Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Something that's been bugging me lately

Honestly, I think I am now understanding the way arrogant people I call bloggers work. Which is ironic considering I blog, but I think you get which type of blogger I refer to: the ones who write every detail of their lives, thinking they are important and that everything they say is worthy of the world to read, because of course they're the only intelligent human being on the face of the earth.
Yeah, you and the hundreds of bloggers like you.
Anyway. Tangent.
Here's why I think I understand the mentality:
I watch a show called American Idol. Most people think this shocking since I value music. I think it is fun and good TV and there is nothing wrong with watching it. A lot of people, however, have been shaking their fists at Idol. "This show is rigged!" they say. "The producers do everything, not the judges and the voters! Why, what kind of mask are they trying to put on? Do they think we're idiots? This competition isn't solely based on talent like they say it is! They want the good-looking people!"
Well, no, they didn't think you were idiots before, but I think they do now.
See, I have been watching this show since the end of season 2. I can name you every winner & runner-up & recognize some obscure names some may never have even learned in the first place. I have no valid reason for this. I just really like it. I can also remember that there have been several contestants that said things like, "Well, I finally got through the producers this time to the TV judges", & there has been a disqualification for a contestant who knew people who worked for 19 Entertainment, the production company for Idol. The TV judges have turned away contestants because they didn't have the right look and said so out loud. They are constantly praising people for being "package artists". They say they want "the next American idol", not "the person in America who has the best voice". The show is called American Idol, not America's Best Singer.
Basically? It's not a secret that the producers are involved! Half the world knows this. I thought it was more, but apparently not. See, this is a TV show. Generally, TV shows want interesting people. If they get too many boring people, no one will want to watch it. So they have producers first pick, out of thousands, the people they want to be shown on TV. They pick the talented people they know the judges will love, and they pick the weirdos they know audiences will love to hate and mock. And can you imagine the TV judges going through all of those people in the stadiums?! It would take them WAY more than the 2 days they seem to have! Producers are hired for a reason! They don't just sit on their asses and let the Benjamins roll in. That's the executive producers' job, people! Get with it.
Then, when these people make it to TV, the judges decide if they are going to be marketable artists. Not if they just have talent. If they are marketable. Why do you think Simon Cowell is the judge that makes the most sense? He works in producing and scouting! He knows which people sell, & he makes a killing off the people he picks in England. (Leona Lewis, Il Divo, Escala...) They say it is a "singing competition" sometimes, true, because as far as the top 50, they usually don't have the gimmicks. This year was pretty much the exception with Nick "Norman Gentle" Mitchell and his hilarious antics. But they are still forever looking for the package artist.
Once the placement of the contestants is entirely in the voters' hands, however, it is most definitely not rigged. Here are several examples (which I am NOT being bitter about for those of you who think this part is the focus, which it is not at all):
  1. Taylor Hicks won season 5. What producers actually wanted him to win, honestly? Chris Daughtry was a shoo-in. If not him, then Katherine McPhee, who actually made it to the finals. But, nope! The Soul Patrol (aka his diehard fans) called in and crowned him king. And where is he now? Performing for fat housewives across the country in intimate shows after being dropped from a record label. Winner material? I think not.
  2. Sanjaya Malakar made it to 7th place. The whole country was up in arms. All the viewers wanted him OUT!... except for his fans who voted like maniacs! They're to blame for his placement, NOT the producers. Are the producers to blame for his placement into the top 24? Possibly. But the top 7?! I don't really think so...
  3. Simon Cowell did not like Kelly Clarkson, and he could pull some strings for SURE in the 1st season, since he was half the reason the show was brought to this country. He was a Tamyra Gray fan, as was most of the nation. While I did not watch season 1, every person I have spoken to that watched it (which is A LOT, let me tell you) told me that Tamyra being eliminated was beyond shocking. If the producers had any pull that far along, they would have made sure Tamyra won the whole thing.
  4. Michael Johns? 8th place?! Are you kidding? TV Guide had already written him up as being around for Neil Diamond who mentored the top 5, and they are solid partners with Idol. Clearly, if it had been up to the producers, he would have stuck around much longer.
  5. Do you realize how much they pimped out Adam Lambert?! How desperately they wanted America to just dial their hearts out for him? And yet, Kris Allen's little girls & wholesome-loving housewives beat them out with their determined nature. I really don't think Kris would have won if the producers had anything to do with it.
So basically, it is what they say, and people don't realize it. There is no rigging of votes as far as we know; just a selection of people for television that they tell us about in the beginning! There's no mystery!
But these "bloggers", these arrogant people who think they're sooo smart, they ignore all the other claims and focus on the couple times Simon Cowell says "singing competition" and then pounce on the show, and then call themselves the only people in the nation with eyes. They focus on what they can pride themselves on to make them feel better, just like your average school bully does.
& here's my favorite part: they can all do something about it, you know. When David Archuleta is safe the night he flubs his lyrics, they could actually pick up the phone & vote for David Cook's "Eleanor Rigby" or Carly Smithson's "Come Together". If they want Adam Lambert to win so badly, they can dial his number and vote for him like they're supposed to. It's like when they whine about Bush so much and yet didn't vote because they wanted to stand up to the establishment (because their one non-vote counts as such a burn among the millions). Why whine about something that was almost totally in your control? Right, because you're not supposed to be watching Idol in the first place because it's just sooooo lame even though you secretly adore it. Right, arrogant people of America? Right?
I'm just sick of it. People need to stop being like hormonal females by twisting everything around to make themselves happy and look at the facts! It doesn't make anything better. Just let it be.

