American Idol 2007..Pure Talent or High Ratings? (Part 1)

I've been kicking myself for a couple of days now to comment on the season premiere of everybody's favorite TV show, American Idol last week. I know, I know, the blog has been mostly teen-age like musings about Taylor and Katharine, now I think it's apt that I write something about the show that made them new music superstars.

Like what happened to Kelly, Ruben, Fantasia, Carrie and Taylor, AI's ultimate goal is to find the next big music superstar. And found them they did. Not only do the winners reap success as recording artists, but so do the runners-up. The most prominent one being Season 3's Jennifer Hudson, having won Best Supporting Actress for Motion Picture Comedy/Musical for her role as Effie in the movie loosely based from the Supremes, Dreamgirls. Season 3 runner up Diana de Garmo is also enjoying success starring as Penny Pingleton in the Broadway musical Hairspray. Kellie Pickler and Chris Daughtry from Season 5 has released albums late last year with Kellie topping the country charts with her debut single, "Red High Heels" while Chris' sales reaching the platinum mark just recently. The most successful still, by eons, is still Kelly Clarkson, the inaugural 'Idol", having sold more than 10 million records worldwide, winning various awards, notably her two Grammies for her sophomore effort, Breakaway. Coming in close at her heels is Season 4's Carrie Underwood in which I have learned that her solo effort, Some Hearts has been certified quintuple (5x) platinum in the US alone. Carrie has firmly established her place in the country music scene and is expected to get a nod from the Grammy Academy as one of the nominees for Best New Artist.

Well, that was a mouthful. But that just proves the talent that has come from the show. Most definitely, the ones that get into the top 24 down to the top 12 finalists are the "creme de la creme" of the current season. What bothers me is the way that these kids are being narrowed down. Most people I know from Internet fan message boards watch the show to see those who "try to get their 15 minutes of fame" by turning up at auditions in outrageous costumes and their unabashed notion that they are actually good singers and most definitely will be the next American Idol. Of course there are those with talent who makes it to the Judges' audition. But it seems that as each season passes by, producers of the show tend to be more fixated on the "quack" singers to generate audience viewership.

I never really minded these and enjoyed it actually last season. But for some reason, this season, I was irked when Simon compared an auditioner to a "jungle creature" because of his big, popped out eyes. Sure, the guy may have looked funny, but that wasn't reason for a judge to tell that to someone ON LIVE TV. Poor guy had himself believing he was as good as Justin Timberlake then to be told something like that, in front of millions of viewers, must be extremely heartbreaking and humiliating.

**Part 2 will follow in a couple of days.