Wednesday, August 28, 2002
My first assignment for my theatre class was to take an online survey for the teacher. Basically it was one of those "get to know the class" kind of things, and she asked a lot of questions like "What is your favorite movie?" and "What was your best live performance entertainment experience?" But she also asked, "What is your favorite 'guilty pleasure' TV show?"
And, as much as I would like to say I don't have one... I do.
I have been watching American Idol.
Oh, the shame of it all.
Now, I'm not guilty enough to have actually voted in the American Idol polls or anything... but I did miss the performance shows from the past two weeks, much to my dismay. I have kept track of who has been voted off, though. (Amazing -- I hate Survivor with such a passion; I never thought I'd utter such words about any reality TV show.)
For those of you who also watch (and you know you're out there; don't lie), tell me, are you as shocked as I am that Nikki McKibbin (aka, Pink Hair Chick) has survived this long? I mean, the girl is not a good singer! She hits bad notes consistently, every performance. Why anyone voted for her after she mangled Naked Eyes' "Always Something There to Remind Me" is beyond me. If she had survived through this week as well, I think I would have had to quit watching my guilty pleasure show.
But my favorite star on American Idol isn't any of the contestants (although, if you must know, I think I'm probably gunning for Justin Guarini, aka Afro Dude, to win). The American Idol persona I enjoy most is the cuttingly sarcastic and brutally honest British record producer, Simon Cowell. I'm often very amused by his sardonic remarks -- but more importantly, of the three judges of the competition, he's the only one who tells these contestants the painful truth. Ditzy ex-pop singer Paula Abdul and music-industry mogul Randy Jackson hardly ever give negative -- or even constructively critical -- comments. In fact, I can usually predict almost exactly what they're going to say at the end of each singer's performance: "You did a great job." "You really made the song your own." "You're definitely star material." Oh, please. Meanwhile, Cowell gets trashed as being "cruel". In the words of Paula Abdul herself, the judges should tell the performers "straight up now" how their songs and audience-pleasing routines truly come across. Cowell might be a bit harsh, but at least he has the guts to tell these wannabe pop gods what their performances are really like.
Tonight's "who gets dumped?" live episode was yet another example: When asked who the final two contestants should be for America to "get it right", Jackson and Abdul skirted the question by saying, "To get it right, America needs to vote for the two best performers." Well, duh. That's kind of the point of this competition, isn't it? Of course, Cowell admitted readily that Nikki McKibbin needed to be voted out -- I think he'd been saying that for some time, actually, and he was quite right.
And thank goodness McKibbin was indeed voted off of the show. Finally.
OK. Well, I think I've proved myself sad and pathetic enough for one night.
| 9:43 PM |
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