May 17, 2013

"Even the singers' hair was identical and when it came to hitting the highest notes at the top of the song, Jennifer clearly couldn't help but show off her skills."

"It wasn't massively appropriate, and Candice looked bewildered and nervous at times so it's to her utter credit that she still took the title home. Perhaps realising her mistake, and possibly performing on autopilot, Hudson tried to chivvy the younger singer along at the song's close."

The Daily Mail covers last night's "American Idol" finale. (Hence the incomprehensible-to-Americans "chivvy.") The other DM article is "Must be female intuition! Aretha Franklin predicts Candice Glover's win as she duets with final five American Idol ladies via video." Ha ha.

It's kind of true. "AI" brought in 2 gigantic soul-singing divas as if to launch their new counterpart, Candice (whom I'm sure the producers knew would win) and those 2, each in her own way, stepped on Candice's moment.

It was a funny season of "Idol." It turned out to be a singing contest in which the best singer won. She didn't play to the cameras and beg for our love. She tried to win on the merits, and did. But — isn't it the way things always go? — the show is in steep decline. Where's the audience? Maybe the people who are left really just like great singing and not the attendant hammy bullshit. That makes no sense. That's an utterly irrational way to go looking for great singing.

22 comments:

Scott M said...

That makes no sense. That's an utterly irrational way to go looking for great singing.

I love the smell of levity in the morning...

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

It wasn't massively appropriate, and Candice looked bewildered and nervous at times so it's to her utter credit that she still took the title home.

That's an utterly irrational way to go looking for great singing.


They can sing until the cows come home... I still wont watch.

Kevin said...

No cute men = primary audience doesn't care. The producers deliberately set it up that way when they stacked the deck to get a female winner.

tiger said...

Why you - an intelligent/accomplished person finds any interest in this fake competition is beyond me.

Shanna said...

Where's the audience?

Watching Duck Dynasty!

(I quit this show years ago due to annoyance at producers attempts to manipulate the audience and I'm happier for it because it's a time suck. In related news, apparently SYTYCD is back!)

MadisonMan said...

They didn't really bring in the Queen of Soul. Interesting use of technology.

Frankie Valli's voice sounds awesome for his age. Wow.

Glad Candice won. She has stellar singing abilities. We'll see how it connects to the buying public. Better than Taylor Hicks or Lee DeWyze, I'll wager.

Leland said...

Maybe the people who are left really just like great singing and not the attendant hammy bullshit.

I did watch this year, but I quit watching previous years because of this. I did feel like the singing of the top ten was better this year, so I watched a bit more.

Otherwise, I'm with Shanna watching Duck Dynasty.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

When he was just starting out, William Shatner got scolded by some stage director for playing the "charm" instead of the character.

Maybe it was Tyrone Guthrie.

GRW3 said...

Those two women made me turn in off this year. Poor Keith Urban caught up between them. Didn't watch long enough to see how they manipulated to not have another GWG win this year but was not surprised.

Ann Althouse said...

"Why you - an intelligent/accomplished person finds any interest in this fake competition is beyond me."

This question has been asked and answered about a hundred times on this blog over the years. You don't really want to hear the answer again, I suspect. You're just saying you don't watch the show. I don't watch 99.9% of what's on television and I don't know why people watch that stuff.

Renee said...

This show has been on for 11 years.
That's a long time. I've never followed the show through, through out the season. I use to watch the beginning of the episodes for the disasters but that was years ago.

Methadras said...

The show is in a steep decline because its the same rehashed shit over and over again.

Leland said...

So Tiger, do you not own a television? Or if you do, what do you find interesting and worthy of intelligent and accomplished people to watch? What are your accomplishments that prohibit you from being interested in scripted drama, which would be AI if it was a fake competition?

I note the Professor routinely discusses sports like baseball and football. So she watches more than American Idol. Although she does seem to pay attention to a lot of politics, which looks like fake competition to me.

Ann Althouse said...

"I note the Professor routinely discusses sports like baseball and football. So she watches more than American Idol. Although she does seem to pay attention to a lot of politics, which looks like fake competition to me."

I almost never watch political stuff on TV and when I do I nearly always read my iPad at the same time.

Sports, I watch with Meade, always reading at the same time. We talk a lot.

TV shows I like are mainly reality shows that I find relaxing. I enjoy "Survivor" and I put up with "AI" and "Project Runway." I don't watch any TV dramas. I've watched the comedy show "Girls" and I'd watch "Curb Your Enthusiasm." I almost never put up with watching a movie.

