American Idol is a freaking

[Skidmore]

RW plot!!! AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Dammit, I'm sick of hearing about that ridiculous program. The only purpose it appears to serve is to teach our young how to rig votes.

[PDJane]

1. There are reasons

I don't have a television set.

American Idol and Fox No-News are but a mere two of them.

[sandnsea]

2. There's nothing wrong with singing competitions

There is no more wrong with American Idol than there was with Sing Along With Mitch. I wish people would get off their high horse. I'm sure you have personal hobbies that I would think are stupid too.

[MsKandice01]

7. I agree!!

Thank you!

[Ron Green]

13. I don't really think it's a singing competition as much as a

fit-into-the-mold-of-corporate-pop-star-image competition.

[Ino]

3. I like American Idol, BUT...

it doesn't belong on NEWS programs! I wish Olbermann would quit covering it -- and the other celebrity nonsense as well. I don't mind it on Scarborough though, as it gives him less time to spew his Repug viewpoints.

[TahitiNut]

31. I personally dislike A.I. and I think the 'news' coverage is abject prurience.

It's a disgusting cast of characters - currently notable solely due to sleaze and trashy behavior.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

4. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, Ted Mack's amateur hour

featured such people competing for amateur prizes as Frank Sinatra, Gladys Knight, Ann-Margret, Robert Klein, Connie Francis, Maria Callas, Joey Dee and Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney, among many, many more. A similar show running during that period was Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts. Later, there was a spoof version called The Gong Show.

Why is it that these shows didn't turn into complete freak shows and the focus of even talk shows and news broadcasts? What is it about the current society in which we live where cruelty and freakiness are celebrated and the participants of the freak-factor turned into stars? The freaks are getting more attention than the real talent.

[IntravenousDemilo]

5. Frank Sinatra competing on Ted Mack's Amateur Hour in the '50s & '60s? Pull the other one... n/m

[RaleighNCDUer]

9. Frank Jr., maybe? nt

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

10. No, I'm not pulling your leg

I did a little googling before I posted. Check out the official website of the Ted Mack Amateur Hour. They specifically state that people like Frank Sinatra, Pat Boone, Gladys Knight and many others got their start on the show. In Frank's case, it might have been on the radio show before it became a hit on TV. I don't know one way or the other. But before TV, radio was America's TV. It's the same thing, involving a show to discover future stars.

http://www.originalamateurhour.com/

[Skidmore]

14. Ted Mack put people out there to perform and he was respectful

of them, no matter if they made mistakes. The audience was respectful. There was no voting attached to it. It was like every little bandstand performance rural towns used to have on summer Saturday nights. Nothing mean about it and what occurred on that program did not supplant a war and lordknows what in the national news. It was considered ENTERTAINMENT. People watched it as such but it did not consume their lives.

[NYCGirl]

15. It's very unclear, but I think they're referring there to Major Bowes' Original

Amateur Hour on radio for Sinatra. It started in 1934 and went to 1946.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

16. On whichever amateur hour it might have been

I doubt that Sinatra had to go through a competition where he was subject to cruel ridicule for his physical appearance, the size of his ears or his skinny body. I doubt that he had to compete with other artists who try to stay on the show by being freaks. I wonder if a serious artist back then would have wanted to subject themselves to the spectacle of poking cruel fun and ridiculing others that a show like American Idol has become. And I doubt that the American public would have been receptive to either the cruelty of the judges or the freakiness of the performers back in those days.

[NYCGirl]

17. And here's the answer. Here's Sinatra's application for Major Bowes' show from 1935.

The site is the Library of Congress. I love the Google!

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trm018.html

In 1935, the first year of radio network broadcasts of Major Bowes' Amateur Hour, more than thirty thousand acts auditioned for the talent contest program. One of the successful acts was the "Hoboken Four." The vocal quartet auditioned as "Frank Sinatra and the 3 Flashes," but was renamed, purportedly by Major Bowes himself. The act won the competition of the September 8, 1935, broadcast and joined one of Major Bowes's traveling vaudeville units. Sinatra soon left the tour to strike out on his own.

