Posted on 03/13/2007 5:46:36 AM PDT by silent_jonny
LOL Lenin! Good one! :)
Remember, Dial Idol has been less than accurate this year. I hated even posting it, but wanted some ‘results’ of some kind. Zabasearch is still teasing.
*
Another idea would be to use the telethon to help families that need assistance because they have loved ones serving overseas. Since AI seems to be a combined USA and British venture, share the monies collected with Britian. I suppose this wouldn’t fly because we have other allies like Australia.
I guess Support the Troops Week is the best we could hope for. Which isn’t asking too much, considering the left and media denegrate them other 51 weeks of the year.
Thanks.
`Idol’ Voting Is Broken
Phone System Limitations Skew Tally Of Contestants’ Popularity
April 25, 2007
EDWARD H. KAPLAN
Now that “American Idol” is headed toward the finish line, our nation faces the weekly challenge of deciding who will be voted off the show.
Thirty-eight million votes were tallied before Sanjaya Malakar was sent home last week. While 38 million sure sounds like a lot, remarkable data from DialIdol.com reveal that well over half of all phone vote attempts met a busy signal as the poll began, while throughout the voting hours, more often than not the chance of encountering a busy signal was above 15 percent. And therein lays a problem: the votes “American Idol” counts do not reflect true voting preferences. But this is an easily fixed problem.
First, we must understand what busy signals really tell us. DialIdol.com is premised on the idea that more popular contestants generate more phone calls and consequently more busy signals.
So, tracking busy signals should reveal who the leading (and lagging) contestants are (the DialIdol data are generated from freely provided speed dial software that reports both attempted calls and busy signals back to the site). But the votes that count are those that get through, not those that are attempted. When so many votes are lost (which is what happens with each busy signal), the tallied vote depends much more on the number of calls that actually get through on the show’s phone lines than on voter preferences.
Recall that each “American Idol” contestant receives his or her own dedicated phone number. To illustrate the problem, suppose hypothetically that each such number is capable of processing 4 million calls over the duration of voting. Now consider a random contestant, say Beat Box Blake.
If 6 million votes were attempted on Blake’s behalf, only 4 million could get through, while one-third of the Beat Box Boosters would get busy signals.
Now consider Melinda Doolittle and her 10 million attempted votes. While 60 percent of Doolittle fans can do little but grouse over busy signals, about 4 million votes are registered - rather similar to Blake’s count in spite of Melinda’s much greater support among voters. As this example shows, busy signals and lost calls can turn lopsided preferences into a coin toss.
Considering past results - Reuben Studdard’s victory margin over Clay Aiken was reportedly less than 1 percent in spite of tens of millions of votes tallied - along with currently observable busy signals, results to date could have been dictated by phone capacity constraints rather than true fan appeal.
There is a simple solution to this problem that does not require “American Idol” to install additional phone capacity. Instead of assigning each contestant a personal phone number, use a single number for all voting, and have voters select their favorite by pushing a button after the call has gone through. This simple fix would equalize the chance of encountering a busy signal for all callers.
Many votes would still be lost. In fact, if the total phone capacity was left unchanged, more calls would be lost due to the increase in processing time per call necessitated by button-pushing. But, since all calls would have the same chance of getting through, the total votes received would be a representative sample of votes cast.
The fix proposed is not perfect - it does not address voting by text-messaging (which is only allowed via Cingular, a show sponsor) - but it would correct a huge bias currently present in phone voting. “American Idol” should not be distorted by American Busy!
Edward H. Kaplan is the William N. and Marie A. Beach Professor of Management Sciences at the Yale University School of Management.
Big entertainment likes nothing better than to do copycats of a successful formula. So the AI powers keep pimping for Chris R., because he's a total Timberlake copycat. Timberlake is out with one of the bigger selling albums of the year. So Blake's wonderful individualism has been squashed and thrown overboard. He has to go because he and Chris occupy the same image space, and the AI powers prefer Chris. Blake's performances the last couple of weeks seem to indicate he knows that. He seems to have given up.
Jordin also gave her worse performance last night. She murdered that song. But the judges lied and raved about her performance. Even so, she is still in the running to win.
LaKisha jumped the shark weeks ago and has been awful. Melinda is the same every week. Polished, competent, good vocals. She stands out only because of her professionalism in a weak group this year.
Phil is the only one of the bunch who has actually improved. Unfortnately for him, he simply is not good enough or charismatic enough to win. But I do give him props for making the effort to improve.
So tonight we take a detour back to early vaudeville, although none of the entertainment big shots involved would ever admit that. Then I expect Blake, Phil or LaKisha to go home.
I'm currently reading a book entitled "The Shakespeare Riots" about the early theater in the US, circa 1806-1846. Back then, when theater goers didn't like a performance, or a ticket price hike, or anything else about "their" theater, they would demonstrate their displeasure by throwing rotten tomatoes or eggs, shouting and singing to drown out the actors, and dancing in the aisles. They even rioted for days and weeks at a time.
To bad we couldn't bring back a bit of those raucous activities. ;-)
They’ve already determined that Jordin is going to be the winner. They know that as good as Melinda is that she is limited, but they consider a Jordin and Melinda finale would be huge.
The think the viewing public is stupid and can’t see or hear the blatant pimping for Jordin. Like last night as you pointed out. The best performance, not only of the night, but Randy had the audacity to say of the entire 6 years of American Idol. What an insult to our intelligence!
I hope the future backlash is enormous.
Bono & Dave Stewart Pen American Idol Aid Anthem 4/25/07
http://www.celebrityspider.com/news/april07/article042507-9.html
Bono and Dave Stewart have teamed up to write a new aid anthem for TV talent show American Idol.
