American Idol: The Show No One Wants to Admit They Watch

HighLordDave · Post by **HighLordDave** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 6:36 pm

That's right folks, this is the Official GameBanshee American Idol thread. I know I'm not the only idiot out there who watches this show, so it's time to come clean.

If you don't feel comfortable posting this under your actual GameBanshee moniker, you might PM Buck and see if he will make an exception to the "no alter ego" rule to protect your identity from public shaming.

Having said that, this thread is for discussion on all things related to my favourite guilty pleasure.

Some topics to start:

Why the hell weren't Lisa and Tiara not picked to sing last night? They were better than at least four of the folks who got second chances.
Last year there was Clay, Frenchie and Rueben; everyone else was playing for scraps. After Frenchie got booted off, only a late charge by Kimberly Locke prevented Clay and Rueben from phoning it in every week until the finals. There's no clear front runner(s) this year; who are the contenders and who are the pretenders?
Who's going to win?
Can someone get me a date with Paula Abdul?
Who is going to do better when all is said and done: the American Idol winner or William Hung?

Coot · Post by **Coot** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 3:39 am

=shakes head and looks extremely disappointed= And to think, I always respected you, Dave. You were one of my rolemodels when I started on these forums man! Have you no shame??
Idols... My God.
Now, if it had been Big Brother...

RandomThug · Post by **RandomThug** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 9:32 am

There is only one good reality television show and this is not it. It's the one thats been around for ever and will never go away. I will now go start a thread for that much better reality show.

Ned Flanders · Post by **Ned Flanders** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 1:30 pm

I haven't even seen as much as a nanosecond of this series, ever. It has no nudity, drug use, profanity, nor a high body count. What's the fascination? Perhaps it serves as a confidence booster for many as they can watch the show and say, "Thank goodness I'm not any of those people." I suppose it's inaccurate of me to say I haven't seen a nanosecond, I have seen ads for it on the idiot box.

@HLD, Paula Abdul? Maybe 15 years ago. Come now, you know better. Brittany Skye is single these days.

@RT, is your reality show COPS?

Sojourner · Post by **Sojourner** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 1:50 pm

I'm admitting...that I've never watched it, ever. So what's the show supposed to be about?

HighLordDave · Post by **HighLordDave** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 3:34 pm

It's a variation of the UK's Pop Idol that was bastardised and imported to the US.

Basically, every year a group of kids (16-25) try out for a guaranteed recording contract with a guy who they sign their soul over to. After several rounds of cuts, the group is whittled town to 12 finalists who are then voted off one at a time by the viewing audience until there is a winner ("There can be only one").

You can check out the official website here.

Xandax · Post by **Xandax** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 3:47 pm

Lukily I don't wacth it - eventhough several of these so call "reality" shows are running on danish television.

I hate these shows and they have squat to do with reality. In fact it is very surreal, taking people into situations they would never get into in reality.

The lust for 15 min. of fame or a small slumb of cash can make stupid people very idiotic.

Bigbrother, Survivour (or Robinson as it is called here in Scadinavia), Idol, Popstar etc ... the makers should be shot on televions instead - now *that* would make for interesting TV

Gwalchmai · Post by **Gwalchmai** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 5:28 pm

We tuned in to American Idol for the first time last week for about half a show. My kids were really facinated to see fairly average people singing. Plus, they liked to dance to the music.

I spent my time playing Morrowind.

HighLordDave · Post by **HighLordDave** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 7:03 pm

The contestants are suprisingly average. There is no one this year who is far and away better than the rest of the field. Some have a lot of talent, but very few are polished.

Leah is perhaps the best performer, but her vocal skills are at best above average. John and Diana have excellent voices, but being so young, they lack stage presence and experience.

It will be interesting to see how things shake out.

Coot · Post by **Coot** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 10:04 am

Originally posted by Xandax
the makers should be shot on televions instead - now *that* would make for interesting TV

ROFL!!

Dave, I don't know if there's any difference between US Idols and Dutch Idols, but the "highlights" in Dutch Idols are mostly in the first few shows.
There you get all the strange people and misfits who couldn't sing their way out of a kitchen sink to save their lives. The critics are quite harsh (not to mention arrogant) and I sometimes wonder if they (the "performers", not the panelmembers), should be protected by law and not be allowed to participate.

nael · Post by **nael** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 10:04 pm

the only shows i watch each year are the first few episodes with all of the horrible people. I could watch that for hours...

Kayless · Post by **Kayless** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 12:45 pm

Bah! I despise reality TV and American Idol is no different (don’t people write scripted shows any more).

My mother watches the show all the time though (she’s a huge Clay Aiken fan) so I do get to hear about it fairly often.

P.S. I enjoyed Simon Cowell's appearance on the Simpsons (especially at the end when Homer is hitting him and he criticizes his attack).

fable · Post by **fable** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 1:25 pm

I have heard of this show, because I came in once on my wife watching it. She froze it on VHS, and seemed sheepish, so I had to ask her what it was. Then, she started it up again, and I watched in shock and horror for approximately 45 seconds. Note, this is also a woman who is married to a reallife witch and Wiccan, and enjoys watching Charmed.

Fourteen years without television. I can see at least another happy decade without the boob tube in evidence.

Kayless · Post by **Kayless** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 9:40 pm

Originally posted by fable
Fourteen years without television. I can see at least another happy decade without the boob tube in evidence.

Great googly moogely!

Who are you, the Unibomber?

InfiniteNature · Post by **InfiniteNature** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 10:01 pm

Googley Moogely love that, Evolution right, the part where they see the thousands of dead dinosaur corpses?

As to the topic, I would watch the reality shows if there were actually some real reality to them, like Survivor, for example should be a real survivor, none of that pansy pulling them off if they break a leg stuff, but putting some people on a island, giving them only enough like if a ship crashed, put cameras all over the place, and the one that manages to eat the rest gets the million or so dollars, I mean then they would I feel have earned it.

I would pay quite bit to see a survivor where they actually really survive.

American Idol, no can't say I have the pleasure, suppose people find it fascinating because of some belief that maybe they too can succeed in that celebrity world, but I suppose its not all bad, I mean how often do real people get a chance to enter the corporate media world, not often you usually have to have connections, so I really can't criticize, even if I don't have the fascination some people do.

Idioteque · Post by **Idioteque** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 10:50 pm

I refuse to watch any reality TV for fear that Dish Network reports what I watch. Though I admit I did see about 20 minutes of The Littlest Groom.

I also admit that I did see the video of that guy that sang She Bangs on American Idol because it was on a few forums.

Minerva · Post by **Minerva** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 4:35 am

Have you ever heard Eurosong contest? I think that's the name, anyway. I really don't see the point of the waste of money and time show live on TV every year. I definitely got better thing to do, like watch American Idol. YES, IT'S THAT BAD!!

CM · Post by CM » Tue Mar 16, 2004 8:20 am

I watched road to nashville yesterday, 1 min later i switched to Cartoon Network as it was more entertaining

I dont get what people see in these reality tv shows. The worst however are those reality dating shows. Those are just pathetic....

Coot · Post by **Coot** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 8:38 am

Originally posted by Minerva
Have you ever heard Eurosong contest? I think that's the name, anyway. I really don't see the point of the waste of money and time show live on TV every year. I definitely got better thing to do, like watch American Idol. YES, IT'S THAT BAD!!

It IS bad. Very bad. The quality of the artists is terrible. And Holland still manages to lose, year after year.

debszelda · Post by **debszelda** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 11:08 pm

I liked watching the beginning...some of the auditions were hilarious.

The rest of it...could care less. Pretty much a popularity contest. No one has really stood out like the past 2 years.

My kids love it...they are hooked. I am actually surprised...most of all...that my husband enjoys watching it.