Thursday, January 10, 2008

Love/Hate Relationship

I like tee-vee. It's a silly, misguided, and frivolous creature most of the time, but still the animal I love the most.

And as much as I can appease myself with all there is to enjoy of late, writer's strike and all (Dexter Cycle 2, Jeckyl, