That Simon Cowell guy. I’ve only watched maybe forty five minutes, lifetime total, of A.I., and nearly all of it, aside from the contestants’ performances, was taken up by Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell giving completely opposite critiques of performers, both in style and substance.
At first glance, I found Simon a pompous prick. A complete tossing arse of the highest order.
I still think so, but, unlike that bubble-headed, no-talent twit Abdul, he’s spot on. He’s just plain right, from what I can see, and the abuse he heaps on performers is really a very concise and clever distillation of the the contestant’s future career experiences. He saves them years of rejection and insult by concentrating it into a few seconds. He saves these losers precious time. My wife, who is a performer, thinks he’s a miserable excuse for a human being, but has commented many times that his stated opinions, however vituperative, are infinitely more valuable than Abdul’s vacuous stroking. Bad entertainers either wither under the harsh light of criticism, or improve. It’s not a pretty or fair world, show biz. Either deal with that or get out. Simon tells it like it is. So I don’t hate him for treating people deplorably. To be an entertainer is to practically beg for mistreatment, so he’s duty-bound to dish it out if there’s a flaw there to be derided.
