CLAY KNEW (American Idol Scandal of the Hour! Ooh! Aah!)

New York Post ^ | May 23, 2003 | Michael Starr

[Timesink]

Clay Aiken(l) was still smiling after Ruben Studdard was named the "Idol" winner.

'AMERICAN IDOL 2" runner-up Clay Aiken already knew he had lost to Ruben Studdard at least five minutes before the decision was announced, show judge Simon Cowell said yesterday.

[discostu]

It's suprising which music is actually popular. We think of pop stars because they get all the press but in the end music sales are about staying power, again look at Shania's 19 platinum album, 18.5 million sales in 5 years is nice not the instant gratification the charts are looking for but defninitely the recurring revenue companies look for. Which shows people why there's lots of room for the so called "marginal" artists. The site is puked right now, I'm sure the numbers for Floyd are frightening. As I recall Dark Side was on the Hot 100 chart for almost 20 years then the CD boom brought it back for a few years. As always I have to go back to my favorite Wayans quote "mo' money mo' money mo' money".

[discostu]

Simon's gone. He's sick of it, leaving BMG and starting his own. Any future Pop Idols or American Idols will not have Simon... unless somebody waves a large pile of money under his nose, I'm sure Simon can be bought.

[judgeandjury]

Gee Ive never seen that show....am I alive?

Considering the fact that 34.2 million viewers out of about 280 million potential viewers in the U.S. watched the 2-hour final episode of American Idol, the vast majority of Americans didn't watch the final episode.

[judgeandjury]

Yawn.

Thanks for dropping in on this thread to let us know that you're not interested in the subject that we're discussing. How often do you resort to this type of silliness?

[cubreporter]

I'm here because Free Republic is a place where I can voice my opinion for which I am entitled. Same as you. I hope now my presence is no longer puzzling to you. Yipes...

[MississippiMan]

Oh, you can certainly post all you like. I'm just puzzled (still am) as to why so many people show up on these threads to declare their lack of interest in them. When I see a thread that's obviously about a topic that doesn't interest me, I never have an urge to go into that thread and declare my lack of interest. Hmmm. I guess you do. Whatever.

MM

[cubreporter]

It's not declaring my lack of interest or disinterest. I don't watch the show at all. What I know about it is what happens to be on the news when it is reported. And what I heard about the show AND how the voting seems to be applied all seemed and still does to me...stupid. That's all. I love Free Republic because it gives me and so many others a chance to voice our opinions on things we like or dislike. That's the idea of reading, posting or commenting on something.

[gcruse]

Gee Ive never seen that show....am I alive?

I've never seen it either, and don't
regret it for a minute.  With the exception
of  JAG,  the big networks don't make onto
my screen.  The demographics seem to
require screenplay writing for adolescents
or those aspiring to same.  It isn't entertainment.

[duvausa]

" I don't watch the show at all..."
"I've never seen it either...."

And so you and gcruse both feel no hesitation in passing judgement on something YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT. Hmmm. Like I said before, it's got to be an ego thing.

[bootless]

You are being kind by calling the French auditions "interesting." I thought they were bizarrely, surrealistically horrendous. :-)

[moyden2000]

Yawn.

Thanks for dropping in on this thread to let us know that you're not interested in the subject that we're discussing. How often do you resort to this type of silliness?

Never.

[cubreporter]

I DO know I am not on Free Republic to engage in petty nonsense so this is ended as far as I am concerned.

[ican'tbelieveit]

He is jealous... hehehe.

[wolficatZ]

"Clay is my dog" says Ruben on Leno. He looked morbidly obese. Time to call Carnie Wilson.

[HitmanLV]

People watch this stuff?

[Calvin Locke]

Canadian Idol

Great. The next William Shatner. I can hardly wait.

Yet another reality show that I don't watch. I'm putting my wake-up call in with the rest, for when the networks and producers start getting their acts together.

To paraphare Lloyd Bensen, of all people, "I knew entertainment, and Hollywood, that's no entertainment."

[herkbird]

I apologize for the highly incorrect numbers I posted. I was going on numbers I heard on a show like X-tra or something. Maybe the numbers I posted were for total career sales as that appears much closer to your facts. Sorry!

[torchthemummy]

Bottom line: reuben went on first and sounded horrible - the judges we're overly nice. Clay came out and belted it out. Most important, he hit the last note straight and strong. There was no contest. I, as a conservative, would have loved to see reuben knock 'em dead so that I could say with a clear conscience, "This guy won not because of affirmative action but because of pure talent and putting on the better show of the two." Unfortunately, it felt like jury nullification.

By the way: never saw the show before and I was amazed by the fact it was actually 2 hours long. I'm sure the promos didn't note the fact it would be couple hours long. Probably promoted it with only "...the excitement starts at 8PM EST so don't be clueless at the water cooler!"

[herkbird]

There are about 24 shows to go from the auditions, to the top 32, and then down to the final 12. I truly beieve that Ruben was there original hands on favorite from the beginning. Another young lady named Frenchie was also a top contender until they found out she had posed in the nude. AI threw Frenchie out of the competition, but helped her get several jobs as she was also very talented. My true feelings are that it would have been Ruben versus Frenchie if the little problem hadn't been discovered.

With that out of the way, it was Ruben versus the last person standing with true talent, which made it Ruben and Clay. Ruben had good nights singing, but excelled mostly when he could sing songs only suited for him. Clay was able to sing and cover anything handed to him 99% of the time, no ones perfect.

Toward the end of the series, I don't know if Ruben was getting extremely tired, his talent really suffered.Clay's talent remained the same througout the series and Kimberly Locke's talent improved immensely during the series.

Ruben came close to losing early when he and Trenyce were at the bottom with Trenyce being the one sent packing. Was this planned excitement or a move to promote more people to call in and vote?

I did a phone survey of the contestants from the begining and the women didn't come close to getting but 20-40% of the votes the guys did. From day one Clay's line stayed busy for the full two hours while Ruben and Joshua's lines stayed busy for about 75-80% of the two hours. It remained pretty much like that until they got down to the final 5 singers, and I wrote an e-mail to FOX asking about the phone results and telling them about my little unprofessional phone usage survey. After that it became impossible for me to ever get through to vote again?

I now wonder if the phone vote is just a ruse to get television audience participation, it does work? Or if it really is used to select the true winner? I'm sure a vast majority of the people who voted wouldn't know great singing talent if it hit them in the face.

The real winner in American Idol2 will come out when we see who sell's the most CD's. Ruben will have a one week jump on Clay at the music store, I think Clay will catch up and pass Ruben in sales in a less than a week if the promotion between the two is fair. I believe the record company will be smiling all the way to the bank betwen the two of them no matter what, there's plenty of room for Clay, Ruben, Kimberly Locke, and a couple more from this group of talent. This years talent far surpassed the competition in American Idol 1.

[discostu]

Happens, thanks for being grown up and admitting a mistake. Sorry I was harsh about the correction, there were other people on other threads getting under my skin and I took out some of that on you.