SANJAYA SURVIVES! THE EVIL PLAN IS WORKING!

[Pab Sungenis]

Heheheheheh. Our nefarious plan is working. Soon we shall utterly destroy American Idol!

</evil>

Seriously, AI was a cute idea at first, but then got WAY too full of itself -- like halfway through the first season.

Then once they realized that people were tuning in to see Simon be cruel, they tried to entertain us with shit like showing William Hung's audition which had no business being on the air.

Then they figured that if we liked the talentless people on the "auditions" shows, then we'd LOVE them on the actual show so Simon could be a bitchy queen towards them EVERY week, so they stopped killing off people like Sanjaya early in the process like they were supposed to do if it were a REAL talent competition.

The victory of Taylor Hicks, one of the worst contestants to tread upon the stage, in last season's competition was not enough to kill the beast. This year, however, we have SANJAYA to play with, and we WILL bring the show down.

Why must we bring the show down?

• Too many people vote for American Idol but don't vote in real elections.
  
• It is NOT a true talent competition. As I stated before, if it was then the talentless freaks Would be wiped out before even getting to the voting process.
  
• The "careers" that come out of this are artificial and prefabricated just like with other carbonated sugar-sweetened no talent acts like the Spice Girls, the Pussycat Dolls, and the Backstreet Boys. None of these people deserve the kind of attention they're getting, and none of them deserve the "fame" they're getting from these 15 minutes.
  
• and most importantly... IF WE KILL OFF AMERICAN IDOL THEN MAYBE FOX WILL STOP FUCKING WITH THE AIR SCHEDULE FOR HOUSE RINTYDAMMIT!
  

Thank you.

[Orsino]

1. With luck, Simon whatzisname will realize...

...that he is not there for his professional insight, get disgusted, and leave. This assumes that he has some pride, however.

[Frank Cannon]

2. The producers have only themselves to blame for this fiasco

They decided to get cute with the "crappy singers for comic effect". Now they're stuck with a crappy singer as a front runner. Hoist with their own petard, as they say.

Go Sanjaya!

[Mike Daniels]

3. Why do people insist on comparing votes for AI vs. votes for a general election?

After all this time do they not realize that they're comparing apples and oranges?

American Idol allows people to vote as many times as they can get through using whatever means are at their disposal. Consequently, if one person can get through 20 times that counts as 20 votes.

The last time I heard, each person who votes in a political election gets to cast their vote "ONCE".

If more people were watching AI than those who vote then there'd be a reason for concern but I don't think that's happening.

AI may deserve to be killed for other reasons but the voting issue isn't one of them.

[LostinVA]

6. Exactly!

A 12-year-old girl can call or text many, many times in two hours!

[Gidney N Cloyd]

40. OK, so then voting in AI is more like a CHICAGO election...

[LostinVA]

4. I didn't acre for Chris Sligh, so this week it was okay

But, if he knocks Gina or Melinda out... oh boy.

(I think Chris was always off of the beat and never took chances.)

[Mike Daniels]

11. Chris didn't do much for me either.

Over the last three weeks he had two horrible performances and he definitely deserved to be bottom three this time around.

IMO, Sanjaya and Phil should have traded places. I didn't expect Sanjaya to be eliminated regardless but it would have been a little more realistic than Sanjaya avoiding possible elimination altogether.

[ScreamingMeemie]

5. I don't know...Kelly Clarkson is pretty damned talented if you ask me.

:shrug:

[LostinVA]

8. She is -- many Idol winners and runnersup are

Very few top five have been untalented.

Kelly, Chris Daughtrey, Jennifer Hudson, Katharine McPhee, Carrie Underwood, Clay Aiken, Kim Locke, Bo Bice (my beardy growly bear), etc.

Many have also done very well.

[ScreamingMeemie]

10. Chris Daughtrey is the spitting image of MrG..if MrG shaved his head.

A friend of mine pointed it out and she's right. Right down to the dimples. :hi:

I really liked Kim Locke's attitude

[LostinVA]

13. Really? Can he sing like him?

He should have won last year, imo.

And Kim Locke Season Two.

