American Idol

I've had really little interest or even a great liking for this show. I did laugh hysterically at the first few seasons of horrible singers that auditioned but after that, I didn't care about the show or it's contest at all.

Reason being is, in my opinion, even though a selected number of these performers "do" have the talent and many with very good voices... I don't feel this is a legitimate way of trying to "hit the big time."

What, "really" have most of these singers done to earn or deserve to be famous? Some of them have have been in school chorus or maybe even done a localized solo career / band maybe. They are ametuers and the judges way of practically slamming for their inexperience turns my stomach.

Especially when singers try to do songs before their time. Nine out of ten times, I feel no emotional connection with their renditions of classic pop & rock songs. In my view,they don't have the proper emotional connection to the songs or understand their meaning.

Making their performance seem empty. After a few years of it, it was nothing short of redundant.

I don't mind what others here call the contestant's "sob stories" , as they are legitimate and great difficulties they have experienced in their lives. (No doubt anyone in charge at the show has these things checked out, beofre alowing them to tell the story. )

I doubt it has any bearing on the judges decision, it's just the contestants telling about themselves. They win for singing , not for being the most pitiful.

I will say, Kelly clarkson still stands out to me as the most talented and I was glad to see her become more than just anohter female who sings about love, break ups or power ballads like, "A Moment Like This."

I've been a bit more than suspicous in the past watching winners after her, just 'fly' immediately up the Billboard Hot 1200 or even debut at the top suddenly and then fall and become immediately forgotten (except Carrie Undrwood, who's the only other that's truly lasted.)

Still, even her debut at #1 that knock Mariah Carey out of the top for a wek back in 2005, seemed fixed, although I know Billboard magzine would get invesigted if that werre the case.

Anyhow, as for the judges? Cowell is no longer there and was horribly mean at times and other judges ranked from understanding to almost as bad as Cowell. I know they want to be honest with these hopefuls but , lighten up.

Imagine, when Cowell ws still there. A young girl, self-conscious about herself already and he makes her feel 10 times worse about herself and her weight. He's changed since then and is on America's Got Talent.

Anyhow, the show by now has become quite repetitive and not even the bad singers could make me tune in again. It's a shadow of it's former self. I enjoyed it for awhile, for the things I mentioned but not anymore, I've moved on.

I'm surprised that America hasn't moved on from this. (END.)

If it weren't for Simon Cowell, I have to wonder how many people would watch this show. I admit this says something of my character, but he's the reason I watch this show. His blunt matter of fact, tell-it-like-is approach to telling the unvarnished truth to the no-talent wannabes who audition is something I find very refreshing. Especially when their egos and attitudes are directly proportional to the extent that they suck -- meaning the more they suck, the more ego and attitude they tend to have. (Not with all, but certainly a lot of them) Then there are others who don't have attitude and are devastated by criticism and can be seen in tears later, and even if they were bad I feel a little sorry for them. But that's simply the reality, of the music business and if these kids can't handle it, then they shouldn't be trying to forge a career as a musical artist.

That's reality, and Simon gives them this much needed reality check. It's reality TV in every sense of the word.

American Idol, amounts to the same old same old talent show, repackaged and fancied up for your viewing entertainment. Oh yes, and the audience does get to phone in and cast their vote, which probably accounts for much of the popularity of this weekly song fest.

American Idol travels the country holding tryouts for tens of thousands idol wannabe's in several major cities through out the U.S. Contestants have been known to wait in line for days in hopes to get their big break. It is never made clear how some of these people are chosen to audition. The producers seem to want a mix of the very awful, the just OK, and the very good. The really awful ones are meant to entertain us in the preliminary rounds so that we can ridicule them along with the judges. Of all these early contestants, only 119 were picked to go to Hollywood to try and become one of the chosen 32. We are led to believe that these 119 are hand picked by the judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson. However, it is never made clear to us whether these judges sat and watched every single one of the tryouts, or how much input the producer of the show has into who makes it and who doesn't.

Once in Hollywood, the final 119 are given several tasks to perform in order to show their worthiness of becoming one of the 32 finalists. It was at this point that I began to smell a rat. First off, these tasks were not only unfair, but there was little logic in assigning them. For instance, each contestant was given a list of song subjects. From this list they had to choose on item, write a song about it and perform it the next day. Since there is no requirement that you have to be able to write a song to be an Idol, the task didn't make much sense to me. Sensing that most of America was probably as puzzled as I was, the host Ryan Secrest, explained it wasn't important as to whether or not the song was any good, it was to see how each contestant did under pressure. That would have been acceptable but when it came time to perform, the comments of the judges had little or nothing to do with that aspect of it. For instance, one contestant had written some rather clever lyrics and performed them quite well. She was able to do this whereas many contestants couldn't even remember the words to the songs they had written. Yet, Simon criticized her by asking her if she wanted to be a comedienne or a singer. The contestant seemed to be as taken aback as I was. How good the song was or what the song was about was not supposed to be an issued. She had performed well under pressure but it didn't matter. So much for fairness in this round.

The next task that each contestant had to get with two other contestants and perform a song together. This didn't make a whole lot of sense either and seemed even more ridiculous than the songwriting contest. If a contestant happened to get paired with two other good singers it made them look good. However, there were several unlucky good singers who were paired with mediocre contestants who refused to even practice.

