American Idle

Some 24 million people watched “American Idol” on Fox last night to see Lee DeWyze take the crown.

I was not one of them.

Don’t get me wrong—I have nothing against the show….it’s just that after a few years, the thrill is gone. I cannot motivate myself to make that “appointment” each week. And, since I am living in the STONE AGE (no DVR or TIVO), I would have to actually program my VCR in order to capture each week’s episode. Too much work.

Not that Fox missed me. Despite heavy press coverage of the show’s ratings slipping, it remained #1 in its time slot—dominating as always. It’s just that the combination of Simon Cowell and Ryan Seacrest were too much for my constitution to handle on a weekly basis. I’m a “24” fan—watching Jack Bauer save the world in a day is more compelling, although I have dabbled at being an “Idol” regular. I just couldn’t sustain it.

I COMPLETELY missed the first season, when Kelly Clarkson won. That she outgrew the “Idol” association is a credit to her talent and her ability to define herself as more than the “original” winner of a TV competition series.

I watched the year that Carrie Underwood won. It was interesting to chart the progress of each contestant each week and I actually knew the names of all the finalists (although they escape me today) Along with Clarkson, these two champions have made the most of their victory. My favorite non-winner is Chris Daughtry, who has gone the farthest (yes, “Claymates”, even farther than Clay Aiken) without picking up the crown.

“American Idol” is really TWO shows: the audition part of the season where it seems that making fun of people with zero talent is the order of the day. There are people I know who faithfully watch to see who’s “going to Hollywood!”—and then cease once the final group is assembled for the real competition. Others eschew the audition period—claiming that the really bad singers are “plants” (I agree) and that the criticism is rather mean-spirited (again, I agree)

Of course, there are the huge numbers of viewers who drink it all in, loving every minute of it. These are the same people who actually SPEND MONEY to text in their votes. I would love to know how much money has been generated by AT&T and Fox through the texting part alone. Staggering, I’m sure.

Simon made his farewell last night—and perhaps more people tuned in to see that—than to find out if Lee or Crystal would win. Ellen DeGeneres over Paula Abdul was an upgrade in my book, but replacing Simon will be nearly impossible. I wouldn’t want to be the celebrity to step into those shoes. Howard Stern was rumored to be a candidate. He passes the acid test for acidity, but little else. Madonna has also been in the conversation. Not a good career move, in my estimation.

Here’s clip from last night:





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RtCLznOgmg


The hardest thing to do is pull the plug on a successful series. It was done with “Seinfeld”, with M*A*S*H and many other dramatic shows where the writers simply exhausted themselves of plot lines. With something that is truly a “reality show”—relatively cheap to produce and infinitely profitable—it’s gotta be hard to say “see ya!”

Maybe a “Simon-less” season will make the decision for Fox. I kind of hope NOT, since “American Idol” produces so many stars and hit songs for radio stations like 94.9 WHOM…regardless of my lack of viewership, I’d like to see it go on forever!


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