[ScreamingMeemie]

27. He has a wonderful deep voice.

Puts me to sleep. Unless he's mad at something, then it raises the hair on the back of my neck. Luckily, he's not angry very often and never at me.

[Blue_In_AK]

41. I like Kelly Clarkson, too...

but she's the only AI I've paid any attention to.

[Mike Daniels]

7. As far as prefabricated and artificial careers

The same voters who gave the Dixie Chicks award after award this year have also seen fit for give major awards to no less than two former winners (Clarkson and Underwood) of AI on other occasions.

What that says about the Grammy's I don't know but it seems to say that the voters consider some AI contestants as legitmate as the Dixie Chicks.

[LostinVA]

9. Kelly Clarkson IS as legit as the Dixie Chicks

[Mike Daniels]

15. I'm in agreement on that

The pre-fab/fake argument amoung AI "haters" is another one that doesn't hold water any more in light of serious award associations honoring former AI contestants and outside producers casting other contestants to perform in movies and plays/musicals.

I'm not a major fan of AI myself and this is the only season I've watched with more than a cursory interest. However, a number of reasons people use to criticize the show don't stand up under careful scrutiny.

[LynneSin]

20. In 20 years everyone will still know who the Dixie Chicks are

Kelly Clarkson will long be forgotten.

[LostinVA]

21. We disagree on that, Sissie

I think both names will still be around. Clarkson is a helluva singer, and a decent songwriter.

[Midlodemocrat]

22. I agree. I think she has a beautiful voice.

And, I think Clay Aiken has a beautiful voice. His Christmas album is gorgeous.

[LostinVA]

26. He has a very nice voice

[LynneSin]

23. It's not her voice that is the problem

The career of a pop singer is pretty short-lived. Musical trends and preferences evolve through the year and either you're a Madonna with an amazing careerspan thanks to her ability to morph herself or you're the Spice Girls, which were an amazing group for the short time they were around but grew tiresome quickly.

Dixie Chicks showed their evolution by adapting their music to appeal to folks who normally wouldn't buy country albums, like myself. When country fans rejected them, they came back strong in the mainstream market. They'll be around for awhile

[jobycom]

31. Neither one will be remembered that much in 20 years.

I like the Dixie Chicks' political statements, and their music is better than average, but they aren't that good. Their music is derivative, not much better than Clarkson's. Clarkson might have a better chance of being around in 20 years, not because she's all that talented, but because she doesn't have a distinctive style, so she can change as tastes change, like Mariah Carey or Madonna. It wouldn't take much effort for any of us to think of someone more talented than Mariah or Madonna 20 years ago who is less well known today. Annie Lennox, maybe. Aimee Mann. Sinead O'Connor. They may still be known, but not as well known.

[mduffy31]

12. Exactly

QUIT FUCKING WITH HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!

[Zuiderelle]

14. Excellent.

He's really not much worse than previous winners, just more obvious. AI might have been a good idea at one time, but from the start the voting has been a farce. NEVER, NOT ONCE has the best singer won. So, why not the worst? And he's cute.


GO SANJAYA!!!

[Mike Daniels]

16. I wonder if changes will be made to the voting in the future

in light of this season.

I would think they could move to a total cumulative vote that builds up week after week where one bad performance won't necessarily keep someone from being eliminated. You'd probably need to have one "safe" week at the beginning so that everyone has two weeks of votes to start with.

Either that or allow the judges to score the contestants and multiply the called in votes by the judges score for the final results. To avoid sympathy votes the judges scores wouldn't be revealed until the results show.

[Pab Sungenis]

17. I liked the way NBC did it with "Grease."

The two lowest vote getters were submitted to the judges, who then got to save one of them. The judges kept that veto power up until the final three.

Of course, I still want to see the show go bye bye. Ratings are down big this season, but it's still #1, unfortunately.

[Zuiderelle]

18. They should also restrict to one call per phone number.

Not that it would prevent people from using phone banks and multiple phones. I can picture some young singer with means, getting a promoter who could hire some company to call in votes. For someone like Kelly Clarkson or even worse, Carrie Underwood, having any sort of career at all is fascinating, but to have careers at the level they do is astonishing (and horrific in my opinion). With a payoff like that, for a mediocre singer to actually become a "star" I think the potential for that sort of manipulation is inevitable.

