[fightinJAG]

I think this is why AI has caught so many people's attention: somehow we take pride in this little slice of the American dream, kids from nowhere working hard, taking hard knocks, coming out and doing it again, and, with a little luck, succeeding big-time.

I read that the producers originally conceived of the show as a sort of gong show featuring skinny adolescent girls who could not sing. But they found out that Americans actually took the singing and the competition seriously, and that Americans really do not impose the same restraints on "image" that record producers do.

[bonfire]

It's just plain old GREAT TV! 2003 will be the year remembered for raising the Television viewing bar. What, with AI and the LIVE War....wow, what a year!