I don’t watch American Idol, but, since everything that happens on the show is considered newsworthy, I keep seeing articles about how bad the contestants are this season. There’s been a few newspaper articles, and there was something on cnn.com about it. I know from a few conversations that seeing bad contestants, and especially seeing the way that Simon reacts to them, is a particularly popular aspect of the show. So, is it possible that the auditions this season were geared towards letting bad singers on the show? Or was there some change in the audition process that made it easier to get on? Or just fewer people showing up to the auditions? Anyway, they seem to have something going with this – I keep seeing articles with terms like ‘tone deaf’ and ‘no talent’, and, of course, witty comments from Simon like ‘the best part about that was the end’.
Watch American Idol on FOX Mondays at 8 pm. And, for all the fun of American Idol in a red plastic glass, enjoy a cold, refreshing Coca-Cola.
Some ARE intentionally bad, no doubt about it. SOme are practical jokers who just want to get on TV, and don’t mind looking silly in the process.
On the other hand, there was a brief piece in the Houston Chronicle the other day by a woman who says she went to the tryouts as a serious singer, who had every intention of singing well for Simon, Randy and Paula. However, the staffers had other ideas.
This woman claims that, during preliminary screenings, staffers asked her if she had any comical “talents” besides singing pop music. She laughingly allowed that, well, she could do an imitation of a Munchkin. “Perfect,” they said, and they got her an audition. And sure enough, they got her to sing like a Munchkin in front of the judges! THAT bit made it on the air.
BUT, the woman claims, once that comical bit was out of the way, she’d assumed she’d be given a chance to sing the REAL song she’d intended to perform for the judges. Wrongo! Apparently, the producers never wanted her to be anything more than comic relief.
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Get the idea? This woman may or may not have been a great singer. We can’t know. But it’s clear that the producers of “American Idol” were deliberately trying to get a large number of comically bad singers on the air. In the early episodes of the show, the object is not so much to find good singers as it is to find untalented idiots for America to laugh at.
IF this woman’s story is true, and IF her experience is typical, it’s quite likely that Fox deliberately seeks out bad singers and/or encourages some singers to give ridiculously bad performances.
The audition shows are all about the bad singers. We just get an occasional glimpse of the good singers during these shows. Once the actual competition begins, I’m sure you’ll see plenty of people with real talent. Maybe the comments you’ve seen refer to the fact that this year’s bad auditions were particularly bad. Some of these people really are deluded and think they can sing. However, I think many of them are intentionally being over-the-top-horrible because it gets them on national television. YMMV
There is absolutely no doubt that they let comically bad people through on purpose. The question is, how many people that we see are being intentionally bad? I would say very few. A lot of people show up to the auditions to be intentionally bad, but they don’t make for good television and therefore aren’t let through. It’s not funny to see someone who knows they’re bad being bad. Never underestimate the power of tone deafness and narcissism.
A friend of mine listens to some morning radio show and told me that for the last week or so they’ve been talking about some “stunt” they did where they sent a few people to an audition with the intent to be good enough to get to the Randy/Simon/Paula stage, and then intentionally (and presumably hilariously) take a gigantic dive. Apparently, one or two of the people they sent actually did make it on the TV show.
Seems pretty stupid to me, as it’s not like they can even plug the radio show on TV or anything, but radio shows often do things just to do them, from what I can tell. I could also imagine at least half a dozen other radio shows across the country doing the same thing.
I figured there had to be some producer rigging going on in the auditions, since there’s obviously a try-out prior to getting to Paula, Simon, and Randy.
I assume that the folks who are culled during those try-outs are the generic: people who don’t sing particularly well, people who are average. That leaves the good and the freaks (people who sing poorly but do so with great personality).
Okay, maybe “freaks” is a little strong. You know what I mean.
i think that the show is trying to keep itself form being compared to Star Search by having a large group of really stupid people appear on it.
wait…that sounds a lot like star search too.
never mind.
i think its good ol’ american television at its best.
…umm…no. wait a minute…what show are we talking about again?