American Idol, The Final 24
The announcement of the final 24 American Idol contestants last night left me perplexed, confused and angry.
For a few of the chosen, we had seen their performances at some point before last night. At least there was some basis for agreeing or disagreeing with the judges choice. But for others, I don't ever remember laying eyes on them before last night. Most in this category were fine. Happily, my ultimate pick, Melinda Doolittle, survived and really shined. She showed little sign of her previous shyness in her performance, a good omen for the future.
One great mystery is the choosing of Sundance Head. He sounded quite good in the early auditions, so much so that I had picked him as a finalist then, but in two appearances on subsequent shows he has been barely adequate. Why he survived is a mystery. It leads one to suspect that factors other than singing talent are at play in the selection process. Are such things as the appeal or lack thereof of an a back story, the appearance, ethnic group, likability also in the mix unbeknown to us?
As I suspected, two of my top picks from the auditions disappeared from the face of the earth. Sarah Kreuger and Ebony Jointer were never seen performing. I never even saw a shot of Kreuger's face in the last two shows. They are gone, with no explanation of whether there singing was not up to par, they in some way offended the producers, or had baggage in their backgrounds that led the producers to banish them.
The bottom line for me is that I will not again watch the audition shows. Now that we know that some we may like will be disappeared and that others will show up only at the last minute, the only reason for watching the auditions is to laugh at the deluded ones. That would require a fairly enormous cruel streak.
For a few of the chosen, we had seen their performances at some point before last night. At least there was some basis for agreeing or disagreeing with the judges choice. But for others, I don't ever remember laying eyes on them before last night. Most in this category were fine. Happily, my ultimate pick, Melinda Doolittle, survived and really shined. She showed little sign of her previous shyness in her performance, a good omen for the future.
One great mystery is the choosing of Sundance Head. He sounded quite good in the early auditions, so much so that I had picked him as a finalist then, but in two appearances on subsequent shows he has been barely adequate. Why he survived is a mystery. It leads one to suspect that factors other than singing talent are at play in the selection process. Are such things as the appeal or lack thereof of an a back story, the appearance, ethnic group, likability also in the mix unbeknown to us?
As I suspected, two of my top picks from the auditions disappeared from the face of the earth. Sarah Kreuger and Ebony Jointer were never seen performing. I never even saw a shot of Kreuger's face in the last two shows. They are gone, with no explanation of whether there singing was not up to par, they in some way offended the producers, or had baggage in their backgrounds that led the producers to banish them.
The bottom line for me is that I will not again watch the audition shows. Now that we know that some we may like will be disappeared and that others will show up only at the last minute, the only reason for watching the auditions is to laugh at the deluded ones. That would require a fairly enormous cruel streak.
Labels: American Idol
posted by Joe Hogan at
12:17 PM
