get to see her tits. I wouldn't mind to see Lakisha's tits (giant mellons would be more appropriate) either.

    One can only hope.
     
  11. Tiassa Let us not launch the boat ... Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    37,882
    So you probably didn't pay adequate attention to the last line of the post, eh? But I do think I know why I care. It has to do with an old essay by A. Whitney Brown that was included in his "Big Picture" editorials of Saturday Night Live fame. He once pointed out that at least 1 in 10 adults were said to be illiterate in the U.S., and that we ought to care; after all, sooner or later they will turn up on the barstool next to you hoarding all the beer nuts while explaining how the Rosetta Stone is a symbol of the Reticulan Illuminati that is secretly responsible for human existence. Brown's point? Some of these folks will vote.

    I think that's why I care. We're supposed to pretend that people who care enough to follow the show and vote for their favorite and talk about it every day are actually worthy of respect. I mean, generally people are worthy of respect by their very existence, but something about the American Idol phenomenon makes it seem like the regular fans are idiots. It's like walking around with Denise in the GTA: San Andreas game. Every once in a while, she says, "I am completely worthless, don't you think so?"

    And that's what the Idol phenomenon brings to mind.

    I think that's why I care: the fact of the Stranger article doesn't bug me. After all, I'm surprised Ryan still has a job with the paper; it's not really the "too gay" thing, except that's the point. This sort of wasted space is part of what makes The Stranger interesting. And the show's producers also make sense. Hell, the fact of people spending money to vote on the show makes some sense, too. Producers are generally shallow and, as the saying goes, "People are stupid".

    And that last is the reason to care at all: at some point, the stupidity becomes just palpable. How could one possibly tie the mess in Iraq and the corruption and failure of the Bush administration to American Idol? Look at the 2004 election. Stupidity is the link.

    Every once in a while, have to stop and check that what I'm seeing is real. I know people are strange, but this is ridiculous.

    And as to Cowell--

    Such an notion suggests even further that the show and its viewers are in it for the cruelty. At some point, it's just scary.
     
  12. BenTheMan Dr. of Physics, Prof. of Love Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    8,967
    We should start a poll...whos tits would you rather see?

    Haley
    Lakisha
    Paula
    Randy
     
  13. Syzygys As a mother, I am telling you Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    12,671
    Lots of people watch downhill skiing or car racing just for the crashes...
     
  14. Tiassa Let us not launch the boat ... Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    37,882
    Yes, and I find it distasteful. It's one of the reasons I don't watch NASCAR, for instance. The only interesting thing is the wreck, and if I want to tune in expressly to view human suffering, there is plenty of better entertainment.

    However, neither NASCAR nor skiing fans get the opportunity to pay for a chance to cause a crash, or to prolong the suffering involved.

    At some point, a line of principle is crossed. That's when it gets scary.
     
    Last edited: Apr 9, 2007
  15. Syzygys As a mother, I am telling you Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    12,671
    I don't think, in the case of AI cruelty is a factor. In the show Fear factor, yes.

    In AI, what people think as cruelty, is just honesty by the judge. Cruelty is when we have to suffer through bad performances, which at the top 12 shouldn't happen...
     
  16. Prince_James Plutarch (Mickey's Dog) Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    9,214
    The show is pretty annoying this year, but it is still entertaining.
     
  17. Raithere plagued by infinities Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    3,348
    "No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American Public." - H.L. Mencken

    Of course the poll does not present the consideration that the public, and the American Public in particular, has no taste and no idea of what talent is. Nor does it care.

    A quick glance at the periodical rack at the grocery store checkout lines (while paying for your mac-n-cheese) quickly brings to light that what is celebrated in the American media (or any other media that I've observed) is not skill, ability, or talent but simply controversy and scandal. The very fact that Sanjaya's continued presence on the show excites debate and controversy all but guarantees his prolonged stay on the show as he garners defenders. Whether sympathetic, cruel, or simply tone-deaf Sanjaya becomes a focus for them while other, probably more talented, performers slip into quiet ignominy.

    Not that I haven't lingered on the show every now and again as they parade the fabulously incompetent in front of us during the "auditions" but one of the few times I've deliberately tuned in to watch the show was to see what the controversy was about after hearing about one fan's hunger strike. Of course, I followed suit with the other sheeple and tuned in to check out what the deal was.

    While Sanjaya admittedly has some problems holding his pitch the show was rather outstanding in its general lack of ability. Pop-rock and show-tunes maybe but none of these people are ever going to be asked to perform with the three-tenors.

    As to cruel... probably, but then cruelty is often a counter-point in humor. Laughing at other people's misfortune is very human and not rooted in cruelty as much as it is recognition of common human experience. Smacking Moe in the head with a ladder would not be particularly funny, watching Curley do it is... even if about half the population won't admit it.

    So goes the constant parade of "reality television" participants, people who literally wait in line to be abused and or humiliated in front of millions of people. They know damn well what they're in for. They ask for it. In my opinion, nothing more than a line of volunteer Curleys.

    ~Raithere
     
  18. Genji Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    5,285
    I watch ALOT of crap TV but never have sunk to American Idol/The Apprentice levels. I hate both shows, the hosts of both shows and the fans of both shows. I voted NO.
     
  19. Syzygys As a mother, I am telling you Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    12,671
    I never understood the Apprentice's success. Bunch of overeducated people doing trivial contests like selling candy. Included not even covered advertising....
    Well, some of the girls are hot...
     
  20. Nickelodeon Banned Banned

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    10,581
    The first season of Apprentice was interesting, but there is nothing new after that.
     
  21. thedevilsreject Registered Senior Abuser Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    2,812
    the cruelest people are people like the parents or spouses of the contestants who are no good, its not as though its not painfully obvious that if your crap your going to get ripped apart. these people delude the people who are going to audition that they are good enough to take part and they believe it. i have no qualms about watching the auditionees being ripped apart, they know the risks before they audition, what series is AI in know, 4?
     
  22. Syzygys As a mother, I am telling you Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    12,671
    Well, it is year 6 and it is more popular than ever. It brings in 50% more viewers than the next most popular show and in the best demographics...

    But hat you say takes us back to the whiny-pussy generation, they never get a real, objective feedback and they cry when someone tells them the truth: you suck...
     
  23. Genji Registered Senior Member

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    5,285
    Ratings for The Apprentice have plummeted. Little Donald might have to get a job.
     

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