Panic At Nabisco

Xan,

Trust me...these people aren't "acting". You'd have to see them. They wear their insecurities on their sleeve, and if Meryl Streep had the role of a stupid person she would surely fall way short of these people. Anyone out there who's been watching the show (and wouldn't make a great bowling partner with one of these people themselves) knows what I'm talking about. It's really mind-blowing (to me).

When watching this show, and I do find it very entertaining, in the back of my mind I say "gee, are some of these people deaf?" Did you know if you have a hearing problem, you may not be aware of how bad you really sound? Of course that doesn't excuse the fact that you should have had someone else give you THEIR opinion, before you went on live TV.
People so down on the show, really have NO sense of humor...it's all in fun, and they really have produced some very talented people.

Hey fenwaydav, maybe he watches it with his wife because she asks him to. I've asked hubby to watch things with me he wouldn't normally watch and I've watched stuff with him I wasn't really interested in. On WZLX yesterday they had a girl from around here that's tried out. She said that by the time singers get to the judges they've already had to sing three or four times for producers, etc. so it is all staged. You can almost tell when they start following someone around with a camera that they're probably going to be terrible. The more they praise themselves the more I realize that they're probably going to stink. But, it is very entertaining. I don't watch much tv but my youngest son got me hooked a few years back when he used to ask me to watch it with his girlfriend and him. Now neither one of them watch it, but I do. By the way, Ayla Brown is going to be in a performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I think it's going to be with the Reagle Players in Waltham but I could be mistaken.

Wow. I'm way more astounded by how misunderstood my blog is than I am by anything I've seen on American Idol.
Thank you, jonsmom, for being a voice of reason in the midst of all of this paranoid twaddle.
I guess I wrote something which is subject to the perspective of the reader. I think it might have helped if I didn't have to cut it short. I really didn't get a chance to explain myself clearer. Suffice to say that some of you read waaaay too much into my criticism of the show. The focus was supposed to be on the contestants and what they say about our societal ills -- not a scathing condemnation towards the show itself.
Even though jonsmom is right -- that I watch mostly to be with my wife -- I still watch the show when I'm not FORCED for cryin' out loud.
But whatever you need to say about me to make you feel better about yourself, fenway...(shrugs)

As someone who doesn't watch the show, Graham, I'll have to take you at your word that they're not clueless. And agree with jonsmom that if people are THAT bad, some of them have to be tone deaf. And, if the producers are staging this, I'd actually tune in to an episode where THEY (the producers) were forced to audition in front of the people who get really ridiculed by the judges. A little turnabout might change things a bit.

YIKES!!!! I just read all the comments after I posted here. I want to clarify that I don't think ALL the people are emotionally challenged, but I do believe it of ALL the folks with horrible voices. Cuz being made fun of by America is not something anyone does just for "fun." Especially when they have a voice only a mother could love!! ;)

GC, I understand where your coming from; this show give us a peek at a slice of society in this Country and makes us aware of how many strange, unstable and mentally defective people there are in our midsts. And, not only that, but how the media is more than happy to exploit these people.
American Idol is not the first to do it, of course, Barnum made it his life's work by using the 'oddities' to entertain others...to a greater extreme, of course. Most of us get some kind of satisfaction from witnessing the antics or physical 'imperfections' of others that we as a whole deem to be 'odd'.
I believe we have a growing number of people that are mentally 'challenged' (to be PC) and how much is caused from an increase in birth defects or caused from other sources, such as drugs, is probably not known statistically. But, we do know that our hospitals and services are lacking because of over-crowding, so we see more and more 'strange' people walking the streets...and now on our TV's.
As far as who gets on the show goes, when you have thousands of people, I'm sure they have more than one studio set up for auditions...and Simon and his side-kicks aren't going to be present. They, I'm sure, get the final picks to audition and they are the only ones filmed....bad or good. The show is really two parts; one for entertainment and one for serious consideration. I think we all have to laugh or be amused by some of the 'singers', but deep down we have to admit some of them are pretty sad.