Am I the only one who thinks the way the Idol program eliminates the singers is cruel. They disguise what they are saying. They delay for very long times to increase the stress. Someday a contestant is going to have a coronary. It is a huge thing in their lives ,yet Idol toys with them. I think they are pricks and it should be stopped now.
Then’ after they get dumped on prime time TV , they so OK, now sing us a song and get off our stage.
Maybe the first time they did it, but not seven years later. Oh heavens no. These “kids” know the score. The cruelty is about as genuine as that of professional wrestling – where the pain really hurts, but the performers accept it as part of the craft. American Idol gets ratings that rival that of the fucking Super Bowl on a regular night. Being on it is kind of an artform unto itself, and every one of the people standing on that stage are extremely familiar with every single rung of the show’s treadmill to semi-maybe-secondplaceisbetter-fame. Don’t you dare cry for them, not in this world, not right now.
Knowing about it does not make it less cruel. Watching them now , you can see the pain.
You’re right. All the singers should be hit with tranquilizer darts before being weighed, tagged, and released back into the wild.
See - you eliminate the fact that they are entering a singing competition, and it looks like any professional sporting competition with the game on the line.
Besides, as I am sure you are aware, it they did it all nice and such… Well, they wouldn’t have the viewers they get. Ergo, no ratings. Ergo, no sponsors. Ergo, no show. Ergo, these people are back in wherever they are from continuing to do the nothing they were doing before.
And, people whore themselves for a lot less than 5 minutes of stress I’m afraid…
Weighed? Now who’s being cruel?
(I always wondered what thread would finally make me register… this was not one I would have expected…)
The inital rounds, with the horrible singers and all, are very cruel. Some acquaintances of mine tried out this last time while it was in Seattle. It’s not cruel to the kinda good, or ever good singers, its just tough luck… but for the horrible, crappy ones, its awful. AFAIK most people don’t realize that to get in front of the judges you have to go through at least two rounds of other, lesser, judges. So those poor people who are awful but think they’re great get approved by two sets of judges, told that they are good (and better than all the other semi-good to excelent people who didn’t make it), have their hopes raised, just so they can make fools of themselves on national television and have their spirits crushed.
Then Simon and them play along with the whole “why do you think you can sing? You’re awful!” routine when they know the poor schmoes have been strung along for five hours being told that they can sing.
Now, not to say that they don’t deserve it, but it’s still cruel.
Getting fired via email is cruel, too, but at least on A.I. the contestants know, unless they’re really dense, that absolutely no one is safe. If they don’t like the process, they don’t have to audition. The show has been on long enough that everyone knows how it’s done.
I’m not saying it’s a pleasant thing, but I don’t foresee any changes.
They could skip the 3rd show every week and list the polling results on the internet. I guess I am too sympathetic to people getting cut in public in a nasty manner.
Bahh…a few horrible, self-centered fame whores get on TV for a few weeks and get overpraised and then they gently get sent back to their Taco Bell jobs. There are a lot crueler exeperiences than that in the world.
It’s cruel to the audience that they make us sit through another crappy performance of the same crappy song that got them booted of the show in the first place.
Thanks for the information and welcome to the forum.
I think I’ve watched AI about five times in my life but the way you described that they go through two rounds of judging and are told they’re good only to be laughed at does make it seem cruel.
I’m baffled by why some of these people think they can sing. If you thought you were good enough to sing on TV, wouldn’t the person have taken a couple music lessons along the way or tried out for a choir or singing group? Some people seem to not have a clue about notes or carrying a tune.
Most of the shows I’ve seen were towards the end and they were all pretty good.
I agree about passing through the delusional or just mediocre. The total obvious “I just wanna be on camera” people (like “Big Bird”) are one thing, but the ones who just aren’t really great and aren’t really terrible are something else.
I would also raise the age limit to 18. When I see 16 year olds like (what’s his name? the red haired Dean Martin kid— John Stevens) or Sanjaya taking Simony it’s horrible, however true it may be.
I never understood that part. You’d think they’d have them all choose a “final song” sometime before the competition and give them something to perhaps redeem themselves a bit with.
[HIJACK] but could somebody please spoiler me who got voted off tonight, incidentally? My Tivo was set for another program. I don’t want to read the thread in CS until I’ve watched last night’s performance, which I haven’t yet. (Totally feeling Blake and Melinda for this year’s final two.)[/HIJACK]
As for voted off, please be Sanjaya or Sundance for the guys, please be Sanjaya or Sundance for the guys… [and Sanjaya, babe, it’s really not that surprising to know you studied hula. Learning you cut a man’s belly open just to watch him die or that you don’t know all the lyrics to RENT, that would be surprising.
I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t know one personally. Not an American Idol wannabe–just someone who thinks she can sing but in reality can’t carry a tune in a basket. She’s terribly tone deaf, but used to insist on singing along with the radio when we were in a car (I haven’t seen her for years, so I don’t know if she still does). It was excruciating to listen to, but I didn’t have the heart to tell her and hurt her feelings. So yeah, couple that with an excess of self-esteem and a low level of clue, and I can see how it might happen.
[spoiler]The journey ended for:
Jared
Sundance
Antonella
Sabrina
Sanjaya lives another week.[/spoiler]
American Idol cruel? Oh Mickey say it isn’t so.
Honestly, it’s been on for years now. You’re just now figuring out that it’s cruel? The first dozen episodes are spent crushing dreams and humiliating the clearly delusional so they can meltdown on national television. Having to wait an extra second while Ryan Seacrest lamely attempts to build tension by Shatnering the results pales in comparison.
What’s wrong with crushing their dreams? Their dreams are completely narcissistic (in most cases) utterly delusional. It’s not like they have a dream to cure cancer or bring peace to the Middle East. They want to be famous. That’s always a dream worth crushing.
Ahem.
I Know all the lyrics to RENT.
Personally, I don’t think there’s a thing wrong with it. If any of their friends and family had the stones to do it before hand, they wouldn’t suffer a large amount of humiliation. However our feelings on the matter don’t make it any easier on the people who just got ripped on by a catch phrase (dawg), a drunk, and a limey with a limited litany of insults.
FYI, I stated in my post that they were “clearly delusional.”
Welcome, fellow Seattleite! Can we interest you in a nice game of pub trivia?
I think it’s more cruel to the viewing public to have to listen to Ryan Seacrest’s shitty acting than for the contestants to be voted off. They know what they’re getting into, but Seacrest has no excuse for his painful blend of wrestling and cartoon-show-ending style announcing.
It reminds me… On the next week of Dragon Ball Z, will Goku get voted off or will he survive to fight another day? We’ll find out after the commercial! Or not! /shit-eating-grin.