Posted on 04/29/2005 7:19:21 AM PDT by dead
SCOTT Savol, who seems to be the most unlikely finalist on "American Idol" this season, just keeps hanging on.
And viewers are beginning to wonder exactly how Savol, the pudgy kid from Shaker Heights, Ohio, is managing to pull it off, while fan favorites like Constantine Maroulis get the boot, as he did Wednesday night.
Some point to the efforts of a Web site called votefortheworst.com, which considers "Idol" a joke and encourages viewers to cast their votes for Savol because, it says, "he is the worst."
"I think our site definitely has some effect on the results for 'Idol,' " says Dave DellaTerza, the site's creator.
"I always used to say it's just like any 12-year-old girl power-voting for [Idol wannabe] Carrie [Underwood]," he says.
That girl "thinks her results affect the show, too, when they just help to contribute. But I've changed my tune a bit since our Web site got over 100,000 hits in the last two days. Now I'm hearing from people who throw 'vote for the worst' parties, who get office pools together to vote for Scott . . . This has definitely turned into something huge, which I hope will continue."
It was a shock Wednesday when Maroulis, who had never before come even thisclose to getting tossed from the show, was voted out. But the native New Yorker took it in stride.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Talk about being shocked. I can't believe she was in the top 10 let alone win!! All she does is scream....like nails on a chalkboard. I can't understand her words and she's irritating.
You ain't kidding. I thought the same thing, the past couple of weeks. I'm sure the mother of his baby is very well acquainted with that "look."
Damn straight.
I'm searching the web for the best price on the paperback edition of "Making of American Idol".
Besides watching the World Series, an occasional History Channel show or the Weather Channel, I watch no TV. I gave up the talking head shows after impeachment and I gave up prime time TV about 15 years ago.
Along comes American Idol. My family which also watches very little TV started watching it, so I sat down with them to have a look. What I found interesting was individual competition -- people competing as individuals trying to obtain their individual dreams. And the best part of it was that these people weren't doing anything for the sake of "society", whatever you think that might mean.
All the while people are tuning in in droves, most foolishly believing they're witnessing the genesis of an actual rock star, instead of watching something intelligently entertaining, more informative, or (gasp!) reading a book!
Hey at least these people watching American Idol aren't watching the Sci-Fi channel.
LOL!
I have to come to the conclusion that Simon Cowell is crazy like a fox. He knows good and well that his "Simonisms" are a big part of the show, and just like so-called "professional" wrestling, its the bad guys that make it worth watching. The only thing that is different is that anyone who doesn't like Simon can 'slap him down' by voting for someone Simon disses.
Surely, he and the other people who put together AI know all about the votefortheworst.com site, and they love it! The only effective way to make sure that a vote gets in is to text message it, and that costs the voter a dime. I'd be willing to bet that Cingular passes a very substantial piece of the dime on to AI, because every time a contestant vote phone number is on the screen, Cingular gets free advertising. What better way to make sure that maturing teeny-boppers choose Cingular for their telephone preference when their parents finally relent on the issue!
With the knowledge that votefortheworst'ers are out there, it spurs people who take this seriously to vote even more, generating more revenue from text votes! I don't think I've seen a consumer frenzy like this since the Tickle Me Elmo doll.
This whole thing reminds me of former Seattle Seahawk Brian Bosworth. He spent a lot of time trying to anger the Denver Broncos fans, working on the rivalry that Seattle and Denver had when the two NFL teams were in the same AFC division. When Seattle went to Denver to play, there were all kinds of anti-Bosworth merchandise being sold, and Boz owned the companies that were producing it! He may not have been a great football player or movie star, but he had excellent business sense.
I certainly can't figure out why. He's so pitchy a lot of the time that I sit in front of the TV cringing. I wish he'd leave already.

Yes, when you do this, it means this. And when you do that, it means that. But when Scott does this, during the first stanza, it means that. But if he does that, during the second stanza or in the bridge, it means this.
votefortheworst.com
Finally, a reason to become interested in the least interesting show on TV..............
"Vote for the Worst" is a stupid idea.
It's not as if the people who buy into it are doing anything to change the American music/television/entertainment industry.
They are just into it because it gives them something spiteful to do and they get off on crap like that.
I don't like his voice and demeanor. He has a bad attitude, which is what I dislike most.
Looks like the guy in your pic is on his way to play a game of "Edward 40-hands"
That's a pretty idiotic statement that people who watch TV are dumb.
Man, FR has some weirdos.
Quite true. On the other hand, if I feel like watching TV and my 5 and 3 year old are playing in the room, I don't mind if they watch AI with me. It is about the only primetime show I would allow on the tube if the kids are awake.
To me it seemed like every week Anwar sang the next stanza of the same song.
I liked his personality though--intelligent, confident, warm.
Anybody who expects network television to do something for society is barking up the wrong media to begin with. It's television dude.
American Idol claims to produce rock/pop stars. Not me. I never believed for a second that a TV show would produce any stars of equal caliber as those we have from the "old way". That's what I meant about "contributing to society". Is generating revenue for Fox contributing to society too? Of course, but that is NOT what AI claims is their "contribution".
The point is, imo, AI insults the viewer's intelligence by claiming what they do is real. Other reality shows don't claim that their stars will go on to bigger and brighter things. I watch fluff TV too from time to time, but I'm not going to watch a TV show that insults my intelligence. Give me a reality show that puts its "stars" in their place, which is the fact that, once even the "winner" is done, no one's going to remember their name in a month, much less years from now. This is the same reason I don't watch The Apprentice. I'm supposed to believe that Donald Trump is actually going to keep the winner on as his employee, or even that the winner is going to have as serious a role to play in whatever project he/she's assigned at the end of the show? Give me a break!
Reality TV is all about laughing at what the winner has to do to win, and laughing at them when they foolishly belive, post win, that they are anything more of a person than when they started the show. It's not about taking the winner seriously at all!
For Mr. Malowe: Clarkson is the exception as far as "success" from that show goes, because she was apparently the first winner. Of course the first winner from a hit show will have more residual "15 minutes" fame than the others. But in 5-10 years, no one's going to remember her either.
2 singles on the Billboard charts top 20 for a debut album? Whoopie! Break out the champaine and start building the million dollar mansion! She's on her way to superstardom for sure! Tell me, how well are the other "winners" faring on the Billboard charts? Somehow I doubt any of them have had any singles in the top 20.
Bo is the only masculine contestant, IMNSHO.
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