Posted on 01/19/2007 11:01:04 AM PST by meg88
Idol" Sparks New Controversy on Access Hollywood
By Laura Saltman
The show is only back two days and already "American Idol" is sparking controversy. Today the buzz all around my office is about how mean-spirited the show is during the audition rounds. While I was out having dinner, an email came over my blackberry from our music producer, Nancy Harrison, who was on the east coast watching the show, "I must say tonight's episode was quite disturbing. Two of the Seattle contestants--Kenneth and Jonathan--were clearly limited... and the judges still poked fun of them. I found this to be in really poor taste and can't believe this show would sink this low for ratings." My first thought, having not seen the show yet was, "old news." The show has done this throughout its first five seasons on the air. The fact of the matter is that snickering at people who clearly can't sing or telling people they are "too fat" or "not the right look" to be the next American Idol is nothing new here. That's what the audition shows are all about each and every year. They poke fun of bad singers and everyone laughs.
Then I got home and watched the show and realized what the outrage was over. I want to share this email I got from our show's Senior Producer, Claudia Eaton, who was watching with her son, David. As a parent, I'm sure her sentiment is something being felt all over households today: "Last night's programming was uncomfortably entertaining ... painful to laugh at ... I had to explain to my son on more than one occasion how inappropriate these adults were. And, as a budding thespian, had to convince him that it would in fact be ok for him to try out for the school play. What does bother me as a newcomer to the Idol craze is how cavalierly the public seems to accept the way Simon talks to people to their faces about things as basic as how they look or talk ... PLEASE let them hurry up and get to the finals ... where hopefully truly talented people will truly entertain people with talent ... and we do NOT laugh at people for being "ugly," "odd," "tall," or just plain different."
While I don't think the format of the audition shows has changed, what I think has happened is that the judges are acting more and more like catty school children with each passing season. Simon is the bully on the playground and Randy and Paula are his underlings. Someone says something mean and the others either laugh or play along. It's like watching the movie, "Mean Girls." Every once in awhile Paula and Randy will scold Simon but in a laughing manner, never to the point where someone is saying 'you know what, this is inappropriate.' Do I think it's their fault? Partially. Only partially because Idol is a reality show and therefore the producers must create situations. That means they must put bad singers in front of the judges to make the auditions interesting. After seeing thousands of people who are either playing it up for the cameras to get on TV or just plain delusional about their talent it has to get frustrating for the judges.
Having said that... you, America, are the ones who have allowed this type of behavior to go on. 37 million of you were watching on Tuesday night while the insults were flying... up 2 million from last year. If people were truly offended, well then they should have tuned out last night. Not the case though. Another 37 million watched the Seattle auditions. In fact, the audition shows always get a higher audience then the performance shows. This morning I talked to Katharine McPhee, who did not watch the audition shows this week but heard about the controversy on "The View." On the subject, she told me, "There crosses a point I think where you start actually being mean about people's appearances and I think that kind of really is just wrong. I've never liked that part of the show. So, that's why I don't really tune in for the early part of it."
Last night's outrage I'd say was mainly over the way 21-year-old contestant, Jonathan Jayne, and 23-year-old Kenneth Briggs were portrayed. Obviously, a little different than others, Simon's calling Kenneth a "bush baby" just went to far. We talked to Jonathan this morning who truly was just happy for the chance to be on TV. His only complaint wasn't about how he was portrayed on TV but that Randy was chuckling during his audition, " I just think that he was trying to make television at that time. He didn't really mean it." He did however get very upset about the way Kenneth was treated, "They treated him horribly. I just didn't like what they said about him. That really made me kind of ticked off that they were treating him like that."
The record companies make the decison of what they can market. He is the new "Barry White". Not!
Good singers?
They are rare.
Yellers, bellowers, flailers, wailers, jumpers, crumpers etc....all kinds of noise comes out of those mouths,
but really pretty singing voices?
Rare.
Very rare.
I mean singing voices. Music being sung.
And since I listen to music, give me an ugly person who can sing over a booby bimbo who sounds like she got stuck in the mammogram machine.
They have to fill 2 hours somehow!
I am always amazed at what stupid people will do for attention.....
no worries.
I’ve watched American Idol occasionally and a hand full of episodes of other so called “reality shows” and I’ve laughed at some of it, however most of these shows make me sick. But just like driving by a horrific auto accident, it is so compelling to slow down trying to catch a glimpse of the carnage, hoping to see some bloody bodies or severed limbs. Of course this compulsion is at the lowest end of the human nature spectrum.
Yea, watching obviously diluted bad singers try to convince the judges they are good and watching the judges insult them is funny in the same way watching someone slip on a banana peel or a guy take a hit to the crotch is funny. I think medical science has identified this part of our brain as the “13-Year-Old-Boy Locker Room Humor Lobe”.
The overriding theme of most of these reality shows, from American Idol and Project Runway, The Simple Life and the Real World, What Not to Wear and The Apprentice and on and on, is to say that for one reason or another, “you are not only not good enough, but because you are not good enough for our judges and you, the viewing public, you are also deserving of our public insults and scorn”. We don’t laugh with you, we all brazenly laugh at you.
