Is anyone still watching American Idol?

[Shatmandu]

I try to watch it with my wife, for the hell of it, but she rewinds the singers she likes and listens again.

Drives me up a goddamned wall.

Joe, out

 

[Vanyel]

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.

The thing is not based on merit, not at the very beginning anyway. To make room for all the contestant that haven't a chance of getting past the judges, the ones that are there to be made fun of and for the audience to laugh at because these poor people are led to believe they can sing, are taking the place of someone who can sing and has a chance of at least going to Hollywood.

 

[CaptainHawk1]

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.

The thing is not based on merit, not at the very beginning anyway. To make room for all the contestant that haven't a chance of getting past the judges, the ones that are there to be made fun of and for the audience to laugh at because these poor people are led to believe they can sing, are taking the place of someone who can sing and has a chance of at least going to Hollywood.

Doubtful.

How is it in the producers' best interest to keep someone who is truly talented and can make them money off of the show in favor of someone who is not simply for a cheap ploy?

The other thing is that you're implying that there is no merit to the awful contestants. Of course there is! During the audition stage they are specifically looking for the best and the worst and not a whole lot in between. It's casting and it's all part of the show that is AI.

You assume that someone has a chance just because they are bumped in favor of a retard. Well, it ain't your call, it's the producers' call and they've been pretty goddamned successful so far. The fact is that the people that get bumped in favor of the retards are the people that wouldn't have gone anywhere anyway. They had no chance in Hollywood to begin with or else they wouldn't have been bumped.

The retards are talented... they're talented at being retarded and they fit in perfectly with the audition episodes that are the hook episodes. Seriously, who would watch the damned show in the beginning if they only showed just decent or good singers?

 

[Squiggy]

It's based on merit. What you see on TV isn't the only round of judging in the cities. People go through and sing/perform for a group of off camera "judges" (read as: producers) who deem someone either good enough to get through to see Randy, Paula, Simon, and the other one so they can eventually go on to Hollywood...or they deem them bad enough to see the on air judges so it'll make good TV.

 

[CaptainHawk1]

It's based on merit. What you see on TV isn't the only round of judging in the cities. People go through and sing/perform for a group of off camera "judges" (read as: producers) who deem someone either good enough to get through to see Randy, Paula, Simon, and the other one so they can eventually go on to Hollywood...or they deem them bad enough to see the on air judges so it'll make good TV.

Jackpot, Squiggy and more succinct than me.

 

[Vanyel]

It's based on merit. What you see on TV isn't the only round of judging in the cities. People go through and sing/perform for a group of off camera "judges" (read as: producers) who deem someone either good enough to get through to see Randy, Paula, Simon, and the other one so they can eventually go on to Hollywood...or they deem them bad enough to see the on air judges so it'll make good TV.

Jackpot, Squiggy and more succinct than me.

That they let in people who are only for good TV, is proof enough that the producers do not let people through based on merit. Who is to say that those rejected in favor of those who make good TV do not have any chance? Did William Hung ever have a chance, or did he take the one of the few places that a good singer could have taken?

Thousands go for the first round auditions, after a few days that's whittled down to down to just enough for the 3 judges to see over 2 or 3 days. Can anyone really say that out of thousands, a few more good singers could not have been found to fill those spots?

 

[CaptainHawk1]

It's based on merit. What you see on TV isn't the only round of judging in the cities. People go through and sing/perform for a group of off camera "judges" (read as: producers) who deem someone either good enough to get through to see Randy, Paula, Simon, and the other one so they can eventually go on to Hollywood...or they deem them bad enough to see the on air judges so it'll make good TV.

Jackpot, Squiggy and more succinct than me.

That they let in people who are only for good TV, is proof enough that the producers do not let people through based on merit. Who is to say that those rejected in favor of those who make good TV do not have any chance? Did William Hung ever have a chance, or did he take the one of the few places that a good singer could have taken?

Thousands go for the first round auditions, after a few days that's whittled down to down to just enough for the 3 judges to see over 2 or 3 days. Can anyone really say that out of thousands, a few more good singers could not have been found to fill those spots?

You've made the same point twice and it doesn't change what Squiggy and I both said. Those people that don't make it never had a spot to begin with, period. There's good and there's retarded and if you don't fall into one of those categories you aren't making it on the show. You assume that the retards are taking the spot of a better singer. They aren't. The spot never existed. There's is no in between category of better than retarded but not as good as the really good singers who made it.

 

[Vanyel]

Jackpot, Squiggy and more succinct than me.

That they let in people who are only for good TV, is proof enough that the producers do not let people through based on merit. Who is to say that those rejected in favor of those who make good TV do not have any chance? Did William Hung ever have a chance, or did he take the one of the few places that a good singer could have taken?

Thousands go for the first round auditions, after a few days that's whittled down to down to just enough for the 3 judges to see over 2 or 3 days. Can anyone really say that out of thousands, a few more good singers could not have been found to fill those spots?

You've made the same point twice and it doesn't change what Squiggy and I both said. Those people that don't make it never had a spot to begin with, period. There's good and there's retarded and if you don't fall into one of those categories you aren't making it on the show. You assume that the retards are taking the spot of a better singer. They aren't. The spot never existed. There's is no in between category of better than retarded but not as good as the really good singers who made it.

I made it twice because it is correct. You cannot say people are brought before the judges based on merit and then turn around and say they are also let in because they make good TV. That is not merit.

 

[CaptainHawk1]

That they let in people who are only for good TV, is proof enough that the producers do not let people through based on merit. Who is to say that those rejected in favor of those who make good TV do not have any chance? Did William Hung ever have a chance, or did he take the one of the few places that a good singer could have taken?

Thousands go for the first round auditions, after a few days that's whittled down to down to just enough for the 3 judges to see over 2 or 3 days. Can anyone really say that out of thousands, a few more good singers could not have been found to fill those spots?

You've made the same point twice and it doesn't change what Squiggy and I both said. Those people that don't make it never had a spot to begin with, period. There's good and there's retarded and if you don't fall into one of those categories you aren't making it on the show. You assume that the retards are taking the spot of a better singer. They aren't. The spot never existed. There's is no in between category of better than retarded but not as good as the really good singers who made it.

I made it twice because it is correct. You cannot say people are brought before the judges based on merit and then turn around and say they are also let in because they make good TV. That is not merit.

Begging your pardon, but who's to say that there is no merit in the ability to make for good TV? There's something to be said for that in the audition phase. That's where the merit is.

Besides, I made no claim as to people being brought before the judges as it's a separate issue. It's really two shows. The audition phase and then the post-Hollywood phase. They even make a point to welcome people to American Idol season-whatever when the get to the round of 36. In other words, the real competition doesn't begin before that, it's simply casting.

The people who get past the auditions and past the Hollywood week are advancing based on merit, period.

Your point isn't correct, it's misguided and you're looking at the show from a very narrow perspective.

I think we'll just have to disagree on this.

 

[Squiggy]

People with merit still get through to Hollywood. It's the "meh" people who don't make it to Simon et all. Hell, if it was all about "tv presence" Clay Aiken, Taylor Hicks, and Fantasia would have never made it.

There isn't a "set number" that goes in front of the judges. It's not like if Hung went through in Clarkson's season that there would have been a chance that Clarkson would've gotten snubbed because they needed another horrible singer. The people who have a shot still get through.

 

[Amaris]

I was irritated when they let Bikini Girl through. She was mediocre at best, and yet she made it through while other singers who were much, much better were canned. It was obvious as hell why Simon & Randy approved.

J.