Idol Chatter

Do I know how to pick 'em, or what? Well ... kind-of ... I pegged them both for removal, but one was on my "think" list and one was on my "hope" list. Nevertheless, it's still a bit sad to see Jasmine Murray and Jorge Nuñez sent on their way, but I think it was the best decision ... Anoop needs a chance to redeem himself. Anyway, this "judges' save" thing could be interesting, so we'll see who they end up snatching from the gaping maw of pop-culture footnotedom, if they decide to use it at all.

You know, since it's on my mind (and I meant several times to talk about it last year), I'm gonna spout off some random gripes I have about "Idol"....

Can't they get rid of those hideous group numbers at the beginnings of the results shows? They're never better than okay (indeed they're usually well below that notch), and the contestants all look like they're fully aware of just how dorky they look; indeed, some of them look like they're actually enduring great physical pain during those numbers. I usually try to leave the room while they're happening, so I'd just as soon see them gotten rid of.

And I don't think any more highly of these Ford music videos. Sure, the show needs a big corporate sponsor (well, arguably it does), and it's not like the contestants didn't know they were sort-of "selling out" by entering the Top 12 ... but do they have to feel dorky and actually look like sellouts? (Besides, those videos are nothing more than commercials anyway.)

Another thing I think is pretty stupid is the fact that the viewers can vote as many times as they want to in the allotted two-hour voting window. Maybe it makes for impressive numbers of total votes, but when one person can vote sixty-seven times, it's still just one person voting. It can easily skew the results unfairly, and it makes the people who "do the right thing" by only casting their vote once (as was certainly the original intent of the system) feel insignificant. The current no-limit voting system gives power to the people who can simply press the "redial" button the fastest -- and I don't know about you, but that "skill" doesn't impress me one bit.

It couldn't take much to install a simple phone-number-logging system that will accept only one phone call from each number. Make it so that it won't count the caller's vote until it's logged the number and plays a "your vote has been received" message -- and it can simply delete the log after each week's results are counted, to appease the paranoid privacy worry-warts out there. We might hear Ryan announce a much lower vote count, but I'd be much more interested if the number actually represented how many people voted.

As I said a moment ago, I do kind-of like the concept of this "save" thing, but I think it'd be neater if it were an internet-based viewer vote system. Think about it: when the competition gets down to the Top 5 or Top 4, the viewers would be able (for, say, a two- or three-day period) to go to the "American Idol" website and vote for their favorite cast-off from the Top 12, but only one vote per IP address would be permitted; the one with the most votes (like, duh) would be brought back for one last chance. A lot more fun than those fuddy-duddy judges making the decision, wouldn't you say?!

And, lastly, the "groups" round in the Hollywood segment ... exactly what purpose did that serve? If the contestants were in the contest to win a place in a singing group, then I'd understand. But they're being judged based on individual singing talent, and the one who wins will be a solo recording artist ... so I don't see what their teamwork and interpersonal dynamics would have to do with anything. All I saw was a bunch of personal drama and ego-clashing to score some ratings points for Fox. If this worthless stuff had happened last season (the first season I watched "Idol"), I probably would have abandoned it at that point, and certainly would not have bothered with the show this season.

Okay ... have you had enough of my ranting yet? (That was a rhetorical question, by the way....) Now I'm ready for some more "Idol" ... not including the first five minutes of the results shows each week.