If I were to organize it, I would have a larger panel of judges and make the public vote just one factor in the final tally per contestant. I still don't think anything would make this show viable though. (Viable insofar as actually finding and promoting the best singers.)

[ronnykmarshall]

19. I like AI and I think this is a RIOT!

Ol' Sanjy just might be the breaking point however.

I hope he and his big ol' hair keep going and going and going!

[izzybeans]

24. Add, if one actual musician can buy an extra guitar string or drum skin or

mic clip, or whatever from the Sacrifice of Sanjay than I say to the Rock Volcano with him, the monsters of rock have spoken.

I prefer my karaoke without pretension. There are some damn fine singers at the karaoke barn down the street. Kelly Clarkson doesn't hold a candle to the pipes that one-eyed Sandra brings to the table. She owns the standards. That is nothing to idolize. That's why they are called standards.

[bullwinkle428]

25. The producers will use Sanjaya's success as an excuse

to change the "formula" next season - they'll end up going to something like "Dancing With the Stars", which I believe uses a combination of public voting and judges' ratings to eliminate teams each week. I'm not a regular viewer of DWTS, so maybe someone else could confirm this? This whole story about Simon threatening to quit the show if Sanjaya wins will be played to the hilt for publicity, and it will become the "hot topic" for the whole celebrity gossip industry if he actually ends up winning, generating even more buzz for the AI monster!

[MsKandice01]

28. Anyone who says AI contestants don't have talent hasn't seen Dreamgirls

There hasn't been a voice in the mainstream like Jennifer Hudson's in decades.

[Pab Sungenis]

29. Let's amend that...

AI WINNERS don't have talent.

Yes, I include Kelly.

[mvd]

33. Completely disagree there

She's one of the most talented.

[ScreamingMeemie]

32. I'm in complete agreement.

There have been some amazing voices on that show.

I say any port in a storm. These people grabbed the brass ring. It would be no different if they had gotten lucky enough to catch the eye of a record label on their own.

[LynneSin]

38. Didn't Jennifer Hudson get booted early?

Nuff said!

[jobycom]

30. You do realize your plan is backfiring, don't you?

Advertisers and tv execs don't give a damn WHY you watch their program, just that you watch it. Every time someone tunes it to bash Sanjaya or calls in to vote for him, their ratings go up, the show is strengthened, and next year is more assured.

If you hate the show, don't watch it, don't post about Sanjaya or anyone else, don't even mention it. That's the only thing that kills a tv program.

This whole thing reminds me of the emails in 2000 to Republicans. The emails pointed out that the stronger Nader was, the more it hurt Al Gore and helped Bush, so the email urged all Republicans to vote for Nader.

[mvd]

34. Good point

But I think some actually like the show and are voting for Sanjaya because he's entertaining, if not talented. This season more than any other needs a jolt. Last season, the personalities made their own fire.

[LSK]

35. Isnt Howard Stern behind the "vote"?

[dr.strangelove]

42. He is a BIG part of it

He has been pushing it on his website and on air. One fan website listed a way to vote for free using one of the IM programs and some guy voted over 10,000 times for Sanjaya. Sanjaya was not even in the bottom 3 last week. I would think its mainly because of Stern. He even had his girlfriend mention it when she guest-hosted The View.

[Jamastiene]

36. Not an AI fan, but I love House MD and Bones.

I do wish they would put them back on the same night and time as they had before this latest season of AI. I couldn't sit through AI. All that bad singing really made my head hurt.

[vi5]

37. What I don't get is that they all get record deals?

Honestly anyone who finishes in the top 10 seems to put out a record, many if not most of them on major labels. I thought part of the stipulation in the beginning was that there was a window of a year or so where runners up could not put out a record of their own. Well at this point not only are they doing that but in many cases those records are outperforming the winners record.

So honestly who needs Sanjaya to prove the whole thing is a marketing gimmick/joke?
And honestly do you think any of the millions of viewers give a crap either way? They watch for the drama not to legitimately see who the next great pop star will be.

[Initech]

39. I like it! American Idol must die a horrible death!