Is anyone still watching American Idol?

[Brent]

Have I noticed a drop off in interest for this show here and pretty much everywhere? I remember years past we use to have threads up every week for AI here, there was a lot of interest, but now, not so much. Does this reflect waning interest in this show overall? Is America just tired of it yet?

This season I have been watching it off and on. I kinda gave up watching it through hollywood though, and especially now with this new "group" thing they are doing. This whole thing where they have 3 groups, and only 3 people from that group go through, very different. I actually have had the TV on in the background, but haven't really been paying attention to it. I'm just waiting until they weed it down to the final 12 or whatever, then maybe it will be interesting. I also think the talent isn't really that great from what I've been hearing emanating from my TV each week.

 

[Harvey]

I think the ratings are still in the millions, but I'm no expert. I've never seen more than a few minutes of the show, and find it to be dull and stupid.

 

[PKerr]

Still Watching? I never started.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Still Watching? I never started.

Me neither. But my hunch is that TrekBBS is not exactly the reality TV crowd.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

Count me on the never started train. Then again, I don't watch Dancing With the Stars or The Bachelor either. I have no taste.

 

[Tomato]

I blame the youtube effect... or lack of. When X factor was on I would always tune in on youtube and catch up.

Now I can't even find a freaking clip of the bikini girl. Maybe if they made an effort to generate some interest I would be watching it.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

whenever at my friend's house they always watch it. When I was watching her kids while she was away it was on. I couldn't get into ti. It's crap. Call me uneducated, but here is what I don't understand:

1. Who the fuck cares what Simon says. They all are like oooh Simon's the real deal. the guy is a dickhead who wears the same shirt everyday and I wouldn't give a shit what he says.

2.) what's up with the uneccesary drama. I saw one a couple of weeks ago where they are going to pick people out of a small group to advance to the next level, and then with all the drama she could muster, Paula asks one or two of tehm to step forward, but it's all reverse psychology in the worst way, as everyone that hadn't stepped forward was kicked off or some shit. I mean for show that has high ratings, are the American people really addicted to a show that depends on this tactic.. drama from stepping forward or not stepping forward? WTF? another episode had the "bikini girl" crying and shedding tears because she was rightfully kicked off. I mean.. yeah it sucks, but I don't need to see excessive drama and acted tears that go along with it. Jeez

This showis utter garbage, all the more worse that it's so popular that the end of every episode is or was making CNN hjeadlines. WTF?

 

[Vanyel]

Nope I stopped watching after reading Vote for the Worst and seeing how that the very first rounds of auditions seem rather random.

VFTW

During the initial auditions, the producers only let a fraction of the people who audition advance. Many good people are turned away and many bad singers or over the top personalities are kept around.

Then came the judges turning a deaf ear to DA's mistakes (skipped verses) in the last season and their building him up to be their "wunderkind". I let it all go the last few seasons, but last season the judges fawning over DA was just sickening. No more AI for me.

 

[Spot's Meow]

I think I watched the first season and parts of the second and third. It kept dwindling down until I never watched it anymore. I don't like talent competition type shows like this very much, and especially not when they involve singing. I just don't care about watching singing and dancing on TV, no matter how good or bad the person is. It's not entertaining, it is very boring, especially because they are singing songs by artists who did a way better job and that I could listen to on my own time if that's what I wanted to do.

The rest of my family still watches it. The kind of crowd I hang around (history geeks) don't watch it. But I guess a lot of other people still do because it has pretty high ratings. It's just like CSI: Miami...it totally baffles me each week how its ratings can possibly be so high.

 

[shapeshifter]

It's about time Trek fans came to their senses and ceased being interested in that crap!

 

[Captain Craig]

I watched the Katherine McPhee season with Kellie Pickler and Chris Daughtery because my then girlfriend was into it. Haven't seen it since and I just spoke with her a few months back and she has tuned it out also.
I think it peaked awhile back and probably has 2-3 more season in it before they shut it down. Last I saw in Entertainment Weekly it still pulled low/mid 20million type rankings.

 

[Sephiroth]

yes, Virginia, people are morons, they watch this crap and picture themselves on stage, despite the fact that about 99% of Idol's viewership could make my ears bleed singing the itsy-bitsy-spider

 

[Level 2 Diagnostic]

Have I noticed a drop off in interest for this show here and pretty much everywhere? I remember years past we use to have threads up every week for AI here, there was a lot of interest, but now, not so much. Does this reflect waning interest in this show overall? Is America just tired of it yet?

