Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Idol America

Tonight for the first time I watched “American Idol”. I have avoided it (and the rest of the reality TV universe) with extreme prejudice for quite some time. Unfortunately tonight was a perfect storm. There was very little else on the tube (see the March 14th blog on Network TV) and I needed to get some writing done so I left Fox on after Seinfeld ended. So on comes “Idol America” excuse me, I mean “American Idol”. I couldn’t be bothered to turn the channel so I let it play.

I have one question and one question only.

Do these people have no shame?
Clearly the answer is no,

Now I am not comparing them to the Jerry Springer crowd (though there is clearly some cross over). These people are worse than horrible. I hade to mute the TV for a number of these freaks. It’s one thing to get up at a Karaoke bar when you are polluted on margaritas and belt out “Lady Marmaleide” but it is something completely different to do it on National TV and then get angry when Simon tell you that you sing like crap and should get out of the business.

Everybody rags on Simon for being a prick, well you know what? The man is right on the money. These people suck and the music business just like the film business doesn’t cut anyone slack. He is just doing what any record company A&R exec would do. He’s just doing it on TV.

The funny thing is, the worse these people are, the more outraged they are when they don’t’ make the cut. They blame the judges. “The judges don’t know what they are talking about.” “The judges don’t know talent when they see it.” The trouble is they are not seeing it. There was one freak on tonight who was so sure he was going to win the whole thing that when he came in to sing he boasted how he can sing on 3 different levels. He was so bad you couldn’t even say he sang poorly, because that would do an injustice to people who sing poorly. They actually gave him a second chance (which I didn’t understand, other than it made for good TV) and when he came back he actually sang the bawdy Frat song from “Trading Places” of course none of the judges knew that (it just shows how poorly they are schooled on pop culture) and he did it so poorly that it was embarrassing. When he walked out of the room the second time he still didn’t get the fact that he really should never be allowed to sing anywhere at anytime ever again.

My assumption is that at the end of this blight on Network TV they actually pick somebody who has what the marshmallow fluff pop music industry is trying to shove down the public gullet. But at what cost? Thousands of people with no talent line up for days to audition for something they have no shot at getting and this is considered “Must See TV”. It’s almost more embarrassing for the folks who invest so much in this show and who they are going to “vote” for. All of these folks need to get a life.

Or a Karaoke machine….

5 comments:

Clockworkchris said...

I watched it too-I only watch it for this part of the season-before the winners are picked. It's just fun to watch people wallow in misery as Simon tells them they bascially suck, which is always the truth. He doesn't really lie that much. I think I have disagreed with him once-on the tryouts-now on the real show he can be a dick-but i try not to watch that unless I am desperate for a cure to boredom and I have tylenol handy to cure the headache it's sure to cause

EKENYERENGOZI Michael Chima said...

Just enjoy the serio-comic show for the fun of it.

Debbie Cakes said...

It's a guilty pleasure that I (ashamed to admit it)indulged in for the last two nights. I swear to God I won't watch it anymore...or at least until the bad auditions are over.

Dumb Poet said...

Deb - I said the same thing and I did watch it last night. It's like watching a train wreck and then waiting for the next one. Guilty pleasure? I don't know about that but I am absolutely fascinated by what goes on there - Let's call it a social experiment... at least until the bad auditions are over ... ;)

Musicguy said...

it always makes me happy to find a blog that says Simon is right on the money. i couldn't agree more :-)