One of the great ideals underpinning American Idol is the thought that you can witness a scene like out of a 1940’s movie where a girl working in a restaurant does something nice and the right guy in the right place says “baby, I’m gonna make you a star” – then he does.  Or like other movies of the era where an A&R guy is looking for a new talent and someone drags him to a butcher shop promising “you just HAVE to hear this voice”, which ends up landing a likeable working class guy with a huge record contract.  In other words, aside from watching people make fools of themselves intentionally in the tryouts, the allure of American Idol is that someone who has had to forego their dreams of being a singer can emerge as a polished talent and see their dreams fulfilled.

Of course, the only ones who think that is the way things really work on the show are its’ youngest fans, many of whom would love nothing better than to appear as a contestant on the show and put their talent on display.  It might be naive, but that ‘anyone can win’ spirit is one thing that has made the show a family favorite in our house – and it isn’t just us.  During our recent move I was amazed at home many folks admitted watching it every week with their spouses, kids, parents, or whatever. 

But I don’t think that most people really believe that the show is so open as the producers and judges would have you believe.  Because while Simon feels the need to remind us week after week that ‘this is a singing competition … a talent competition’, that is only partially true.  In reality it is a TV show and therefore is about driving ratings; it is also a show with tendrils in many other media that produce loads of money.  The top couple of contestents get record contracts tied back into the show, so it is imperitive that the top few contestants are highly marketable pop talents; the top 10 go out on a summer-long tour, so it is important that they represent a diverse mix of genres and styles; and there is a cottage industry of merchandising around the show that would make Mel Brooks proud.

So it should not come as a surprise to anyone that the judges and producers work hard to fill up the top 24 with singers who are likely to meet all of those criteria.  Of course, at the same time they realize that many folks tuning in before the show hits the ‘top 10’ are looking for some clunkers as well as some brilliance.  Therefore they put in a few contestants for ‘entertainment value’.

That is how last season we ended up with Sanjaya.

The best way to make sure that contestants will be able to handle what it takes to be successful is to push forward folks who have some professional experience but have never been all that successful.  Having a backup singer like Melinda Doolittle works well, as it is someone that producers could be sure would be able to handle the pressure, and at the same time someone the audience could get behind as she ‘came from the background to the limelight’.

The problem is that once the show gets to the ‘phone voting’ stage, it is all about who people vote to keep on the show.  And that is why I mention Sanjaya – it was extraordinarily clear last year that the producers wanted him gone way before going from 7 to 6 finalists (which we just hit recently for season 7 with the elimination of Kristy Lee Cook), and it was also painfully clear that they had no intention of it happening again this year.  They cringe at the thought of sites like ‘VoteForTheWorst.com’ or programs like the Howard Stern show mobilizing thousands of calls to ‘game the system’ – because for the producers, it is all about money.

And for the past couple of years, they haven’t been pleased with the money they’ve made.  ‘Soul Patrol’ hasn’t made a big splash on the charts, MacPheever got dumped by her label, BeatBoxer doesn’t have fans beating down the record store doors, and … wait, who was it that won last year?  Oh yeah, Jordin Sparks.  And how do I remember that?  Because she was being pushed HARD while appearing in a featured position on the show recently.

That is another thing that the producers are doing – pushing the American Idol brand by trotting out a string of former Idol finalists week after week to push their singles.  Not truly successful ones like Kelly Clarkson or Carrie Underwood, but the second stringers I mentioned above as well as some others who could use a bit of a push.  That makes sense and is actually in keeping with the purported spirit of the show to help undiscovered talents realize their dreams.  The fact that it is largely self-serving and helps mask the fact that Sanjaya Malakar was the driving force behind the best ratings the show has had since its’ first two years is irrelevent.

But what about those undiscovered talents?  It is easy to look through the years and find finalists who have made attempts to build a music career and failed in the past.  As I said, that they were able to then audition and have enough singing and performance chops to advance only makes sense – for many it has been seen as a last chance to achieve their dream.  That plays well with audiences, who can get behind someone who has tried and been rejected only to get back up and try again.  But over the years the producers have increasingly played upon that by sending through ‘ringers’ while blocking out very talented singers with no prior background. 

No season has been worse with that than this year – season seven is rife with people who have had performing careers for many years.  And the reports of truly undiscovered talent getting sent home without a ‘golden ticket’ this year have been too numerous and coming from too many corners to dismiss as ‘sour grapes’.  What has really come through is that the producers cannot see the difference between undiscovered and failed.  Nearly the entire top 24 has some form of professional experience, many with other groups or as solo acts that toured and released recorded music at one time or other.  Some have even had previous recording deals.  Again, this doesn’t immediately disqualify them, but what is the likelihood that there would be such a sea change from ‘diamonds in the rough’ to ‘failures looking for a second chance’ in such a short time period.  Exactly.  So while the producers don’t like fans gaming the system, they are doing it worse than anyone.

The poster-child for failure is this season’s Carly Smithson: she was pushed hard during the fifth season until her Visa expired and she had to leave.  That pretty much got her a pass this year, and she was pushed very hard by the producers – she got loads of face-time on the early episodes, appeared in nearly every commercial, and even criticism from the judges is couched in praise.  They will routinely say “you are an extremely talented singer who is better than tonight’s performance, and while you deserve to go to the next round you need to make better choices”.

