Here’s why I despise American Idol (Currently in Season 5).

  1. It’s a reality TV show - these shows are famous for violently exploiting stupid naive idiots ordinary people, for cheap laughs. At best, the victim participants get away with some therapy, at worst they may be damaged for life.
  2. Just a participant - Come on. You know it, I know it most of these people haven’t a snowflakes chance in hell of ever - they are simply there to increase the ratings. Who wins in this deal? The participant who gets jerked around and laughed at on national TV? Not. Of all the people who showed up, only about 10 people have any real chance, the judges knew that on day one, but a whole load of people were given false hopes, then chucked out, all in the name of ratings.
  3. Mind games - instead of being straightforward with the participants, they make them wait, try games on them (such as pretending to put them through and then throwing them out), and so on. Some of these tactics would probably constitute as cruel and unusual punishment, but hey, all in the name of ratings.
  4. Simon - I like the fact that he’s honest, but I dislike his rudeness. And he gets away with it, because, part of his job contract probably specifies that he has to be rude. Either that or he does it for the sheer fun of it. Half the ratings the show gets are due to him, so its unlikely he’ll ever leave. Not that good for all the people who get laughed at by him on prime time TV.
  5. Paula - does, nothing. Simply, she serves no real function, except as an accesssory. I guess she’s the token girl
  6. Randy - serves no real purpose (except to say Dawg) occationally, he has an opinion, but other than that, not much else. Yup, you guessed it, he’s the token African American.

But who cares really. Idol is literally wiping out prime time competition, its the most watched show on TV, and as long as the cash registers keep ringing, who cares.

As for the contestants, as sittingnut once pointed out to me, they know what they are getting, so they probably deserve it.

Disclaimer: American Idol is probably a trademark of Fox, all rights reserved, I’m just expressing my personal opinion here.