Judges - http://www.americanidol.com/


Self-Indulgent Rubbish – Season 8
(American Idol – Season 8)
 

Last night, April 1, 2009, Megan Joy was booted off American Idol ending her chance to win the competition; thus also ending my interest in the show.

This year, in an effort to understand what makes American Idol such a popular television show, I decided to watch as much of the show as my schedule would allow. I saw many of the early audition shows and I have watched every post audition episode except for one.

I have reached a few conclusions about the show.

While the auditions themselves may be authentic, the auditions that are on TV appear to be rehearsed segments that are put on the show only for their entertainment value. All of us know some weird people, but American Idol has a knack for finding some of the weirdest people in the United States. Rumors abound that these weird contestants are hired actors. I don’t doubt those rumors.

Let me explain the basic rules of the show.

a. The four judges of the show supposedly audition thousands of contestants from across the country. This season they even traveled to Puerto Rico. From these thousands of contestants they narrowed the field down to 12 contestants, except that this year, in an effort to create drama they decided to end the audition portion of the show with 13 contestants. They simply “could not make up their minds.” I would not be surprised to discover that this decision to go with 13 contestants was decided by the producers of the show long before the auditions even started.

b. After the field of 12 contestants (13 this year) is set, the fate of the contestants is supposedly determined by the viewing audience who, by texting or by calling a toll-free number, cast their votes for their favorite performer(s).

c. Each week the contestants perform a song. The judges then critique the performance, and then at the end of the show, the television audience can vote. The voting period continues for two hours after the show.

These rules seem fair until you take a good, close look at the role of the judges. After the auditions are over, the audience should be in control, except that the producers of the show desperately want to control who wins so they require the judges to make comments after each of the contestant’s performances. The judges “try” to make constructive criticism of the performance. One of the judges, Simon Cowell (a British citizen born in Brighton, England. He is a judge for “American” Idol; go figure) made the following constructive criticism:

 “that performance was nothing more than self-indulgent rubbish”.

That’s helpful.

While these comments by the judges are entertaining, they appear to be pre-determined by the producers of the show. The producers want to “create” a new American Idol who will be commercially successful and will cause people to watch the show next year, thus increasing advertising revenue and increasing the profit for the production company.

What’s wrong with the production company wanting to make money? Nothing, except that the comments of the judges are a blatant attempt to control the votes of the American Idol audience. Am I saying that the audience of American Idol is incapable of making it's own decisions? No, but what I am saying is the judges comments are unfairly affecting the decisions of the audience.

Take a look at many of today's TV commercials. Celebrities are hired to attempt to convince people to buy the product or service that is being advertised. Take a look at social causes, especially liberal social causes. They have been using popular actors for years to try to further their agenda. If George Clooney thinks something is important, then, by golly, it must be true.

It became obvious three weeks ago that the producers of the show wanted Megan Joy out of the competition and they ordered the judges to start the negative comments. Last week, the producers fully expected Megan Joy to be in the “bottom three”, but when that did not happen, the producers  were surprised and dismayed.  The voters liked Megan Joy, but the producers would not be stopped.  This week, they told the judges, "Do your job.  Get her off the show".  So the judges trashed Megan Joy's performance with extreme  negative comments. The producers, in effect, said "Forget the desires of the American public.  Get her off the show".

Obviously I am not in a position to know if the above comments were really made, but maybe they were.

Last night the American Idol producers were successful with their goal of affecting the opinions of the voting audience; Megan Joy was voted off the show.

I will not allow four judges and the American Idol production company to dictate to me my personal music tastes. My personal music tastes are just that; my personal music tastes. They are not subject to the opinions of Hollywood or anyone else.

Accordingly, I am through with American Idol, or as I have renamed it, “Self-Indulgent Rubbish – Season 8”. Hopefully there will not be a season 9.

Now I must climb up the grassy knoll to take pictures of the black helicopters that are circling my bomb shelter.  Later I intend to find the Freemason studio where they filmed the lunar landing. Unfortunately this may take a long time since I must be careful to not be discovered by the "Cigarette Smoking Man" and his fleet of UFO's.

Cigarette Smoking Man

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