Really, I find television too passive. I'm so caught up in reading and writing on the internet that I just don't know how to "do" TV anymore. I have to read at the same time.

Keeping up with "AI" is almost like a ritual, but it's way pared down now, where I ff through almost the whole thing.

Steven said...

Incomprehensible to Americans?

Guess I'm not an American.

Weird.

el polacko said...

"Candice (whom I'm sure the producers knew would win)"

it's not easy to do without freezing the frame since it flashes by so quickly but check out the little disclaimer at the end of the credits on idol (and other 'contest' shows). the producers, not the 'voters', make all of the decisions as to who goes forward; they pick the winner.

Leland said...

I almost never watch political stuff on TV and when I do I nearly always read my iPad at the same time.

A vast majority of my TV watching is secondary background to whatever I'm doing on my laptop. Passive as you call it.

TV shows I like are mainly reality shows that I find relaxing.

This is the interesting thing for me when people complain about watching what they consider "mind numbing" television shows. If I'm really watching TV (not secondary from the laptop), it's because I want to relax, and I too find much of the reality stuff relaxing.

I must admit a recent addiction to Castle. This started about February, and since then, wife and I have watched Seasons 1-3 on Amazon. Glad to hear ABC will make Season 6, and just learned last week that there are real Nikki Heat (and Derrick Storm) books, and they're available on Audible as well. Much of my book reading is listening during my commute.

Baron Zemo said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Baron Zemo said...

Nicky Minaj killed Idol as I said she would. It was helped by the rigging of the results so no straight white guy had a shot to win.

So long American Idol.

Your time has passed. Time to shut it down. You didn't just jump the shark. He freaking ate you!

Ann Althouse said...

Why didn't Nicki Minaj perform on the finale -- as all the other judges (plus Lopez from last year) did?

Supposedly, she had a video she wanted played but it was too "risqué." That seems implausible.

She was acting all grouchy last night.

She worked hard all season trying to be funny and interesting. It was Mariah Carey who ruined the show by being incredibly boring and distant, and Randy facilitated her. Keith Urban was also low energy, but he kept it short.

Nicki is least to blame, in my opinion.

Baron Zemo said...

That shows how little you know.
She wasn't asked to perform because she is not a real singer. She can't sing a lick. She is a cartoon. Talk about your manufactured acts which are all flash and no musical talent. She is in fact quite unpopular with the American Idol fan base if you read any of the comments at various blogs related to the show. I did not watch this season so I only got this information second hand. As I understand it her personality poisoned the whole season. She started a war with Mariah Carey when she couldn't hold her maxi-pad as a singer. Just a nasty evil bigoted bitch which apparently came through the television. The turning point seemed to be when she implied that Cree was her "wife" in a skanky, sleazy way that must have gone over great with Moms watching with their twelve year old daughters. She was the slow acting poison that killed the Idol mojo. Every week she sat there with her rat face scrunched up making nasty comments and snide remarks that made millions change the channel for the more intellectual musings of Honey Boo Boo and the classy behavior of the Real Housewives.

The whole season also foundered because of political correctness. They purposely did not allow a straight white guy with a guitar get a chance to compete. The judges had orders to cull them before America got to vote. They kept an illegal immigrant stutterer who couldn't remember a song in English all the way through the top ten. In the top ten they had only women and gays. So they stacked the deck to get the results they wanted.

America Voted.

By watching Duck Dynasty and anything else that was not American Idol.

Disrespect your audience and they will find something else to do. If people voted for WGWG five times in a row maybe it is because that is what they want to see. So why would you eliminate the thing people want to see to give them the things they don't vote for? Does that make any sense if you want to keep your ratings?

I found it strange to boycott and not watch the show and still know almost everything that went on. You just have to read the recaps at "Television Without Pity" and the comments on the show forum which has links to other blogs with more information. So everything that went on was crystal clear.

American Idol really reflects the reality of the American Experience. When you eliminate the straight white guys the whole thing goes in the shitter.

(Although I saw Candice on YouTube and she could have and should have won on her own without any help. She is that good. She didn't need any help. So is her victory tainted because they used affirmative action and exclusionary discrimination to stack the deck? You make the call. )

Smilin' Jack said...

I almost never watch political stuff on TV and when I do I nearly always read my iPad at the same time.

Follow that thought and you may understand why Bloggingheads is such a fail.