I want to start this by stating, I am not nor have I ever been an American Idol fan. I am also not a The Voice, America’s got talent, The sing off, So you think you can Dance fan either. I am not a fan of much reality television at all. I have been sucked into the Amazing Race, and did watch a season or Survivor, but overall, not a big fan. I am a very big fan of many types of music and just don’t really give much credence to what amounts to a overproduced karaoke contest.
Millions of viewers tune in week after week, some casual viewers, others are die hard fans. My wife falls more into the former category and this past week she had it on while I was sitting on the couch with her. During the program something happened on more than one instance. Harry Connick Jr. a first time judge actually held the contestants accountable for their song selections. “What does that song mean to you” was asked to one contestant who stumbled over a lame answer, another was asked “you are 17 years old, that was a rather risqué song, is that the message you want to be sending out to America?”
I was both surprised and impressed. I have heard people talking about this season of the program, and as I admitted before, I am not a fan, the only times I ever really watched the show was when they used to focus on some of the train wrecks during the initial auditions (admittedly not part of the solution there). I was surprised as all I remember in the past is critiques of the performance, never questions about the message or why they picked the song. It was refreshing to hear this line of questioning, and actually holding the contestant accountable for their answer. I am not sure if this is a common theme for the show, I only remember the judges (other than Simon) falling over themselves to tell the contestant how “special” they were and even in the event of a poor performance how they still gave it a great effort and the judges “loved them”.
If this accountability and honest critiquing were the norm, I could actually pay attention to the show, maybe. Ehh, probably not, something about the entire premise (and the fact that more people can name American Idol winners than Supreme Court Justices still kills me) that I don’t really appreciate.
If you are a regular viewer, please feel free to comment and tell me if you have had that same observation, and if this has been the norm over the many years the show has been on, or if this is something new.