Thursday, May 24, 2012

American Idol 2012

It's still the #1 show in the Country and will be as long as it is on the air.  But it is losing viewers each year.  And it doesn't help that it's become predictable and a snooze.
I only watch the live shows, can't stand the audition or Hollywood crap.

But this year only reinforced why the show, while still popular with parts of the public, is no longer viable in harboring talent.  For the 5th year in a row a boring white dude playing guitar wins.  For the 5th year in a row a handsome white dude wins.  The teenage girls and women rule the roost as voters.

How can the show change that?  Only the judges can.  And, boy what a set of judges we have.  Steven Tyler utters the word "beautiful" as much as he can.  $15 million a year?  He must be laughing all the way to his Aerosmith rehearsals.  Jennifer Lopez at $20 million did nothing this year until early on Jimmy Iovine started criticizing the judges.  Iovine is sort of a judge-not-judge, but is a mentor to the Idols.  But his best moments of the season are when he bombed on the weekly performances of both the Idols and the judges.
And Randy Jackson has been a laughingstock since Season 1.  And don't get me started on that smug-ass-Ryan Seacrest.   Without a Simon Cowell this show (save for Iovine) has become a weekly love fest.

People complain about the song choices, but that's a problem on all of these shows.  "I Have Nothing" by Whitney Houston must have been done by every singing show in 2011-2012.  Why can't they just ban any Whitney, Mariah, Queen, Journey songs?

And the show, as well as The Voice and X Factor, is poor on making superstars.  How many Idols actually had a recording career.  Even the winners seem to fade fast.

But the show will live on despite people saying it's over.  It's still wholesome entertainment for a good segment of the population.  So wholesome that a Adam Lambert will never win.  And it appears that the public has no use for Black singers, as no one has placed above #3 since Fantasia won.

I'm a glutton for punishment so I'll keep watching.  The Voice, X Factor, etc.  What can I say?


Read the NY Times article, even the producers of the show realize that things need to be shaken up.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/23/arts/television/american-idol-ponders-a-ratings-dip-on-fox.html?_r=1
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