Thursday, February 12, 2009

The Trainwreck: It's Over (Almost)

I've been waiting for a while to get this off my chest...

So for several weeks now I have been inexplicably drawn to spending far too many hours of my life in front of American Idol, and it's more ridiculous in scope and singers than ever before. I've always been annoyed by the audition rounds (including the undeniable plants and lame drama that inevitably surfaces), but this year, more than ever, for whatever reason, I have found myself patently and uncategorically bored. I don't know why this season more than others, but I was almost never even slightly amused! I was annoyed and rolled my eyes about a thousand times (Bikini Girl, schizophrenic Tatiana, overcompensating-for-something "Norman Gentle" and drama crybaby Nathaniel... seriously dude, just stop being a girl and get ahold of yourself... and some pants that fit... oh, and lose the headbands), but hardly ever impressed or entertained. Strange as it sounds, the one redeeming factor of the entire show seems to be Seacrest, who, despite his cheesiness and bad script, is able to seem somewhat genuine and acts as the glue that holds the whole staged thing together. The judges are as dry and canned as ever, including Paula 2.0, whose presence seems absolutely unnecessary (although at least she can sing, I guess). Whose idea was it to have four judges anyway?? If Paula's on her way out next year, they should have just introduced a new judge when she left, it's not like you need to be trained to be a judge for this circus.

Anyway, now that the auditions and Hollywood rounds are finally over, and we're down to the top 36, at least the initial stages are past and now it's more like a talent show than a rigged piece of reality soap opera. Now at least there's some semblance of honesty to the program, since the outcome is purportedly the result of viewer votes, although that leads to some questionability about the system as well. A lot of you might be wondering, and Cami and I were discussing why (OH WHY) if it's so absurd do we keep watching it? The answer is simple, but still complicated: No idea. There's some kind of bizarre draw that just can't be explained. Call it morbid curiosity. Thank heaven for good TV, though, to offset this pile of steaming garbage.

As far as I'm concerned, the purpose of American Idol was to bring us Kelly, Clay, and maybe Carrie, and now that they have, there's no real reason to keep it around.

5 comments:

  1. OMG why are you patronizing rubbish artz for no reason I don't understand you anymoreeeeee.

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  2. It's true, it's true, it's TRUE! WHY do we keep watching it? I just don't know. But we do. Although, we sure do love Hollywood week. Well, Jake does. This year, we successfully skipped almost ALL of the auditions and just speed-watched Hollywood week. (Seriously, two hours of results last night?)

    And it IS boring. We have exactly ONE dude we like (because I think he's Matt), and the rest are total fillers for drama. (Headband boy? Tatiana the lunatic? Weird boy who sang-off with makeup boy? Seriously? These dudes over cool-dude's friend?) Somehow it sucks me in anyway, and I watch even though I'm bored. Like with The Closer or The O.C. You started it, now you've got to continue. There's no choice. That would be like NOT watching Survivor or something.

    Speaking of which . . .

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  3. This is my problem too! I hate watching it (too much drama, not enough talent), but I just keep watching it! I cannot seem to stop. We should start a support group :)
    Hope you're doing well!

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  4. This post made me laugh. I am drawn to it too. I actually like the auditions, just because they make me laugh in a morbid sort of way. However, Hollywood week this time was beyond annoying. Tatiana is so horribly annoying that I threw a small fit when they kept her on the show. It is now my goal in life to vote her off, for her laugh alone. Yes, and what is up with the headband boy, with the tight pants?

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  5. Oh man. We watched a few episodes and forgot it was even on for the next couple of weeks. I think the auditions are lame for sure. (That Norman guy, how is he funny?) Maybe we'll pick back up again soon. But maybe not! Let us know if it is worthwhile.

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