Yikes. Is this really what this show is about? None of these people have any business singing on television. Was this a particularly bad episode or something?
The words “good” and “American Idol” should never be used in the same sentence.
In my paper tonight, some “expert” gave his ranking of the remainders (ahem). Numbers 3 and lower were considered at best lounge singers. Number 2 was considered to have the potential of a career only because of her looks. Number 1 was only rated as the potential of having a short lived career on a minor label (if AI wasn’t involved).
It’s pretty much the dregs of singers. The show is intended to be a farce. They don’t really want truly talented people on the show, as how could they make snide comments and such? The producers, not viewers make all the calls on who wins.
At the last college I worked at, there was a very active music department and the students would just bust out into song wherever they were on campus. Absolutely amazing voices. You could round up 50 singers better than any AI performer in a flash. None of them ever had a chance of getting a record contract. Ability no longer matters.
HL Mencken: Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American
public.
twickster - It’s a cheesy “reality” show (kinda like a game show, but really pretentious) where singers from all walks of life compete on stage for the chance to get a recording contract. Every episode has a different genre…country, soundtrack, R&B, etc; occasionally they have to pick something by a certain singer (like Elton John).
Of course, since they’re not professionals, and there are a lot of performances to get in every episode (not to mention all those commercial breaks, and even by prime time standards, they get incredibly tedious), the songs are cut down. REALLY cut down. The longest ever was something like 1:15. And since this is, well, a primetime network program, they never get into any genre that’s not completely bland and safe. (Just once I’d like to see something like “Vietnam era protest song” or “nu-metal” just to see if how they’d handle it.) And, as the judges like to point out, just singing real good isn’t enough…you have to project confidence and really express the song. And some other stuff. BTW, although they’re called “judge”, their opinions have no effect on the vote; they’re just there to help get ratings and to provide targets for the live audience to cheer or heckle.
Each round is broken up into two days, the first day with the performances, and the second with…well, uninteresting exposition and about 30 minutes of commercials, as far as I can tell. At the end of the second day, after WAY too much blustery suspense, someone is voted off. Because in a reality show, you gotta vote 'em off one by one. Just how they do things.
As silly as it sounds. Acquired taste, I guess.
Wow. My own naivete sometimes astonishes me. I – don’t laugh, 'kay? – really thought this show involved people who could sing.
I’m not unfamiliar with the reality genre (as my fellow fans can testify by my way-too-regular appearances in the reality threads), but somehow managed to avoid the whole AI phenomenon – probably because I don’t have cable, so Fox is a VHF channel for me. I mean, Star Search involves people who can actually sing, so I figured this show would too.
Another question – are the judges serious? They were saying things like “that was really good” to these horrifyingly screechy presentations. (And is “pitchy” really a word?)
Yikes. Just … yikes.
It was a mediocre episode in a particularly bad season. The group this season simply doesn’t compare to last year’s at all.
If you stick it out, you can usually find one or two standout performances each week. Last night, however, I was really impressed by no one.
I know it’s pap, but I still enjoy the show overall. Fortunately the bad singers are usually mockably bad, with is fine by me.
There usually are a couple really good singers. Tamyra Gray and Kelly Clarkson from season one (who should have been the final two if it was based on talent) and Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard from season two. Kim Locke was pretty good, too, she grew a lot and may have a career, too.
I think season 2 was really the pinnacle, the best singers ended up in the top 3 and Ruben and clay were pretty much neck and neck, now that was a competition. And IMO, Clay was the ultimate contestant, he went from this geeky looking guy with the Broadway voice to a successfult performer. He took all the criticisms he received and learned from it and grew.
I like LaToya this season but not nearly as much as the ones I mentioned from the previous seasons.
I both love and hate this show. I like watching singers with real potential grow as Clay did. But I hate the way the present it, Ryan Seacrest, the judges, the dragging out the results, etc… I think they also pass over a lot of good singers because they (the judges) may be having a bad day. I have also seen them eliminate some good singers in the early rounds, only to keep some real stinkers. Part of the early process is to present both the best and worst singers to the judges, so they can mock the bad singers later and even give them their “15 minutes”, which is ridiculous because people purposely try to be as outrageous as possible in order to get attention. And sometimes the public falls for it really hard coughWilliamHungcough
The voting becomes a popularity contest, people don’t vote strictly on talent. They vote for looks and sympathy (“oh, Simon was mean to her I must vote for her and save her”). Frankly, I think the voting should be by a panel of professionals who actually know something about voice talent.
I keep watching anyway just for the possible Clays, Kellys and Tamyras.
Don’t knock it, it worked for The Gong Show.
Yeah, it’s a complete and total amateur hour. And that’s what makes it fun.
Not to say there haven’t been some good singers over the past three seasons, but I bet a huge percentage of the viewing audience probably thinks they could do as well as half the final 12 contestants.
Just go with it.
It’s mostly fun to just pick on everyone, but occasionally a decent performance sneaks through. This year they’ve got the one young kid, though (John Stevens, the redhead), who’s so sweet and innocent I really hate to see him get chewed up and spit out. Not to mention he keeps being forced to come back and do it again every week because I gather from elsewhere on the net that people vote for him en masse to keep him alive as long as possible to torment the judges. (Which will happen as long as they allow power-voting – one vote/one phone number seems infinitely more fair to me if they want to have the Great American Unwashed vote, but nobody asked me.)
As has been said, just go with it. It becomes quite addicting in a harmless way. Plus very few shows provide such fodder for creative insult.
Bwahahahaha, we’ve caught another one! 
William Hung was better than these wannabees.