American Idol My Ass

As Seinfeld would say...What's the deal with American Idol? 30 million viewers every week? 65 million votes? Season 6 is slowly (and painfully) drawing to a close and I am forced to wonder...Who cares? How is it possible that virtually 10% of the American population watch this piece of self-indulgent horseshit weekly, over 20% vote, and I still don't know one single person who watches it anymore. Well...I guess that makes a little sense. I probably couldn't even bear to associate with someone if I knew they spent an hour (two?) of their lives on that every week.

Admittedly, I did watch one season of Idol. I had my favorite contestant, who I rooted for until his all-too-soon dismissal (Constantine SomethingGreek), and when he was gone so was I. I think my most pressing aversion to this embarrassing manifestation of our consumerist, Coke-sponsored, Ford-driven popular "culture" is that nothing musically or socially redeeming has ever come to fruition from Idol despite its six years of painstaking existence. Kelly Clarkson, you say? Please...I said musically redeeming, not talentless hack. Taylor Hicks? The last name says it all. Who are these people...these second-rate singers who couldn't even make their way to a karaoke bar, let alone a major record label? Are we, as a culture (again, I use this term loosely), so obsessed with drama and sitting on our asses in front of the television that we are willing to sacrifice art and music for the poorly-conceived notion of "down-time"? Apparently, unfortunately, and sadly, the answer appears to be yes.