Poll: Who should win American Idol?

Can we say "lame", kids? Yes, we can! Very good!

*shakes head*

can we say "get a real job and stop making money off people who have nothing better to do?"

*realizes that she herself is unemployed and should shut her yap* its a good thing I'm wearing my "hypocrite" shirt today.

*is fully aware of how many people she has offended*

*has yet to reach her quota of "fuck off, zil" for the day*

"do I offend?" duckie- pretty in pink. *runs away giggling*

And besides, I think Nashville Star is 1) more entertaining and 2) more real as the contestents actually have to WRITE their own material, not just parrot some other star's work.

I agree in general that I would rather see a show with people writing their own material. I always respect someone 100X more if they write their own stuff. The shame of it is I just don't really enjoy country very much. I wish I did!

it's all about the great canadian music dream! & the painting daisies! woohoo!

I really don't get the "singers who don't write their own songs are no-talent bums" mentality.  Doesn't it take some skill to sing well?  You might as well say all actors are worthless hacks, unless they're also writers or they're doing improv.  Sure, it pretty much goes without saying that someone who can both sing AND write (assuming they're actually GOOD at both) is more talented than someone who can only do one or the other.  But someone can be talented in one area and not in another, right?

Oh, that's not what I feel. It is not that I *don't* respect people who are good singers of other people's material...it's just that I respect those that do both all that much more. It takes a special level of talent to be able to write it AND sing it. Like I respect someone who can play an instrument especially well (the voice is like an instrument anyway) but someone who can do so AND compose? Rocks.

 

There are just SO many people trying to make it and I just personally wish more of the multitalents made it through when we may have a lot of just-vocalists getting all the breaks. I know too many insanely talented singer-songwriters that get ignored to feel entirely comfortable about the singers-only having SO much success.

 

Good singers--good. Good singers and writers--better.

it's right beside "Married By America" and "The Bachelor" as one of the worst cases of pointless reality TV exploitations i've seen. and it's infecting Canada soon too. ick.

I've never seen a single episode of any reality show, but to be fair, it strikes me as one of the better ideas in this genre. Which certainly isn't saying much.

Now if only somebody would actually make these into TV shows, we'd be set. :-)

hahahahha

Be careful what you wish for....

Wait a sec...  I thought "While You Were Drunk" really is going to be a real show.  Was I fooled bvy Comedy Central?!

I was fooled as well. Those commercials are so convincing it's scary.

I don't watch American Idol, I don't know who those people are.

I'm glad to see that there are so many other iconoclasts here.

i don't watch the show, either, but there are a few people on my lj friends list who are obsessed with clay, and i'm finding myself rooting for him. he;'s just such a little cutie. :)

mmmmmgeekboys... :-)

yesyesyesyesyesyesyes :-D

How about geekoldmen?

well.

as long as they're not -creepy- geekoldmen.

which you -are-.

so......yah......{care, can i get a second??? ;) }

I only watch the auditions to see people get burned by Simon, After that, it's crap.

I like some reality shows, though.

Those of you in Canada or who get CBC, ever seen the 22 Minutes "Ultimate Reality Show" sketch? It's hilarious. But isn't everything on that show?

I don't watch the show because of Simon, he's mean. I'd rather not watch a show that's only interesting to most people because one of the judges excels in crushing young people's dreams.

Actually I like Simon because he's "mean". He tells it like it is most of the time. Yes, there are some occurances he makes spiteful comments just to be spiteful (like calling one auditionee fat and chubby).

People need to understand that it is a serious business and he's going to be making a huge investment in whoever wins. He knows the music industry. There are some people who get on there that are not willing to put their whole life into it. which is what is required.

People need to understand that it is a serious business and he's going to be making a huge investment in whoever wins.

I understand that. My point is that he doesn't need to be mean about it. How about the use of constructive critisism, instead of just critisism? Can you imagine how damaging it is to those kids? Before you say it, I know that's not all Simon's fault, but he is a major contributor to that.
He's an ass. That's why I don't watch the show.

They should realize that Simon insults everybody. Personally I wouldn't take it to hard being dissed by him. If you over-use something, it becomes meaningless. Just like swearing.

Do you say that 'cause I'm white, and you hate white people?

GO CLAY!

he can sing almost anything..... he's not a performer..but that can be fixed!

~J~

We can rebuild him...

We can make him bigger...

Stronger...

Faster...

"the King of CLAY!"

heh...yeah, good stuff!

Why do so many people accept the very term "Reality Show?" Look at the format of any and all of them. The producers establish artificial environments within which more or less arbitrary rules apply. These shows are manufactured reality. They are not even meant to reflect reality. They are meant to be just another platform on which they can deliver the viewer (sucker) to the customers' (advertiser) enticements to buy, hamburgers, lolly water, cars, anything.

That's a great point. The only "true" reality show I can think of is "Cops".

*gasp* What are you talking about? You mean Star Trek isn't reality??

I think most of us are aware it's not really "reality". The closer term is usually "unscripted", in that these people aren't actors and while the situations may be set up, their reactions are not dictated. Even in the most manipulative of shows, they may be nudged and encouraged to react a certain way, but never exactly scripted. I think just as a marketing thing most of us prefer the term "reality show" to "unscripted show". *shrug*

Sometimes people feel that unscripted inanity is preferable to badly scripted inanity that's so prevalent on TV. At least real folks have the excuse of being morons. :)

right. but i was thinking about this yesterday, & i don't know why american idol survivor bachelor etc. are reality shows rather than game shows.

Game shows, thats it. Either way, though, commercial TV is not about delivering entertainment to people. Its about delivering people to advertisers. Game shows are the cheapest way of doing that.

let's be honest. TV is supposed to be entertainment (whether it is or not is left to the individual to decide) and while reality may be fun for some, i can't imagine anyone ever being entertained by watching me in an average day.  why? i'm a dull person... as are the vast majority of us.  no. really.  think of your average day.  ok, good.  now would most TV viewers be interested in watching it?  probably not.  that's why the networks (which already have a warped view of reality) feel the need to take a fun-house mirror to exaggerate our society.  has anyone else noticed that the "successful" contestants (a term i use *very* loosely) are stereotypical cases?  or maybe i just haven't watched enough of these shows. 

i think the term "reality show" is used because with the exception of the hosts of the show, all dialogue is unscripted & the players are not actors (ok, actually i would wager most are aspiring actors).  so i suppose it could be called "situational improvisation," but the networks couldn't market that. 

i can say that i've ever watched an entire episode of 2 (only 2) reality shows... and actually they were both on PBS.  i used to love the 1900 house (the british edition) & the US variant (the name of which escapes me) where families were given homesteads to build & maintain.  i found them interesting not necessarily for the people on the show, but rather the clothing & technology used in the show.

i suppose what i'm trying to say is that while most would agree that these shows are complete & total crap, apparently someone's still watching them, if only for the "car accident" effect (it's so bad, yet i can't look away).  however, watching the shows is a choice.  no one is tying anyone else down Clockwork-Orange-style here.  the networks are not locking anyone in their houses & taking away all other forms of entertainment.  i hear books are real nice, so is music (as long as you're not downloading it online of course ;-) ), and honestly, anyone who buys something just because they saw it on tv... should consider turning off the set once in a while.

my 2� or 1.41� Cdn

I haven't seen much (of any of them), but I didn't think the 1900 house was much better than the rest. The idea was good, I'll give it that much, but I didn't like the family on there much at all.

I think that's my big issue with these things, I don't relate / am not interested in most of the people. If they did a reality show about writers or artists (and I don't mean a tallent show typething) or geeks, I'd be much more likely to watch it and enjoy it.