But the real story is about her life as ‘Carly Hennessy’.  Back in the early days of the new millenium, MCA records – including an A&R man by the name of Randy Jackson was so sure that Ms. Hennessy would be a star that they dropped a large advance on her lap, gave her thousands of dollars a month in living expenses, and spent over $2 million to produce a debut CD for her.  The result of these millions in support?  She sold 378 copies of the CD.  Yes, that is right – not even 400 copies!  Heck, my high school rock band put together a single for a few hundred dollars with no marketing at all other than being put in a couple of local record stores and sold more than 300 copies! If this seems like a monumental failure, it is – big enough to be named #15 on the “20 Biggest Record Company Screw-Ups of All Time“.

This is what American Idol has become?  Rather than looking for the next Kelly Clarkson, someone who had decided to pursue her dreams but never gotten further than making demos for a record company, we have someone who has actually had millions of dollars spent on them by a record company?  Does anyone remember that Kelly Clarkson got in trouble after the first season due to potential ties to a record company (which was just the possible demo work)?  Now we have a large number of top 24 contestents who have been involved with record companies and even Smithson who has ties to one of the judges as well as a CD released on a major label?

One possible side-effect of having so many people who have failed to break through despite repeated attempts and sponsorship is that the contestents know that making it to the top 10 on this show is very likely their last chance at a singing career.  This tends to make them very risk-averse, or to quote Simon Cowell recently when asked to “pinpoint a collective flaw in the season 7 cast”:

Personality. They are giving very safe answers to questions, making safe song selections. We are not getting a sense of who they are. We have to try to pull it out of them more.

So how would you describe American Idol now?  It is certainly no longer a ‘showcase of undiscovered pop talent’ … perhaps now it is ‘the last refuge of the failed but fairly talented’?  Whatever it is, there are many things it isn’t.  It isn’t pulling in the viewers like it used to, as Ryan Seacrest’s claims of 30 million viewers for the Idol Gives Back show was off by over 35% (actual numbers were ~23 million).  It also isn’t selling records like it used to, as Kelly Clarkson’s troubled third CD sold better than anything from any of the recent winners or runners-up.  It has also drifted about as far from ‘reality’ as possible without getting in trouble with the FCC for abusing the label: the audience members are hand-placed, gift cards are handed out as rewards, extreme audience instruction is given and there are apparently reshoots done for effect!  In case anyone thought otherwise, the Q&A segment is not live, nor are many of the guest shots.

Yet despite all of the shedding of viewers and fading record sales, the show continues to dominate ratings during its’ entire season.  However, even during its’ most touted week so far it barely hung on to that lead as other shows have begun to pose a credible challenge; and trotting out gold and platinum records for Jordin Sparks looked more like a desparation move than a recognition of popularity – it was like the show was pleading “hey, look at me, I must be great because I’m so POPULAR”!  Sadly, since writing this we have learned that Jordin Sparks has serious vocal chord issues that could sideline her career at such a young age.  She was set to tour with Alicia Keys, but now needs to take time to rest or will be in danger of losing her ability to sing at all.  Considering how young she is and how much money she is making the Idol folks, you’d think they could help educate these kids on taking care of themselves!

It is interesting the buzz all over the internet now that Carly Smithson has been eliminated.  There is loads of hand-wringing, people saying that this is a clear sign that the show has ‘jumped the shark’, that it shows that it is harder for girls than guys to get through, and so on.  There are some high-profile articles I have read that express utter disbelief, as if she hadn’t been in the bottom three multiple times.  They are quickly dismissive of her prior failures and ready to latch on to Carly saying ‘I consider Idol my first chance.  I don’t know about you, but I would *love* the opportunity to get a $2.5 million ‘do over’ opportunity!

Perhaps the show should take a lesson from its’ own history; maybe they should put back the rules making it an amatuer competition, and focus on discovering and developing the best undiscovered talent.  Earning goodwill while promoting someone who deserves attention?  Sounds like a good way to rebuild an audience to me!

It has been a little more than two weeks since I started this – I was going to post it back then, but the obviously much more important GamerDad stuff needed full site coverage.  I’ve infused a couple of recent developments that have happened, but perhaps none is as telling as this week’s ‘Paula-Gate’.  If you didn’t hear, the singers were to perform two songs and the judges would only comment after the second song.  At the mid-point, Ryan (apparently prompted by producer Simon Lithgoe) quickly asked judges for an appraisal of the first round.  Since the judges usually give opinions right after a performance, this shouldn’t have been too big of an issue, right?  But Paula gave Jason her opinion on *both* songs, and then tried to back out of it after pretty much the entire world was shouting at her and reactions from Simon, Ryan, and others caused quick camera cuts.  But she failed her save since the next person was David Cook who was really good, as opposed to Jason who was not.  It simply reinforced something that has been thought for a while – the judges make their opinions during the dress rehearsals and get to work on them and make sure they are ‘on point’ with the producer’s wishes before speaking during the performance.

Neil Diamond week also reinforced another thing – how do the judges expect these kids to be contemporary when they keep trotting out people at least old enough to be their parents (Mariah) and generally old enough to be their grandparents or great-gransparents (everyone else)?  I mean, look at it this way – my parents had young kids when Beatlemania hit, and I can sing every word from ‘Hot August Night’ because my mom played the albums ad nauseum back in the 70’s.  So this was essentially music of my parents – and I’m now considered ‘middle aged’.  Why should these kids care?

Tags: Misc