“Idol” shows. American Idol. NZ Pop Idol. So You Want To Be An Idol. Survivor Island: Idol.
I don’t get them.
At all.
Apart from the schadenfreude of watching the shitpile auditions in the first episode, why would anyone watch this stuff? Ever? Any yet, they’re hugely popular, people love them. Sane, rational people. People who have arguments in front of me, at work, over who would be dropped and who go on the INSTANT DEATH round where there’s a cage match. That’s not actually true, there’s no cage match. If there were, I would actually watch. I’m one of those terrible people who think that The Running Man game show is a brilliant idea. But why watch beyond the crappy auditions? If you want to see Karaoke, go to a Karaoke bar. Get drunk. Participate. It’s much more fun than watching Karaoke on TV. If you want to see bitchy sniping and bullshit politics, go to your local gay bar. Or amateur/semi-pro theatre group. Why watch this idol stuff?
Also, what kind of person who claims to want to be a serious career musician, actually goes ON these shows? With one exception the “careers” of these people, post-idol-show, have majestically soared like the Challenger spacecraft, like a late-model Concorde leaping into flight, like the New Orleans Levee System, like a Metaphor Being Stretched Too Far And Snapping. You get the idea.
Surely anyone who really wants to be a professional muso should avoid these shows as if they were the Cursed Touch of Death to your credibility. Which of course, they are. How’re those Clay and Reuben dudes doing, these days? I seem to have somehow missed either of their latest chart-placing singles. I’m sure the dinner theatre and bar-mitzvah circuit has greatly benefited from both of them.
The exception, as mentioned earlier, is Kelly Clarkson, who’s doing very well. And even then, she had to keep a very low profile for a few years, then come back without ANY mention of American Idol in her marketing. _ANY_ mention.
I’m guessing, much like reality shows, these idol things are cheap to make, syndicatable, and if the artists do well, the idol producers get additional revenue in the form of points on income streams from future works by the artist. Nice deal.
Looks good for the producers, but I’m damned if I can figure out why so many people watch.