Once again, let me reiterate my political platform.
1. You, the good people of the United States, will amend the Constitution so that persons where are not natural-born citizens can become president.
2. I will run for president and you will elect me to be your firm, but benevolent leader.
3. Using all of the legislative tools at my disposal, I will ramrod the following legislation through Congress: All reality show results shows will last no longer than 30 minutes, including commercial breaks.
4. I will sign that bill into law.
5. Immediately after the aforementioned law takes effect, I will abdicate office in favour of someone more qualified to be president.
There it is, my candidacy for presided under the banner of the Reasonable Results Show Time Limit Party.
Tonight's show featured a bottom 3 that was somewhat surprising: Casey, Mike, Siobhán.
That means that Aaron, Crystal, and Lee were safe. How 'bout this season as the season of the girls? I guess Randy really does know what he's talking about. ::eyeroll::
I can see how the five remaining singers are safe; some were handed a gazillion votes beginning in the audition rounds (Mike, Crystal, Casey). Aaron has been picking up votes from the recently-departed (Katie, Tim). Lee has been flying under the radar and might be one of the last standing as the other four knocked each other around (think Jasmine from season 3).
Siobhán's problem isn't a lack of talent, nor is it her song choice. It's that she has an odd (read: non-mainstream) style. As a result, people either really, really like her, or they really, really despise her. This meant she wasn't picking up new voters as the season has progressed. This is vital because--as we all know--American Idol isn't a talent competition, it's a popularity contest.
This makes picking up new voters imperative to staying on the show.
Mike and Aaron (plus to a lesser extent, Lee) have been doing this on a consistent basis by pandering for votes and sticking to the (small) comfort boxes the judges have carved out for them. Crystal and Casey may also find themselves in danger because they've stuck to their own creative instincts.
I think the voting trends are the singular reason why the winner hasn't generally gone on to great commercial success. While playing the game and winning show a base level of talent, it doesn't always mean that the powervoters are willing to buy hundreds of downloads/albums as they are willing to re-dial and re-text for four hours.
To me, Siobhán's screaming was annoying, but like some other singers in seasons past, I always wanted to know what she was going to do next.
What we're left with are five predictable singers who will each do what they do best. How will they finish?
A few weeks ago, I picked Casey to win, but I think Lee is making a quiet charge, Mike has benefited from massive face time and the scare that the save instilled in his followers and Aaron has been picking up votes left and right.
I'll have to cogitate for a while and re-order my top 5, but for now, I'll miss the originality that Siobhán brought to this season.
High Lord. Out.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
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9 comments:
There doesn't even need to BE a separate results show. "Nashville Star" had a great solution (at least they did in the early seasons...I stopped watching after a while) in which there was only one show a week - the performance show. On each one, they would call singers out one by one in random order and whoever wasn't called was the one eliminated. It's so simple and brilliant, but it doesn't generate a shit-ton of ad revenue, so Idol would never do it.
I'm not sure why, but last night's results show was interminable! I thought it would NEVER end. Why didn't Shania sing I wonder?
I'm sorry to see Siobhan go. Yes, her performance the previous night and many other weeks too, was messy. But her farewell performance last night was evidence of why she was there in the first place. That, I believe was her first "scream" but it fit that particular song. Paint it Black was also a fabulous performance (despite the combat boots) and then she kind of fell apart throwing in those high notes it seemed just because she could whether or not they improved the song. Her outfits got more and more ridiculous and she just seemed to flounder, not knowing which direction to take. However, I continued to wait and hope that she'd bring it again but she just never did. Shame really!
I agree Dave that Aaron must be picking up Tim and to a lesser extent, Katie's votes. I'm tired of him though and really think he and Mike should be gone by now. I still regret the loss of Katelyn and Lili. Siobhan should have made it to top five along with those two and Crystal, making Randy's prediction a reality. Just because this didn't happen doesn't mean it shouldn't have.
To me, it looked like the show was really starting to get to Siobhan. She had been getting worse each week, rather than better. It seemed like every song she sang was just a prelude to a shriek. I think it's probably best that she left before she really crumbled.
Man, who's going to get Siobhan's voters? Is Lee going to pull a Kris Allen and win the whole thing?
I think the bulk of Siobhán's voters will go to Crystal. Her charm is that she is an odd (and I mean that in the nicest possible way) personality, and I don't think they'd gravitate towards an older hot guy (Casey), a teenage kid who might be 13 years old (Aaron), a big black guy who wants to sing pop but picks R&B ballads because the judges have told him that's that they want (Mike) or a boring guy who's simply trying his darndest not to be the one left standing when the music stops (Lee).
Crystal will get all of the girl power votes, plus in a way both Siobhán and Crystal are indie-style artists, one of whom has spent a lot of time at her craft and one of whom just likes to sing and scream. A lot.
If Crystal had a problem with picking up new voters, I think it was staved off for a couple of weeks as the guys knocked each other around until the top 3. Then it will be anyone's game.
yeah, the show just got REAL boring.
my 9 yr old was screaming at the TV she was so upset. She really liked the individuality of Siobhan.
It's really getting to be time to remove powervoting from the show. Personally, I think that is one of the reasons the ratings are dropping. The singers normal people who might actually buy records want to stay in keep getting voted off by the little kiddies with free texting, so the show loses it's real purpose of finding the best unknown talent as the winner.
I think the main reason they don't get rid of powervoting is because then Seacrest couldn't say, "Last night, 35 million votes were cast!" even if that means the quality of the overall product is diminished.
yup, i'd agree. it might be time to take a year off, remake the judge/host group, and get back to a format to produces stars like Kelly, Carrie, and Daughtry. And make the age limit 18-29, no more 16 yr olds. they are simply too young in almost every case to win. And let contestants not in the top 10 come back the following year, give them a chance to correct the criticisms, or get the boot that much sooner
Dig that Casey James. He keeps getting better and better. He's been my pick since day one. I also love the piece that writer Davido did on Casey at www.thejukeboxhero.com.
Go Casey!
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