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2:54 p.m. - 2007-02-15
AI Top 24 + Short Expostulation
Sooooo....I have confused many a person with my ambiguous posts concerning the results of Hollywood Week on American Idol. Rather than bothering to clarify, I'ma just gonna post the top 24, which will be followed by a rant, because I know that if you're reading this, those are the only items you really care about, anyway. Well, maybe not the rant.... AMERICAN IDOL SEASON 6 TOP 24 People with GIRL bits:
Alaina Alexander, aka "The Slutty One"
Amy Krebs
Antonella Barba (...yay..?)
Gina Glocksen (Boo!!)
Haley Scarnato, aka "The Wedding Singer" (Yay!)
Jordin Sparks
Lakisha Jones, aka "The Mommy" (Yay!)
Leslie Hunt (YAY!)
Melinda Doolittle, aka "The Backup Singer" (Yay!)
Nicole Tranquillo (yay!)
Sabrina Sloan
Stephanie Edwards People with BOY bits:
AJ Tabaldo
Blake Lewis, aka "The Human Beatbox" (Yay!)
Brandon Rogers (yay!)
Chris Richardson (...yay?)
Chris Sligh, aka "Sara's Future Husband" (YYYAAAAYYYY!!!!!!!!)
Jared Cotter
Nick Pedro (...yay?)
Paul Kim (boo)
Phil Stacy (...yay?)
Rudy Cardenas (eh.)
Sanjaya Malakar (yay!)
Sundance Head (BOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!) This commences my rant. Rant, part 1:
What is the point of showing the auditions at all? We don't really get to decide who makes it through to the top 24, and we're left wondering what happened to people that the producers randomly decide to grant air time at any given moment, such as Rachel Zevita and Jenry Bejarno. Some, like Sean Michel, are allowed enough notice to let the public know when and why he got cut, but we're never allowed to hear him sing again. So, since we have no choice in the matter anyway, why needlessly toy with our emotions? Rant, part 2:
Why bother pretending that this "competition" is about finding "the best" singer? It's not. "The Best" singer has NEVER won, except perhaps for Kelly Clarkson in Season 1...ok, that might not be fair. Carrie Underwood (although I was never a fan) really has done pretty well for herself (Amanda, you didn't hear that), even if I did think Bo should have won...and I don't really think anyone from Season 3 was that great, but I didn't watch it regularly. Last Season and Season 2 are good examples of my point: the "winners" were Ruben Atkinson and Taylor Hicks, both decent singers. However, in both cases, the runners-up (Clay Aiken and Katharine McPhee) wound up making more record sales; in fact, Chris Daughtry, who didn't even make the top 3 last year, is doing better than both Taylor and Katharine. (Which is why I'm glad he didn't win.) I digress. I realize that the "winner" (supposedly) has nothing to do with the judges and everything to do with voters. My original point is that the judges do NOT choose the best singers; they choose the most....what is the word I'm looking for? Renowned, maybe? OR, they DO choose the best, but manipulate the public by only airing the finalists worst performances. For example, "Sundance" Head. I was impressed by his initial audition, but every time he was shown in Hollywood, he was sucking it big time. Then, they go and say, well Sundance, it's either going to be you or Tommy Daniels. Now, we saw Tommy's first audition, and frankly, it was better than Sundance's. And then, we never see Tommy again and pretty much forget he exists. So, they show his first audition, and we're all like, "OH, I remember him; he's really good." THEN, they show all of the times Sundance failed to follow up on being a decent singer. THEN, they put Sundance through, and not Tommy. WTF?? This isn't the first time that they've pulled this; they do it every season. I can't give you another example right now, because honestly, I've forgotten the specific contestants, just as I'll prolly forget poor Tommy Daniels again before this season is over...which is what the producers want, anyway. Part 3:
Lastly, (I'm almost done, I promise) why be so unfair with air time? Is it their way of trying to "surprise" us with the results? I know that people find the auditions the best part of AI, mostly because of the people that can't actually sing. But later, when the top 24 are announced, we wind up with a small group of people that we've never even seen before, jumbled in with a larger group that we've been looking at for about a month. For example, this season we've got AJ Tabaldo, Jared Cotter, Leslie Hunt, and Amy Krebs. They might be really good singers, but I guarantee that most of them will be the first voted off, even if they do better than the majority, b/c people already have their favorites established and are more willing to forgive them for making mistakes than these apparent "newcomers." Last season, one of the first contestants voted off was Stevie Scott, who America got to hear exactly one time. Unfortunately for Stevie, she chose a really bad song the first night, and, since nobody had anything to compare her performance to, everyone assumed she couldn't sing, and that was the end of her. Oh, yeah. I forgot to throw in my two cents about how I think more often than not, looks play a bigger role in a contestant's chances of making it to the top 24 than is really necessary, given that this is a SINGING COMPETITION. (Examples: Alaina Alexander, Antonella Barba, Becky O'Donahue from last season) In conclusion: if the powers that control AI aren't going to be fair about the auditioning process, why show it at all? I realize that they can't show every single contestant's every performance, but if they spent a little more time on all of them and a lot less time focusing on a few and showing endless hours of people crying, swearing, and sucking, then America would have a much better shot of accurately choosing an "American Idol." I'm finished.
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