Wednesday, January 16, 2008

It's Getting Old


I don't mind if someone makes a fool of themselves on national television, as long as they are in on the joke, or have the mental capacity to appreciate their own ridiculousness.

This wasn't the case a number of times last night on American Idol, as America was treated to yet more of the cruel and contrived schtick viewers have grown to expect of the show.

It's getting old.

How would I describe last night's season premiere? At times, it was
Jerry Springer-like. Mean-spirited. Manipulative. Shamefully contrived and thus predictable. In short, an amalgam of the worst of American "reality" TV.

What is best about American Idol is seeing talented performers and otherwise normal people achieving, at least on some small level, their own 15 minutes of greatness. How many of these people were pretty much glossed over last night to show us packages on Sparkle Girl (aka the Second Coming of Joan Jett) or the Bearded Bear who Paula made go get his chest waxed. At least the bearded guy, who sang Don't Cha and wore a bikini, seemed to be in on the joke.

Many people are getting rich off this show. Producers need to stop showcasing people of seeemingly marginal mental abilities who 1) can't really defend themselves, especially in light of devilish editing and 2) won't be getting filthy rich off this show.

Awful. And, from my perspective, a little immoral.

More later. Maybe. Even with the writer's strike, I'm not sure I can stand watching anymore until the talent part of this competition begins.

1 comment:

Michael said...

I'm so with you on this. I can't stand the side show that preceeds the actual competition. You'd think they wouldn't need to resort to this sort of thing after all these years and producing some really great, credible talent.