I watched the first few seasons of American Idol and enjoyed it, but after too many singers got through that shouldn't have, and singers got cut that shouldn't have gotten cut, not to mention screwed up phone lines and fans flooding the phone lines to pick someone they "like" and not necessarily the best singer, I had to give it up. Here are 5 reasons why maybe you should too.
1. Its time has come. Seriously, what season is this? Is there really anything new to the process, to the auditions? Is it that surprising who makes it through and who doesn't? Sure the show continues to get mega-ratings and coverage, but I think there comes a point where you have to say, "it's not worth watching anymore."
2. It's become a carictature of itself. Really, talk about predictable. Randy will say "dawg" to someone, Paula will act goofy, and Simon will say something nasty.
3. Frank Sinatra wouldn't have won American Idol. Randy, Paula, and Simon would have thought he wasn't a good enough singer to continue to later rounds.
4. The people behind American Idol aren't fans of music. They're fans of marketing and the pop charts and creating a persona, but they're not fans of originality or fans of anything different. The most "different" winner they've had is...Taylor Hicks? And even if they are fans of music, it doesn't show in the final product.
5. Even if you don't watch American Idol, you'll still hear the songs. The three or four top contestants (and sometimes beyond) are guaranteed record deals, so their songs will be on the charts, their videos will be on TV, their songs will be on the radio, their faces will be all over magazines and TV shows for months and months to come. My sister always says to me that "Carrie Underwood is doing really well." Of course she's doing really well. How could she not?
And you know what's funny about American Idol? They try to tell you that it's a tough competition and it's a harder route than what singers usually have to go through. That's not true. If you can sing, even a little bit, you're probably going to make it on television, maybe even make it fairly deep into the competition. People will know you, know your name. Even if you don't make it past a couple of episodes, you still have an "in." That's a lot easier than struggling for several years at weddings or small clubs.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
2-13-2007 @ 1:45PM
Tucker said...
Every time I hear the words "American Idol" I die a little inside.
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2-13-2007 @ 1:48PM
David said...
American Idol. American Idol. American Idol. American Idol. American Idol. American Idol. American Idol. American Idol. American Idol. American Idol. American Idol. American Idol. American Idol. American Idol. American Idol. American Idol. American Idol. American Idol.
Die a little more than. If you don't like the show than don't watch it, but if you think that 40+ miloion people aren't a fan of music than you're just an idiot.
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2-13-2007 @ 1:51PM
Mel said...
The last good season was when Ruben won. That season seemed devoid of marketing despite aorist attempts to make Clay look more manly. It's just too bad it didn't work out after that and he's became the forgotten idol winner.
After that it was all downhill: facetious compliments, a bigger spotlight for conventional looking stars, more pop stars. Can't blame them really. Season 2 was when it was stamped as a bona fide phenomenon.
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2-13-2007 @ 1:52PM
Michael said...
I'm not a big music fan at all but I watch it for the reason that it is entertaining tv. Its funny, its sad, and its everything in between. THAT is why it is successful. Its not about the music, its about being a good television show.
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2-13-2007 @ 1:56PM
David said...
I just saw who wrote this "article", that explains everything.
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2-13-2007 @ 2:12PM
Dave t. said...
Bob,
Aren't all reality shows guilty of the 1st sin?
How could Underwood not be successful? because she had no means to get exposure otherwise that's why. Pop stars have a harder road than rock bands. There's no live circuit to go on or local clubs to play. This is how they can test the mainstream waters.
Don't forget the other non-winner who's winning Golden Globes etc...
Pretty good success stories out of this show. Even if I hate Daughtry for his lameness there aren't a lot of big selling groups anymore. Remember when a Pearl jam or N Sync record would sell a million copies in 1 week? that doesn't happen anymore. this is how mainstream music gets out there now.
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2-13-2007 @ 2:51PM
FP said...
Dude, this is kind of a meaningless gripe post. You could just have easily have said "X-number of reasons to not watch any reality show again." Survivor? The Apprentice? Every cooking and fashion show? They all lost their uniqueness after season one or maybe two. And I can't stand reality shows as a rule.
That said, people love these shows. From educated and well-to-do to work-a-day, lunchpail types, theres something about them people love. So your griping in the wind.
(I mean, isn't "Cops" still on?)
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2-13-2007 @ 2:17PM
Bob said...
I got another one:
They keep preempting shows I want to watch to put this on! I'm pretty sure they have another one of those dumb two hour episodes that will force them to reschedule House coming up. Do they really need two hours? Seriously they could probably get away with 30mins with commercials! Just shut up the "judges" and dump Seacrest, problem solved.
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2-13-2007 @ 2:42PM
Dave t. said...
Oh bob.
24 preempted Prison Break last night too! although yeah I hate to relinquish my Bones/House time to my wife for her AI time.
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2-22-2007 @ 1:37PM
dmarsee said...
Bob, I beg to differ on your last point, if you can sing "a little bit" that you'll make it to television.
I read (and I suspeced this from season 3) that the only people we see on the "Audition days" broadcasts are only the very best and the very worst.
Knowing the huge amount of high school kids who take music classes in the USA these days, I'd wager that most of the people who fill those stadiums are at least passable singers. But since they don't make for good TV, they aren't shown to the main judges.
