Idolwatch Rolls On

Okay, I'm not a television critic, but I'm a pianist who accompanies and coaches theater and cabaret singers. I don't watch AI, and I was reminded why the other day when someone suggested I check out one of the current contestants on YouTube. This heavily favored singer had no visual focus or sang with closed eyes, was breathing in the middle of words and adding melismatic embellishments which the audience loved (as did the judges), but which made no sense at all. A friend of mine once referred to such a performance as "singers who are pretending to have emotional lives." Clearly, this is not for me, and I wish you all the best with it.

See, I'm pretending to have an emotional life, so it's right up my alley.

Hey Jon, it isn't my job to defend AI......but, it is an amateur contest looking for the best raw talent to be developed at a later date.

But Keith, it's not an amateur contest anymore - many of these people are professional singers who just haven't "made it" yet.

Look, I've never watched a minute of AI, but it now has a similar problem to Survivor. On Survivor, the brilliance of the first seasons (particularly 1 and 2) was eventually lost as players who knew the game came along and anticipated (and/or strategized) in predictable ways.

On AI, the "amateur undiscovered singer becoming a star" angle has been lost, since the contest now involves a number of professional singers who just haven't been cast in a musical or gotten a record deal yet....hardly a death knell for the show, surely, but definitely a means to reduce the pleasure we (or I should say all of you) might have once felt watching more or less pure amateurs compete.

Me? I'll be sad that Veronica Mars is AGAIN off the air for some stupid Pussycat Dolls show.

Chad,

I'll kindly disagree with you. If you have not "made it", you are far from professional. None (well, few if any) of the folks on AI are putting food on the table by singing for their supper. Some do bar gigs for beer money and have day jobs to pay the bills. Otherwise, I could be considered a professional TV critic, cuz I watch lots of TV and can be quite critical. Sorry James......watch your back.

Good point, Keith. I guess I just feel (and maybe actual viewers of the show don't) that there is a slight difference between, oh, a college voice major who has never sang professionally and auditions, or someone who sings in their church choir, versus people that have put out independent albums, been signed and dropped by small labels, or have been in significant professional musical productions.

The former, while they may have every intention of becoming professionals, are truly "amateurs" that AI discovers. The latter are people who have been doing this for a living (even if only partially, or poorly, while they wait tables to make ends meet), and just don't have that "undiscovered" charm...

It's like the Olympics - I kinda liked it better when all the athletes (or at least the American ones), were amateurs (think the 1984 men's basketball team of college kids), even if I knew that those amateurs weren't necessarily the best in the world (since pro-basketball players probably would have killed that team). Not saying it effects the talent of the competition, just that it reduces the "amateur making it big" aspect.

This is the first season that I've ever actually watched any episodes of AI. (I turned off my cable recently and there's not a whole lot of other choices if I want to vedge in front of the TV). I'm just not impressed and will freely admit that I don't "get" the obsession that folks seem to have for the show. (It now seems to make up 80% of the content on EW.com and is getting more space every week here at Time.com)

I enjoy the occasional Kelly or Carrie single on the radio, I'll car-dance and sing along. But I've never bought any of their music and I don't plan to.

Y'all may start gathering wood to burn the heretic, but I find it just a teeny bit more important to vote in political elections than to vote for AI.