I, personally, think it's a sad state for American Idol. Now I'll admit I watched the show in earlier seasons. I was intrigued to see young hopefuls get their shot at stardom. Some of these kids had true talent that needed to be discovered, but then the show began to present kids that were more of a ratings-grabber (not in a positive way) than they were talented. I wrote in a previous post about how I think the world is a talentless hack and in there I alluded to my thoughts on American Idol. So here let me flesh out a bit what I'm talking about.

First off, can you name for me the winner of this season's American Idol? Don't worry I'll wait.

Exactly.

Who amongst us hasn't lowered our interest of American Idol down to just reading spoilers or recaps over the internet. Or, if we hear that someone did extraordinarily well, we just head over to YouTube to watch that particular performance. How many of us are sitting through an entire hour of a show listening to people belt out songs in genres that they'll probably never touch again. It was one of those things I hated about AI: If a guy is good at rock, then why can't he spend his weeks doing rock. Some contestants got lambasted for seeming like they weren't stepping out of the box. Well maybe it's because they know where their bread-and-butter is!

Then they tried a 4-person judging panel. Great, that's what I need... MORE people fawning over non-talent. Love or hate Simon, you knew the man didn't give a damn what you thought. His goal was to make money and he wasn't going to waste it on some kid who eventually would end up making some D-rate movie and go no where. Well that's technically not true, Kelly Clarkson did that God-awful film and managed to survive it. Justin... where are you, buddy!? Nothing really against the judges, but they were just opinion heads (not to be confused with pinheads).

And yes, America. You have no idea what you want do you? Guys, face it, you were voting for the girl that you wanted to sleep with and ladies, you were voting for that adorable guy in hopes that he'd personally come to your house and thank you with hugs, kisses and breakfast with just an apron on. Do you really stop and listen to these people sing? Did you know there was a whole movement to get the worst person on the show as far along in the competition as possible? Did you know that every year they seem to do well with disrupting the show? I can't tell you how many times I've watched a result show only to come away thinking that America must be super cynical or very complacent and thinks that their talented racehorse is getting through automatically. I think it's just a thing with reality talent competition: some people vote with their libido and others vote with everyone else's libido.

My other issue with the show is the fact that winning doesn't mean much. The top 10 goes on tour and runners up seem to do just as well in life as the winner!? Why isn't American Idol just taking their winner and putting them on an initial tour? A lot of the people I've gravitated towards from AI have been people who haven't won the show. I couldn't tell you what Taylor Hicks is doing and I, for damn sure won't be able to tell you what the first single off the current winner's album will be (Yes, I don't even know the current winners name and I don't care enough to Google it for this article).

Then there's that nonsense about the auditions. What a joke. Don't get me started on the "Pants on the Ground" guy or even William Hung. We all watch the auditions now for the train wrecks. How many tweets or posts do you see that say "Wow, that guy/girl was really good!" vs ones that say "Dude, that girl was all kinds of f*cked up!" or "Who the hell let him through the initial gate?"

Now I understand that TV is about ratings and American Idol brings in cash and everyone and their left testicle wants to run an ad during a program that attracts millions of viewers, but when you relegate your audition show to just show me the idiots of the idiots then I lose interest quickly. Plus, you now open the floodgate for every person to come on the show and do whatever they can to get 15 minutes of fame or a gig at the Bellagio. Has there been a person who came in and said "I'm the next American Idol because the AI Video Game told me so!" You know that person is out there!

So we now have a new winner for AI and I have to send congratulations. It definitely is nerve wracking to spend weeks performing in front of millions of people all for that one shot at putting your name in lights. I do wish you the best, but remember to keep a level head and play things smart (and open a savings account!).

Maybe after they do some tweaking of the show for next season, I'll give it another go... who knows?