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2-13-2007 @ 3:01PM
Tucker said...
(I'd post more to back Bob up here, but I can't because David killed me - but with my last breaths I am typing this. He also misspelled "then" and "millions," which were the final straws, for poor grammar is my other weakness. Gaaaaaaaakkkkkk. *dead*)
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2-13-2007 @ 3:13PM
jamTVman said...
Idol is the best show on network television. It has everything you could want- competition, entertainment, drama. You care about the characters.
Since where does the "best" always win? In sports the "best" team sometimes loses in the playoffs. In politics it's never about the best.
All I know is that there is a show out there a lot of people can watch and talk about- something that has been missing from TV (and our culture) for a while.
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2-13-2007 @ 4:27PM
Darren said...
I agree with the writer - if everyone would stop watching it, it would end. The sooner it ends the sooner better TV comes on.
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2-13-2007 @ 4:21PM
Steve said...
I can't stand American Idol (or any of the other Idols). The only parts which i can remotely stand is when people who suck and think there good get torn apart, not that i even watch that i usually see enough of it in the promos for it.
And i totally agree that it has gone on way to long, survivor is exactly the same way it has long overstayed its welcome in my opinion. I watch a season or two then i stopped watching "reality" shows all together.
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2-13-2007 @ 5:07PM
Jennifer said...
There is a reason there is a channel switch on your TV remote and an on/off switch. If you don't like the show - turn it off. About an average of 33 milllion people do - which is almost more than the four other broadcast networks combined those nights.
Your comments are not a review or a critique they are your opinion - it would be good to label them as that and leave them as that.
Have you seen some of the other real drek on television? And you're complaining about IDOL? Not saying it is the best or the most original, but clearly a lot, and I mean a lot of people watch it.
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2-13-2007 @ 6:02PM
dharma said...
American Idol is not about music or performances, they are the props to the fantasy. The reason it is so popular is because millions of people are vicariously living the fantasy of the rags-to-riches-a-star-is-born melodrama which plays out in every season of AI. Millions of people watch ordinary people being picked out of obsucrity and made into stars. The whole drawn out process of AI is what sucks them in. If the show was like earlier incarnations of the talent show genre like 'Star Search' then just like that shows millions of people wouldn't be so emotionally invested in the show and the characters. For AI it's all about getting to know the characters, making the performers people you can identify with. Viewers then project their own fantasy of their own dream of becoming a celebrity onto their favorite performers, they are emotionally invested in seeing their favorites become celebrities because they are trying to live a fantasy vicariously through them. For a population who are indoctrinated from birth that there is a special caste of people, the celebrities, who glide through life like demigods amongst us mere mortals, there is almost nothing the American people share in common other then fantasizing about being picked from their earthbound obscurity to become a demigod and recieve the worship and privilege that brings. AI is really about the apotheosis of the American collective psyche, the wish fulfillment for heavenly reward, lived vicariously through people they can identify with as being one of their own.
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2-15-2007 @ 2:56PM
Flag Patrick said...
I stopped watching after 1 episode during the first season!
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2-14-2007 @ 3:46PM
Nonchalant Savant said...
I have a love/hate relationship with American Idol. Truly talented/creative singers - I love. But they are so few and far between.
Let's face it - to even make it on the show, you have to fit narrowly defined (although, it's only defined by historical precendence) criteria combined with an ability to sing formulaic music.
Even the early season goofballs are predictable now. They come in all serious - vomit some inane song all over themselves - and then act all offended when they've been dissed by the judges.
Eventually, Simon will run out of negative adjectives and metaphors; Paula will go to rehab; and Randy will get Anna Nicole's old Trimspa gig.
Even the breathless weekly promos ("The competition has never been stronger!" ...yeah, until next week - and next week - and next week...) are predictably campy in their manufactured drama. Bleah.
You know what I'd like to hear once? An acapella version of a traditional song (that no one would make any $$ off of music rights or royalties). No overproduced backup band that sounds like every other song. Just a clear voice - maybe an old traditional gospel tune - with maybe a little reverb - and a commanding performance so riveting that people would sit in stunned silence. THAT would be different.
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2-13-2007 @ 6:41PM
MIke said...
WOO HOO Go Bob, You are my leader. It's shows like American Idol that ruin the POTENTIAL for TV executives to take a chances on quality shows that might not be ratings magnets. American Idol, Deal or no Deal, Dancing with the Stars, you catch my drift.
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2-13-2007 @ 6:52PM
Tammy said...
What else am I suppose to watch tonight? basketball is interrupting Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars for me, I won't get them until Sunday I think. :( So might as well watch AI.
Plus this is when AI starts getting good to me. I want to see the talent, not the bad auditions. Granted I enjoy the final 24 on more but the Hollywood rounds are pretty interesting. Plus I heard some of the good people imploded under the pressure and didn't do well in Hollywood so I'm interested.
I don't watch for the music as much as just the competition. It's entertainment to me. I have never bought a single cd or single or whatever from an Idol contestant either. I just like Simon. :) (I met him once and I'm quoted in the A&E Biography show done on him.... my 15 seconds of fame.)
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