When the 32 are picked we are given no reasons or criteria as to how they were judged. The girl Simon called a clown was history, although she had performed admirably at every phase. In her last appearance when she performed solo, she toned down her vivaciousness and performed an outstanding number. After she was finished, Simon, who had earlier asked her if she wanted to be a comedienne or a singer, now called her boring. Go figure. Two brothers who had also performed with mediocrity throughout the Hollywood auditions also made the final 32. There were other numerous unexplained choices, too many to even begin to pick apart here. Again we are not told if the three judges had the final say so or whether the shows producers or whoever had input into the decision.

The contestant the judges have heaped the most praise on has always moved on. The second contestant that has moved on has been kind of like a roll of the dice, there is never any certainty about it. Call me a cynic if you will, but I find it strange that the phone-in votes has always agreed with the judges on their first choice. You would think that at some point just by figuring the odds that this wouldn't happen every week. It can only lead one to two possible conclusions: 1. Either the American viewing public is a race of sheep unable to decide for themselves who they think is best or 2. There's some monkey business going on with the voting on this show. Neither choice is very palatable, especially when you consider some of the decisions made by the judges.

There are some other hard fast rules to remember about American Idol. First, never sing a slow song if you can get around it. No matter how good you are or how good you may sing, it is the kiss of death. You will be called either boring, a lounge singer, a café singer, or someone who is unwilling to take chances. Second, despite what I said above, never take chances or be original. These judges frown on it. One singer who took a chance on a jazz number was quickly banished because it wasn't the type of song the judges were looking for. That she sang and performed well didn't matter. Third, when you get to the end of your song, sing very very loud, and hold your last note as long as you can. These are sure fire audience pleaser's and the judges eat it up. Proof of this can be found in each of the contestants that the judges have lavished their highest praises on in the first three weeks of season three.

There is plenty more wrong with this show, and I could write a thousand more words about it. All I can say is tune in, have an open mind, and ask some questions about legitimacy. Somebody should.

My Grade F

I've watched every episode of this show from its inception, and, sadly but not surprisingly, I have seen it become more and more cheesy as the years go by.

For starters, Seacrest has to go. If you look up the word smarmy in the dictionary, you will see his picture. And the judges are all a joke at this point - they've become caricatures of themselves, it seems, and nothing they have to say means anything, nor do the viewers' votes actually count, since I believe the producers of the show will not have someone win whom they do not approve of (meaning someone they can't control). The contestants are still good, though, which is why I still watch: I'm a sucker for a talent show and I do love seeing someone do really well, as Jordin is doing this year. And let's face it, the show is an incredible spectacle - the modern equivalent of, say, the gladiators in the Colosseum.

Last night, they kicked off the "Idol Gives Back" thing, where, for every vote cast, ten cents would be donated by the shows' sponsors - Ford, Coca Cola, and A T & T - toward the world's hunger crisis. Seacrest stood there, in all his sanctimonious smarminess, preaching to us about how we were not just voting this week, we're "saving lives." I'm all for ending hunger in all countries of the world, beginning with our country, don't get me wrong, but this to me feels like a very underhanded and sleazy way to obtain more publicity for the show.

The corporations in question have enough money to fully end all world hunger if they wanted; they do not need our votes to contribute to that cause. And it would be a tax write-off for them, to boot. By telling people they are "saving lives" by voting, the producers of the show (and Seacrest, as their shamelessly pathetic talking head - he's like Max Headroom without the soul) are implying that the opposite is true, as well: if you don't vote, you are NOT saving lives.

About the show itself: the worst thing is how they never let the contestants sing a whole song, they have to condense their song into a minute and a half, and then they get criticized for not having enough feeling or enough conviction or enough personality, blah blah blah. A song has to be complete in order for it to legitimately 'live' - the emotion or feeling of it has to build and you cannot genuinely do that when you're forced to cut out most of it. They have time on the show for all sorts of crap, but they can't make time for the performers to actually SING. I commend anyone who can come on week after week and manage to give a credible performance under these conditions, something the judges don't seem to acknowledge or appreciate.

Where will it all end? I predict a few more seasons, and then hopefully the network will take the show off before it deteriorates into an even tackier circus than it's already become.

Added 3/6/13 ~ This season hopefully will be the last. Brutal.

Added 2/21/14 ~ Still going' on. It's a joke at this point; everybody feels it. Keith Urban, J-Lo and Harry Connick Jr. are very strange judges, not much credibility there, and of course Seacrest is still on board, still smarmy as ever. This time the question is : WHEN will it all end? I couldn't even watch the preliminary episodes this year, the whole selection process and the Hollywood thing, the group challenge, blah blah blah. Cannot stand how they play with the contestants' heads, when they call them in to That Room, making them walk from the elevator all the way to their desk in Outer Mongolia, only to torture them with the 'well, you know we can't pick everyone and we're really sorry, we don't know how to tell you this...(long dramatic pause)...but you're going through!" Pathetic.

This is the first year (2005)that I've watched American Idol. I surprised myself and enjoyed it. It provides a look into the process and reasons for signing a person to a contract. The only thing that I don't like is the final weeks and how they let people know who has not made the cut. I find it cruel and unnecessary. I also find that Simon Crowell's comments are pretty accurate about the contestants. I used to watch Star Search, with Ed McMahon, and thought that was great, but this is much more interesting. I would like to see the handling of cutting contestants changed. I don't find this to be a popularity contest at all. I also think that if these people cannot take the criticism that is handed to them they should not be in the entertainment business.