The rockers’ new tune, American Prayer, will debut tonight (25Apr07) during TV fundraiser Idol Gives Back.
Bono will also meet with the six current American Idol finalists as part of the special, which will highlight his ONE: The Campaign To Make Poverty History.
The Idol contestants will then perform the new song - about the AIDS emergency in Africa.
Fox on top Tuesday with “Idol,” “House”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070425/tv_nm/ratings_dc;_ylt=AlZpwNJwQtje1aU14kSJF3q5GL8C
By Paul J. Gough
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Fox won Tuesday’s primetime ratings race with “American Idol” and “House.”
“Idol” averaged 25.6 million viewers and a 9.6 rating/27 share in the adults 18-49 demographic, according to preliminary data released Wednesday by Nielsen Media Research. It was the top show in both key ratings measures, though it was down compared with last week (26.5 million, 10.2/28).
I’m not a big “manufactured anthem” fan but I am a huge fan of Bono and Dave Stewart. Incredible artists, lyricists and musicians. The only problem is that the AI contestants will perform the song turning it into some sort of syrupy “save the planet” tripe...sort of like the high school choir does “We Are The World” from Live Aid in 1984...
Speaking of Live Aid, in my humble opinion, that was the venue for the single greatest live performance I have ever seen when U2 did Bad. Unreal...
An “Ugly” week in ratings for old, new favorites
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070425/tv_nm/ratings_week_dc;_ylt=AiEE0Uu.QQEyd5XLrq7.plq5GL8C
By Paul J. Gough
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Last week was a tough one for the broadcast networks, with several big-time shows such as ABC’s “Ugly Betty” and Fox’s “American Idol” hitting season or series lows.
According to Nielsen Media Research data for the period ended April 22, “Ugly Betty” posted its lowest number ever in the coveted adults 18-49 demographic, as did CBS’ “Shark,” NBC’s “My Name Is Earl,” and three Fox shows: “The War at Home,” “King of the Hill” and “The Simpsons.” ABC’s “Desperate Housewives” tied its record low set on Easter Sunday.
CBS’ “CSI: Miami,” Fox’s “24” and Tuesday’s edition of “American Idol” fell to season lows.
So, if the week ending April 22, has AI with it’s season low ratings and they are down an additional 1.1 million viewers this week, then they have fallen even
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If its anything like last nights performances they can call it Bland Aid.
Sorry I won’t be here tonight, folks! My husband and I are going to see Taylor. Woo-hoo! I will miss you all! I am sure the thread will be about a million times more exciting then show. If anything really exciting happens, I’m sure someone will put it up on You Tube by the time I make it home tonight.
Have fun tonight! I hope he puts on a great show for you. I’m not going to watch tonight, but will follow the thread. I hope lots of people across the nation do the same.
OOOOOooohh. Have fun! Hope Taylor does some of his pre-Idol stuff. That’s what he does best. I’m sure AI will be dull, boring & otherwise uneventful. But if we get surprised, thank goodness for youtube.
Hope you & hubby have a blast!
Have fun, Kittie!
FYI:
Josh Groban Honors Walter Reed Hospital Soldiers in Sacramento Concert
By Alan Gray, NewsBlaze
Josh Groban walked the crowd from the back of the second floor of the Sacramento Kings stadium to the stage and the near-capacity crowd loved it.
At 26 years old, Josh is a wonderful entertainer and a remarkably unaffected young man, loved by fans young and old. The crowd, from late teens to gray haired grandparents soaked up every second of his offering.
This "Awake Tour" visit to Sacramento comes nine years after his "discovery" in Sacramento at age 17.
At one point, Josh sat on the edge of the stage, signing the hands of fans and told us he recently visited the Walter Reed Hospital to see the injured men and women who serve our country. The crowd showed their appreciation of his efforts for our heroes. He dedicated his song "Awake" to the soldiers.
For "Awake", Josh Groban wrote and produced songs along with contributions from Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Dave Matthews and others.
Groban recently commented, "I learned from touring that my fans are really open-minded, musical, intelligent people and I feel like they want to come on this new journey with me. The music still sounds like it's coming from my heart and my soul and my voice. That is always the most important thing to me. My goal on "Awake" was to create the music and find the best people to help me create it." [Josh Groban]
Ending the concert, Josh appeared wearing a massive Kings 07 basketball shirt and with a gospel choir, definitely a night to remember and added incentive for his fans to continue their adoring attention and journey with him.
Josh's concert is a show not to be missed, if you have the chance, pull out all the stops and be there.
For me, a very pleasant surprise was Josh's tribute to the soldiers, because I was just in Washington DC, interviewing Susan Warren, who visits Bethesda Naval Hospital and sends weekly care packages to Iraq.
Website: Josh Groban
Copyright © 2007, NewsBlaze, Daily News
This has more to do with entertainment moguls trying to capitalize on the huge audience to promote their "artists" than anything else. Not all, but the majority of announced talent are fading has beens or near has beens who are trying to revive their careers or keep them going. Some are contemporary entertainers who welcome the publicity to boost their current projects.
All the wealthy entertainment honchos (and that includes Cowell, Jackson, Abdul, Seacrest and Lithgow, who have all become enormously wealthy off Idol and its spin offs) could easily float big donations to whatever charities they please. So they have some nerve plopping this beg-fest in the middle of the season, and manipulating average people into coughing up money for questionable purposes. I wonder how much of every dollar donated will actually go to some needy person. It should be 100%, but won't be.
Lucky you! Have fun, i’ve heard his concerts are really, really entertaining.
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