Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Idol blogging

It had to happen. My favorite TV show, coupled with my favorite hobby--a date made in heaven.

I've got TONS of thoughts about this season's AI, but I'm going to start with one of my favorite overall topics: hypocrisy.

"Idol" Reject Is Trying to Screw the Show

Posted by TMZ Staff (link, with fairly unfavorable photos, here)

Paris Bennett votes for Sanjaya Malakar -- and she hopes it'll take down "American Idol."Last season's petite powerhouse phoned into the "Tone E Fly Morning Show" in Minneapolis today, and called "Idol" "a joke," and said she and a few other contestants are using the Web site VotefortheWorst.com to screw with the results. "We want to see him [Sanjaya] win because it'll kind of prove that 'American Idol' is kind of losing its taste," says Bennett, "it kinda isn't going for talent anymore and more for popularity."

This is so sad. Bennett, as you may recall, was a darling of the show last year, making it all the way to the final 5. She may have had the same degree of vocal talent as any of the other 4 (although I personally thought Kat McPhee was in a vocal class all her own), but it wasn't a clear landslide. And the show ISN'T simply about pipes--it's about performing. And although Bennett showed a great degree of savvy on the stage, and was really entertaining to watch, her counterparts were equally skilled at "bringing it home" to the audience. Honestly, any of the top 5 from last year's show would have been good Idols, although it appears that Chris Daughtry is the one with the most commercially marketable niche.

But THIS YEAR'S show is not deserving of her ire. Of the 7 remaining contestants, 4 of them(Melinda, LeKisha, Jordin and Phil) have voices at least on-par with Bennett's; 2 of the remaining guys are very entertaining (Blake and Chris--in fact, Blake is REALLY entertaining!). So which one of these "deserving" contestants get her vote? That would be none, since she--supposedly along with other contestants, but I'd be interested to know who--conspires with a good chunk of Idol-hating America to keep Sanjaya--the least-talented vocal performer of the bunch--in the running.

Sanjaya's popularity is this not hard-to-comprehend monster that I think will run out of steam in the next 2 weeks or so. Heck, he's riding a lot of the same vibe that got Justin Guarini all the way into the FINALS of season 1. Sanjaya would probably still be in the contest even if it wasn't for sites like votefortheworst.com. If only we could know...

But people like Bennett-who are MAKING the show more about popularity than about talent-- shouldn't rail against the very same sword that they are wielding.

Here's my question to young Ms Bennett: what are you trying to prove? Do you want the vehicle that could have turned into a launching pad for your vocal career to lose all form of credibility? And how can you know that YOU were kept around last because America thought you had real talent? Maybe you were last year's Sanjaya? It happens about every year, doesn't it? And it certainly wasn't Kat, or Chris, or Elliot, or eventual winner Taylor. . .hmmm.

Ms Bennett showed a great degree of composure in the competition last year. Too bad she seems to have lost that skill now that the lights are shining on another group of performers.

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