The Library holds a copy of nearly every radio and television network broadcast of the Amateur Hour program, which ran until 1970, and every successful application form for contestants on the radio series.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

20. I think it was the same show, different host

It was called The Original Amateur Hour. It began on radio and was started by Major Edward Bowes. After Bowes retired, Ted Mack, who worked for Bowes took over as host of The Original Amateur Hour. But Sinatra apparently appeared on the radio show when Bowes was the host.

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:a6C0RN7-aJgJ:www.originalamateurhour.com/dedication.htm+Major+Bowes+Ted+Mack&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us

[NYCGirl]

23. And it seems to be where Chuck Barris stole the "gong" idea from.

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~1930s2/Radio/day/8pm.html

[IntravenousDemilo]

35. Not disputing that, just your time-line. n/m

[IntravenousDemilo]

34. Still, by the '40s, Sinatra was no longer amateur.

He was already singing with Tommy Dorsey and making movies. And he won an Oscar for From Here to Eternity.

[TahitiNut]

30. Frank Sinatra started on the radio version hosted by Major Bowes

Good thing, too ... since he was not the most photogenic of singers. :shrug:

Ted Mack took over after Major Bowess died in 1948, iirc. (Yes, I was a toddler then.)

Some of these first-time of struggling amateurs who got their start on "The Original Amateur Hour" included Frank Sinatra, Pat Boone, Nick Carter, Gladys Knight, Ann-Margret, Robert Klein, Raul Julia, Beverly Sills, Connie Francis, Maria Callas, Joey Dee and The Starlighters, Robert Merrill, Jim Stafford and many others.

http://www.originalamateurhour.com/

[Skidmore]

6. Exactly!!!

They weren't the subject of news programs.

[KittyWampus]

8. Back then, tv stations were PROUD to lose money on their news productions.

Now, they begrudgingly do news only because its expected of them and ultimately prefer prefabricated handouts from Rove and entertainment fluff to fill the newshour.

[RaleighNCDUer]

11. In those days news outlets knew what real news was and had

real newsmen to cover it.

I suppose KO has to mention it now and then to keep from losing audience to his non-newsmen competitors.

[sandnsea]

18. Crass Culture of Condescension

Thank Rush and Coulter and even Bill Hicks and Jon Stewart who can be just as scathing in their ridicule as any right winger. Granted, they tell the truth whereas Rush and Coulter don't, but the love of ridiculing others is the same.

[Perky]

12. Can anyone explain the Sanjaya Phenomenon??

:shrug: :shrug: :shrug: :shrug: :shrug: :shrug: :shrug: :shrug: :shrug: :shrug: :shrug: :shrug: :shrug: :shrug: :shrug: :shrug: :shrug: :shrug: :shrug:

[sandnsea]

19. My daughter thinks it's vote manipulation

That web site that coordinates people to keep the worst on the show because it's so much fun laughing at people.

[Lenore]

25. Actually...

It's a little more indepth than that. From their site:

We're back! Votefortheworst.com was started in 2004 to support voting for the entertaining contestants who the producers would hate to see win on American Idol. Why do we do it? During the initial auditions, the producers of Idol only let certain people through. Many good people are turned away and many bad singers are kept around to see Simon, Paula, and Randy so that America will be entertained.

Now why do the producers do this? It's simple: American Idol is not about singing at all, it's about making good reality TV and enjoying the cheesy, guilty pleasure of watching bad singing. We agree that a fish out of water is entertaining, and we want to acknowledge this fact by encouraging people to make an even funnier show by helping the amusing antagonists stick around. VFTW sees keeping these contestants around as a golden opportunity to make a funnier show.

[sandnsea]

27. Except that's not true

All the contestants can sing, even Sanjaya can sing. Are they looking for something original and more than singing, an extra spark? Sure. But that doesn't mean they're putting people through who can't sing at all in order to allow people to ridicule them. That sickness is in your head and goes directly to this Culture of Condescension I was talking about below.

[Lenore]

32. Let me try to explain....

Did you enjoy those many weeks of "auditions" where they showed 20 minutes of "bad" (sometimes even mentally impaired) singers before they managed to show us one they happened to pass through that day?

