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Syesha Mercado was eliminated last night from American Idol after host Ryan Seacrest announced that 56 million home viewer votes were cast following Tuesday night’s performances.
I'm stunned.
Not that she was eliminated, but that 56 million votes were cast at a buck a vote. Where does that money go? I haven't watched Idol in many years, and I seem to remember it being pretty heavy with sponsorship (aka commercials.) So, at over 50 million dollars worth of votes, is Idol now like PBS, with its support coming from "Viewers Like You?"
If the premise of the show wasn't so hokey, and the singers so mediocre, I'd probably watch to find out. If the singers were any good, why haven't any of them been able to throw off the mantle of being on Idol? That is, why aren't any of them ever introduced without the "former Idol contestant/winner" tag assigned to them?
Throughout entertainment history, various contests have existed. Many years ago, the Amateur Hour featured top future entertainers like Frank Sinatra, Pat Boone, Nick Carter, Gladys Knight, Ann-Margret, Robert Klein, Raul Julia, Beverly Sills, Connie Francis, Maria Callas, Joey Dee and The Starlighters, Robert Merrill, and Jim Stafford. Did the "Amateur Hour" tag follow them for years? The appearance was at best a footnote, yet ex-Idols are always given the recognition as such.
Maybe it's just that we as a people have become rather, for lack of a better term, dumb. Not my readers, of course, but everyone else. Just look at some of th commercials on TV.
I watched the BMW one for the certified, used Beemers. "Look, Ed, it's a new car." Ok, it's not cute, it's not funny, and it's not clever. It's incredibly stupid and insults the intelligence of anyone watching it.
Or the wireless phone bill one where Dad is so obsessed with the phone bill, he ignores his daughter's scholarly achievements and son's driving through the wall. Oy vey. How dumb can a commercial get?
Sometimes I really get concerned about our future. We seem to be developing a class of techno-geniuses, and an underclass of dullards. Is this how mankind advances?
4 comments:
That's a lot of darn votes. They didn't get one from me. Only time I've watch American Idol was when I was staying at a friend's, then it was recorded and she, fortunately, fast forwarded through all the stupid bits. Which seemed like most of the show.
I just don't see the appeal of reality shows. I agree with you, too, that it seems like our society is getting dumber. Though of course not your readers. :)
Well, I like to watch the kids sing, but that is it...so who exactly gets that money? It seems that most of the shows on tv at my house are reality shows now and we were once a sit-com family...
I stop watching American Idol maybe on the season finale.
JC
I wonder what would happen if we picked presidents this way. A TV show that followed them from week to week and then charged you to vote via phone...a nasty British judge.
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