The really sad fact is that so people today think that any media face time equates with fame and fame, no matter how brief or how humiliating, is the only thing that really matters. Without this degenerate state of Western civilization, Jerry Springer would have remained known only as the failed former Mayor of Cleveland and but of Drew Carey jokes.
The other theme of these shows is “the more dysfunctional you are, the more interested we are in watching you” and there’s nothing like watching a good train wreck in slow motion, right? Doesn’t this make you feel better about yourself? And isn’t it good clean fun to watch Paula Abdul and Whitney Houston descend into the hell of addiction right before our eyes?
Sid Caesar and Jackie Gleason; Playhouse 90, and Masterpiece Theater; Gunsmoke and The Twilight Zone have nothing on Survivor – Cook Island and The Bachelor. Today’s crop of TV shows surely exemplifies the Golden Age of Television.
I have an idea for a new “reality show”; let’s have Paris Hilton and that anorexic girl live among the mentally ill in a homeless shelter for a month and then in a nursing home with some Alztimers patients. What wacky fun those obscenely wealthy, morally abject icons of contemporary womanhood could have with those folks – just thing of all the jokes…..
If Simon Crowell had a contemporary in ancient Rome, he’d be sitting in the emperor’s box stirring up the crowd by saying – “those Christians are so pathetic- they can’t even die in an entertaining fashion and I’ve never seen sorrier excuses for lions. Let’s hope the condemned prisoners’ executions and gladiators’ fight to the death is better.” This would be followed by Maximus Tiberius Seacrest announcing to the crowd at the Coliseum, “Send your text message via your clay tablet to Caligula now and vote for your favorite”.
I’m seriously thinking of turning off the cable, tossing my TV in the dumpster and hunkering down with a good book while waiting for the final assault of the Barbarians at the Gate and Western Civilization’s final fall.
And you?
Hey, It gives people something to talk about. As you can tell, even people that don't watch the show still talk about it.
In any case, I avoid the so-called "American Idol" crap due to my opinion that it's farcical garbage, dressed up as entertainment.
Other than Paula Abdul (who might be fun for a roll in the hay) and her borderline idiocy, the other two dudes are not more than gasbag never-weres.
It is nothing more, nothing less than a monument to the out of control self-esteem movement gone completely mad in this country. There is no doubt that there are some clearly mentally ill folks who are in this contest and the producers may not recognize that -- but the vast majority of the folks who are just awful singers have never ever been told that in their lives.
Some even had "vocal coaches" who clearly pocketed wads of cash and kept their mouths shut when they should have told their clients that their talents lay elsewhere.
It is so clear that most of these kids have never in their lives been told "NO" and it is a shock to their system to have real life, the cold cruel world, wake them up to reality. Some delusional kids even lashed out at the judges, continuing to externalize their reality....completely unaware that they had been sold a bill of goods by a whole host of folks for a lot of years prior to the intrustion of reality.
Sure, I'd like to be an astronaut or a supermodel or play for a pro sports team -- but you know what? It ain't gonna happen. So rather than cry over that, I would think that spending one's time finding what one's God given talents are would be a far more worthwhile pursuit.
I actually like your TV show idea. Good potential for drama. Can I option the rights to it. I'll make you a good deal.
Ara
What a doll! Her and Pickler are both cuties.
It is one thing to criticize the singing but to poke fun at one's physical appearance is another.
Springer was a mayor in Cincinatti, not Cleveland. Although Carey is from Cleveland.
I should also add that there are still some seriously good shows on TV. Monk, Psyche, and House are really good.
heroes is a great show looking forward to more soon....
It's really only Simon that crosses the line by insulting appearances and disabilities and utilizing racial stereotypes, etc.
Maybe it's a British thing, to have no class about leaving alone some personal, insulting stuff?
Randy was almost as cruel as Simon in the episode I saw. We have to face it, folks..American viewers like this kind of thing..These judges are breaking sacred adult rules about bullying..Who bullies, anyway? Why, it is those who have the power or think they have the power to mistreat and get away with it, or in this case, profit mightily from it. And, who has more power than the producers and players of AMERICAN IDOL? Rosie O'Donald is being criticized for speaking what many of us out here are thinking about American Idol and other things and she is being crucified for it..I am not a Rosie fan but I give credit where credit is due. All this careful stepping around bad behavior and not calling a "spade a spade" just because famous people are the perpetrators is not good for society. It might generate ratings now but in the long run, consequences roll in which are not good. The people who "spearhead" the breaking of more of our values are then filthy rich and others are left to deal with the mess.
I really tried to watch Heros twice and I mean I really put forth effort to just sit there and watch it with no distractions and I found it to be the most boring show I have ever seen (a little exaggerated but not much). I must be missing something. I do like American Idol because it really is about the American Dream. These kids try so hard and finally arrive. To me, if you go on the show, it is fair game to be made fun of. These kids (mostly) are over 18 and are adults.
My wife asked, "Is that Chewbacca? "
Some of the folks are obviously doing it for the fifteen seconds of fame or infamy. Then there are the delusional ones, who leave in tears or are outraged.
The scary part, is that too many of these folks don't realize that they can't sing. All of a sudden it's Simon's fault and their life is ruined!
Lol.
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