Didn't you also see those "good" and sometimes even "great" singers passed up because they had already filled their quota's of black girls/ cowboy blonde's/rocker dudes (take your pick, add more even!) for that city? I saw it repeatedly (this season and the ones prior) and remember turning to my family members many times saying "what!?" that girl had soul and was much better than that (pick from list above) they just let through" but alas, they already had all the black girls they needed for the day (Or, in a different city with less racial diversity, it might be the great caucasian that doesn't make it because they already picked four, so they boot the better singer for someone "different" ::wink::wink:: ).

The flat out truth is that this is only a singing competition after the judges do their arbitrary cut-n-slash, a process in which many people are set up to be humiliated, brow beaten, mocked, laughed at... all for the pleasure of the viewing audience.

You got any problem with that? Or are you like most of the rest of us who secretly, or maybe not so secretly, enjoy watching the slow train wreck of awful contestants who expose themselves to our mockery week after hilarious week? No, I couldn't imagine you being one of those type, from the sanctimonious tone of your message.

So you see, I am the one who is being "real" about the situation whether you want to view it as 'that sickness in my head' or not. I realize what the "competition" is to begin with and think that it's AOK for the powers that be at American Idol to be stuck with *any one of the contestants* they put through to begin with. Especially when considering some of the gems they passed by in their desire to provide our weekly entertainment.

If you can't grasp what I am trying to say then just think of it this way. What's the problem with voting for the underdog anyways, as you say "even Sanjaya can sing" and I am quite sure he appreciates our votes!

[Lenore]

24. Sanjaya is our VOTE FOR THE WORST!!

Don'tcha just love it? LOL

Howard Stern gave VoteForTheWorst.com a huge plug on his show, Tuesday night. :toast:

What a riot!!!

I particularly love the way Vote for the Worst starts out their plug for Sanjaya, (http://www.votefortheworst.com bottom of the page) "OK, that was just terrible. We love you, Sanjaya!" :rofl:

[Perky]

36. Gee and I thought it was because he was grabbing an ethnic vote.

He appears to be on the bubble finishing next to last. Hopefully the incrdulity ends this week.


ALthough the vote for the worst campaign wif it catche don would just really undermin the show.

[WI_DEM]

21. you're sick of hearing about it but you post a thread on it?

[mnhtnbb]

22. There are three terrific African-American women contestants this year

This is a dream come true for these women.

Melinda Doolittle

Lakisha Jones

Jordin Sparks

[WI_DEM]

26. Agreed!! my personal favorite is Melinda.

The ladies (some of them) rock, but the guys are pretty uninspired. That's a nice way of putting it, isn't it?

[Lenore]

29. I like Melinda too

And Blake Lewis. Alas, as a vote for the worster, I vote for Sanjaya.

DialIdol.com has Sanjaya ranked between 2nd and 3rd place, tied with LaKisha (and right behind awesome Doolittle). No doubt his 'vote for the worst' fan base (aided along by Howard Stern) is the reason for his strong position.

I would like to note that Taylor Hicks was our pick last year, after Pickler was booted. He had been my favorite all season, SOUL PATROL!!!! Why was he picked? Was he the "worst singer?" Noooo! Vote for the Worst is not all about the 'worst singer' but more about picking the person who would be the most unpleasant for AI to have to market after the fact. Taylor rocks and yes I bought his CD, however, despite my admiration for the guy, he is a marketing nightmare and his record sales have demonstrated as much.

If and when Sanjaya goes, there is a good chance Blake Lewis might be our next Vote for the Worst. As I mentioned above, I actually like Blake (especially his awesome "somewhere only we know" rendition, I think it's even better than Keanes version), however that doesn't change the fact that a "Beatboxer" might be hell to market, especially if he goes all Taylor on them and insists on doing his own style of music LOL.

[sandnsea]

28. Lakisha, single mom, bank teller

Anybody who can't get inspired for her didn't get enough cuddle time or something.

[MichiganVote]

33. I think she is better than Melinda but time will tell