Ratings are down from last year, but Idol is still crushing the competition. (Source: Futon Critic)

 

[dru]

Then came the judges turning a deaf ear to DA's mistakes (skipped verses) in the last season and their building him up to be their "wunderkind". I let it all go the last few seasons, but last season the judges fawning over DA was just sickening. No more AI for me.

I have to call BS on this. He didn't *skip* verses if you mean Imagine. He was asked on camera by Randy and claimed he chose a later verse that had more meaning for him. I don't down it. He's a religious kid and not going to sing "Imagine there's no Heaven..." if he doesn't have to. They sing a verse and a chorus and not a lot more in the 90 seconds-2 min they get each week. If you mean his flubbing lyrics on We Can Work It Out, the judges called him on that too.

The show itself gives a short list of songs, producers will assign songs, the show helps arrange the songs and so forth.

As far as the producers, I think they meddle too much in the show and as you said better singers just don't get through to even be seen by the judges because they're not considered good TV.

This season is deathly dull and filled with more shameless contestant pimping.

I'll keep watching so long as I have something to bitch about and nothing better to watch.

 

[tomalak301]

I've completely lost interest for many reasons including Paula Abdul. How the producers are still keeping her around I have no idea. She acts like a druggie on national tv and there looks like she was a lot of issues. If they got rid of her and brought in that other judge, I might have watched this season but they didn't. Also, I think the show has gotten to big and full of itself. It's boring, the theme weeks suck, and the show is more of a popularity contest than anything else.

 

[bigdaddy]

IU stopped because the top 36 have a bunch of losers that they only let through for the drama factor. Then of course the 3 that go through and the 9 that don't every week is lame, so I gave up on the show.

 

[Vanyel]

Then came the judges turning a deaf ear to DA's mistakes (skipped verses) in the last season and their building him up to be their "wunderkind". I let it all go the last few seasons, but last season the judges fawning over DA was just sickening. No more AI for me.

I have to call BS on this. He didn't *skip* verses if you mean Imagine. He was asked on camera by Randy and claimed he chose a later verse that had more meaning for him. I don't down it. He's a religious kid and not going to sing "Imagine there's no Heaven..." if he doesn't have to. They sing a verse and a chorus and not a lot more in the 90 seconds-2 min they get each week. If you mean his flubbing lyrics on We Can Work It Out, the judges called him on that too.

The show itself gives a short list of songs, producers will assign songs, the show helps arrange the songs and so forth.

As far as the producers, I think they meddle too much in the show and as you said better singers just don't get through to even be seen by the judges because they're not considered good TV.

This season is deathly dull and filled with more shameless contestant pimping.

I'll keep watching so long as I have something to bitch about and nothing better to watch.

Actually I was thinking of his rendition of Think of Me, from The Phantom of the Opera. A little more than halfway through, he starts one verse, mumbles, then finishes another verse. I remember that he wasn't called on it. I remember because The Phantom of the Opera is one of my all time favorite stage musicals.

 

[Squiggy]

Have I noticed a drop off in interest for this show here and pretty much everywhere?

It's still the #1 show on television. The reason as to why no one in here is talking about it is because we're growing older and Star Trek (the reason this site exists) isn't attracting any new audience so the ST/AI "audience overlap" shrinks every season.

 

[Gryffindorian]

I usually don't tune in until they've selected the Top 12. This year it seems the contestants are dull with lackluster performances compared to David Cook, Archuleta, etc. of last year.

 

[CaptainHawk1]

Have I noticed a drop off in interest for this show here and pretty much everywhere?

It's still the #1 show on television. The reason as to why no one in here is talking about it is because we're growing older and Star Trek (the reason this site exists) isn't attracting any new audience so the ST/AI "audience overlap" shrinks every season.

Word.

I like AI. It's great drama and I never watched it or understood it until season 4. Even if you believe all of the nonsense sputed by Vote For the Worst which I grant probably has some merit but has never been verified... SFW?

Enjoy it for what it is. For it being as fixed as its claimed to is how the hell do you explain Taylor Hicks or Ruben Studdard or Fantasia?

AI is fun because you get to watch people follow their dreams and be given a chance based on merit and talent to succeed and you take the journey with them. That's why it's enjoyed more success here than it has anywhere else because as clichéd as it sounds, it's representative of what we hope the American Dream is.

I've never found a reason to not like or dismiss AI offhand other than curmudgeonly cynicism but that seems to be par for the course quite often especially here.

People here tend to dismiss all reality shows as having no merit the same way that non-Trek fans dismiss Star Trek and sci fi as foolish. Neither stereotype is fair.

Just my two cents.