Alright, so I'm a fan of American Idol.
That was then.
From seasons 4-8, I was one of the millions that surreptitiously followed AI all the way from the auditions till the crowning glory.
And I have never agreed with the Americans on their choice of winners except for Jordin Sparks.
Simon Cowell puts it bluntly and truthfully - this is, after all, a singing contest.
But the voting online has cast so much doubts on who is the rightful owner of the plum prize. Perhaps saying that those who rooted for the winners were (or are still) tone deaf is actually a kind comment.
And season 9 has been the biggest disappointment. For everyone who has been following the elimination rounds from the top 24 to the top 20, darn, some of them were not only out of tune, but out of sync. And, by popularity, they remained in the competition...off to either fight another day or to make viewers lose interest eventually.
Has America lost talent in looking for better singers?
This has been the worst of the Idol seasons. Adding even the new judge Ellen Degeneres has been a problem for me. While I like Ellen in her talk show, I think that as a judge, she should be more unbiased. She is a sore eye in the show as I don't know whether she is actually judging the competition or convincing people on whom to vote to stay or playing safe so that she doesn't lose viewers for her talk show. So much for trying to swim in two oceans at the same time.
Truth be told, while the erstwhile judge Paula Abdul was not a great judge as well (as she praised everyone who made it to the semifinals), Degeneres must find a place in the sun and like her comments to the contestants, I don't think Degeneres is cut out to be a judge for the competition as well. She flip flops and even her choices are a big DUH!!! She even comments at the end of each performance on who the audience should vote for to stay. If you don't believe me, rewind to all the previous shows.
Degeneres may have "discovered" the "talent" of local singer Charice Pempengco, but even the latter is not laden with enough talent. While Charice can sing, she has a hard time pronouncing the lyrics well enough for the song to be appreciated. And she does not have the charisma in a concert. After a few songs, Charice is good to go and falters in tone, diction and personality. Could Degeneres have been wrong in discovering singers, which is actually not her forte.
Which goes back to AI the 9th season.
It's all the same stuff. Perhaps I had higher expectations considering that Abdul has been replaced by someone more popular and Cowell is on his way out. Seacrest is as tacky as a host and has no surprises any longer. Perhaps he too is too old for the job.
And if you watch the show, the judges look like they are so disappointed with the contestants that they wouldn't care less who got booted out in the subsequent weeks.
And the songs...darn...I would not even waste precious money attempting to download on iTunes any of them. It was difficult enough to appreciate them during the competition, why do I want my iPhone to carry a screechy song?
One thing for sure, I will attempt to finish what I started with AI this season...but it gets to be more painful having to listen to these contestants screech in and out till the finals.
At the rate it is going, after they declare the winner for AI the 9th season, it may be lights out for the series as well.
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