American Idol.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Yes, American Idol. I know it's useless, I know it's complete and utter tripe but I also know I'm not the only one here who watches with some sort of morbid curiousity. Shall we discuss?

[Mrbloodworth]

You go first.

[Lakov_Sanite]

What, besides my utter crush on Brooke?  Well I think this year has some really strong talent, I'm not really the kind to predict winners but I'm leaning towards the men this year. Besides a few stand-outs most of the girls are pretty cookie cutter and bland.

[Signe]

They just about all suck.  I predict the winner will be either an Australian or a girl who is mostly crap but poppy and cute enough for Simon to sell for a year and then dump.

[Sky]

No Melinda.

[Signe]

I don't know what that means.   

[Cadaverine]

No means no.

[Sky]

No Melinda-style great singer. Some decent talent, but we're probably done watching now that the silly preliminaries are over.

[WayAbvPar]

Never watched it, never will. There isn't a Hell hot enough for the producers of 95% of reality TV.

[Sky]

Eh, I don't mind some of it. Idol can be ok when it's rough but talented singers coming into their own. It's fun to watch the process, knowing they are starting their careers totally owned by Cowell...

Rockstar was a much better series, I hope they do another one. Having song interpretations and much more interaction with the band was cool. Also, Dilana.

[Nebu]

I'll stick with Top Chef for my reality fix.  The whole Idol thing got old fast, especially after the Rick Astley clone came in second a couple years ago.

[Signe]

Oh, right.  I remember her.  I'm so bad with names.  She was good but she was already a professional singer.  She was a ringer.  Totally shouldn't have even been in the competition.  I'm sure they pepper their shows with them.  I'm not crazy about professional athletes being in the Olympics, either, although I watch and enjoy some of the sports.  I don't mind when I forget to watch American Idol.  It's a terrible show.  I thought Rockstar and that INXS one was pretty awful, too.  When I watch television, I have a tendency to watch incredibly bad stuff.    

(I watch Survivor and Big Brother, too.  Poor Righ.  And I  Top Chef and anything with Gordon Ramsey)

[Nebu]

And I  Top Chef and anything with Gordon Ramsey)

Kitchen Nightmares on BBC is one of my favorites! 

[Sky]

She was good but she was already a professional singer.  She was a ringer.  Totally shouldn't have even been in the competition.

Professional backup singer. Big difference. I was actually rooting for her to lose, so she wouldn't get stuck with a Cowell contract. Good way to get a lot of national face-time and get your voice out there for people to see.

Gordon Ramsey is fun. I can tell when the fiancee is watching him when I'm in the kitchen and all I hear out of the living room is BEEP BEEP BEEP.

You think YOU watch bad stuff, Sig? I'm the king of bad tv, but it's got to be the right bad tv. Entertainingly bad. Last weekend we were watching the jewelry home shopping channel for about an hour because it was pretty hilarious. Those people are nuts. And that's without smoking weed. I'd watch the dumbest shit and laugh my ass off when I was a smoker.

[Righ]

This is the show where every week contestants are required to sing pre-arranged cover versions of famous songs and then force to listen to three people tell them that they have to "be original" and "stay true to themselves".

Here's the drama for this year, KKKirsty Lee:



Courtesy of Vote for the Worst:

http://www.votefortheworst.com/forum/topic4079.html

[Lakov_Sanite]

yee-haw them theres a sweet southern gurl
/end good old boy

I should be clear, this show is a total train wreck I just...I don't know, I'm compelled to watch. I think mostly I enjoy watching them butcher good songs or go up and sing horribly inappropriate ones for a pop-ish competition "moon river?!"  things like that.

[cmlancas]

Wasn't there one that a guy sang to his mother? I think it was a Marvin Gaye song or something.

[Signe]

The Australian bloke sang "Bohemian Rhapsody".  That's sort of a song to your mother.

[cmlancas]

Nah, this one was like, "Let's make love, mommy," instead of, I can sing!

[HaemishM]

The only interesting parts of American Idol are when Cowell is raping the idiots who think they can sing but can't. Once they get serious, it's boring as fuck. The songs are really shitty muzak versions of already shitty songs, and the winners are barely heard from again.

[Grand Design]

I watch Idol with the same morbid curiosity with which I pick my nose.

Sometimes there are some real winners, but most of the time I just stare and ask, "where did that come from?"



I've had my eye on the Irish gal since she nailed "How Do I Get You Alone?"

[Signe]

Yes.  The Irish girl and the Australian guy are definitely the best of American Idol this year. 

[Lakov_Sanite]

Yes.  The Irish girl and the Australian guy are definitely the best of American Idol this year. 

  ^

I can see them both playing up the whole "American Dream" angle though. You know, wanting to be a citizen, making it big. With all the worry about illegal immigration these days I can see this going over well, also she's incredibly cute on tv but she does not photo well at ALL.

[Grand Design]

I like the idea of a couple of foreigners stealing the show. 

It would be like me getting a ticket to Dublin on Irish Idol because I survived the mass imbibement semi-finals.

[stray]

I don't know about Australians, but I suspect that EVERY Irish person can sing well.

[Righ]

That is incorrect. Even many of the ones that can, shouldn't.

[Obo]

Of course we can. Sure weren't we winning Eurovision year after year. 

[Margalis]

The thing that annoys me about Idol is how the singers and the audience all pretend to be into shit like Aretha Franklin and Marvin Gaye when you know that they're really into Maroon 5.

[Grand Design]

Its not that they are pretending to like good music, its that the producers know we wouldn't tune in if the song selection was Fallout Boy and Maroon 5.  I get the impression that the ones with real talent are familiar with the older stuff (Melinda Doolittle), while the others who only want to giggle in front of the camera have to listen to the oldies station with their dad in the car before an audition.

[Selby]

I'd rather them sing Maroon 5 and Fallout Boy than G-Unit or Ludacris...

[Margalis]

Its not that they are pretending to like good music, its that the producers know we wouldn't tune in if the song selection was Fallout Boy and Maroon 5. 

Is that actually true? I bet an Idol show that covered what the audience actually listens to would do quite well.

[Righ]

Possibly, but its unlikely to happen, especially at an individual level. The main reason that the contestants are required to sing certain songs is that there is a limited amount of time for the singers to practice with the band, so they tend to have a selection of songs to choose from. They also tend to use songs penned by professional songwriters - I'm sure that it makes life simpler for the production company, but its also a case of the mainstream music industry patting itself on the back wherever possible.

[Trippy]

Actually they are pretty flexible on AI. Last year Blake Lewis sung all sorts of obscure (to me) songs. There are issues with getting the rights to be able to perform the songs and all that but unless it's a particular artist's theme night (like say an Elton John night) the singers have a lot of latitude to choose.

[Righ]

They weren't especially obscure (and I think all were Sony BMG or Universal). Though one was a Maroon 5 song.

[stray]

C'mon, who doesn't like Aretha and Marvin Gaye? I mean, I'm sure most of these contestants are dumb and young, but those are two names that universally known and loved. I'm willing to give Idol contestants that credit at least.