There’s More Where That Came From
link American Idol Vote Begins – Jacob Lusk, Casey Abrams Impress : People.com.
A few seasons back, the irascible Simon Cowell, arguably the real star of American Idol decided to move on. Before that happened, the fomat changed to 4 judges and Ellen Degeneres was inexplicably added to the show. That was enough for yours truly, causing me to pronounce the show over. http://asiftimes.com/2010/02/07/talent-must-be-in-short-supply/
Well this season’s crop of talent has not only proved me wrong, it proved a number of other things as well. First of which is that Simon was NOT the show, although he dominated the program since inception with his bitingly blunt comments. The show was supposed to be about singing talent, but with Simon’s presence over the years, it was as much about watching unfolding car crashes and the show had an almost sadistic appeal.
When you look at the talent pool in this year’s edition of AI, the producers and the judges have to be given credit for bringing the best crop ever to the stage. So, that’s credit to Steve Tyler, Jennifer Lopez and the only carry over judge, Randy Jackson. They bring credibility due to their backgrounds and generally lucid comments. The show has moved on to be a talent contest, albeit a contrived one, from being the Simon Cowell show. I’m not sure what the logic was in bringing in Degeneres, but thankfully, that’s over.
The success this season also demonstrates that the basic concept reasonates with the public and therefore the show is bigger than its nominal judges. Karaoke is pretty popular in most of the world and this can be characterized as the Super Bowl of that. The show is refocusing on the talent, not on the judges. It’s as if Simon were never there. Charlie Sheen should pay attention to that.
When you observe the roster of talent that is on display, it makes you wonder where these people were last year, or the year before. It also should give one pause to think about the pool of talent in every other area of life which will emerge from the wings every year. From science, to business, to sports, the pool of talent is deep enough down there to give optimism to all aspects of culture and human achievement. You just can’t be pessimistic.
Now if they could only get rid of that irritating Ryan Seacrest.