8 comments:

  1. I think you know pretty much know nothing about Taylor Hicks. I suggest you read the July 09 Birmingham magazine to find out a fact or two instead of just what your perception might be.
    I'm sure there are many "fat housewives" who know and appreciate good music and an excellent performer who enjoy Mr. Hicks,but they by no means are the only ones. Just a few nights ago ,the Prime Minister of Canada came to see him in Grease and made a point of meeting Taylor.
    Taylor was able to make a success of Grease where other shows have failed. He was given credit for bringing $150,000 extra to the show each week during its run in New York. Not many can claim that. Mr. Hicks did not cowtow to the powers that be at AI and was perhaps a bit too independent and had to go it on his own and I think the fact that he is still in the game is a testament to his diversity and talent.
    True, he has not sold a gazillion CDs and maybe he never will but I do not think that selling CDs is a accurate test of talent. Taylor has his own record label and he does sell steady. His CD flies off the shelves at the Grease shows and wherever people see him perform. I am NOT a fat housewife and I would rather see and listen to Mr. Hicks than any other performer working today.

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  2. I've never read your blog before, but I am standing and cheering right now after reading this one. You have said so succinctly the very thing that has bothered me a long time. I am alos an unabashed Idol watcher and I did exactly what you are just saying. I did pick up the phone and vote for David Cook and Kris Allen, even though they were obviously not the ones foreordained by the judges and producers as the chosen ones. Thank you for an intelligently written article. Bravo!!

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  3. I agree with most of what you have said. But I think that you have left out the power of the internet. I remember reading about Michael Johns and his very sexist treatment of women. He was all over the cute sexy ones and made fun of those who were overweight or not as pretty and put together as some others. I could not bring myself to vote for him after some of those things I read.

    And I thought that the AI machine was pimping Danny for the top spot this year. It was everyone else who was talking about Adam. I think a part of the reason Kris won was that he got Dannys votes after Danny was voted off. I voted for Kris after his Heartless performance... that performance won me over and I realized what a great idol he would make. Still totally fascinated by Adam and bow down to that amazing voice of his.

    Taylor was such an underdog on the show, and I love an underdog, and lets face it - he can sing, sorry that his career has not taken off, but I haven't counted him down and out yet, he is still taking chances, with his performance in Grease. I caught his performance in New York on Broadway last summer and after the show he came out and was as friendly and chatty as I had hoped and surprisingly handsome and sexy in real life.

    I never understood the Sanjaya thing. and did not know about the Kelly / Simon problems so I can not comment on those.

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  4. To the first commenter--okay, I'm sorry I dissed Taylor. My point is that he was not a judge/producer favorite.

    To the second--yay! =D

    To the third--Yeah, it's true. But the thing that really bugs me is that people think it's some big conspiracy when it's really not. I totally agree about Danny and was secretly glad to see him go since he was so overly pimped, & also guessed Kris's win b/c I knew he'd get Danny's votes.

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  5. Daughtry lost. Let it go and move on.

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  6. I did, quite a while ago, actually. You're completely missing the point...

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  7. I just want to comment about the first paragraph. I don't think people blog and "tell every detail of their life" because they are arrogant and think theirs is the only opinion that is smart. I think it goes deeper than that. People need to get their feelings out in some way. It is how we are built. And though we are surrounded by others everyday... is doesn't really mean that we have an actual outlet or ear to listen to us. So people blog.

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  8. That is true, and I'm sorry for generalizing like that. I mean to say specifically the people who blog about every detail of their lives BECAUSE they think they're so important, not just to get feelings out.
    I mean, I do that too, just with one of those private diary things that no one can see except me and the guy who owns the site who probably doesn't even give a crap anyway.

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Be wise.