popular thinking

WORSHIPING FALSE AMERICAN IDOLS: I'll be repeating myself, but at least more people have begun to join in my chorus of oohs and boos over the sham of a mockery of a sham that is FOX's American Idol. What must've seen like a good idea at the time -- extending the audition episodes to three weeks and six hours -- only helped expose the show as something other than a nationwide singing contest. Some of us already knew that AI producers don't let everyone audition in front of Simon, Paula and Randy, that producers handpick the best and the worst from the line and send everyone else packing. That's why the held two-day auditions. But what makes it crazier is how AI covered some of the worst in profile fashion, going to their homes and interviewing their friends and family before the audition, setting their egos up for massive attack (literally -- not a band reference). And as I've mentioned more than once, the William Hung effect is in full effect. From producers and host Ryan Seacrest, who actively search out the next Hung Please Don't Solo, to the contestants, who now know that they don't necessarily have to be able to sing to be a star. And then you have the contestants who merely seek their 15 seconds of fame and are more than happy with that. I could go on and on. But Andy Denhart, he of the joyous reality TV blog, reality blurred, had plenty to offer on this subject himself earlier today in an MSNBC essay. So click the link and read that, too.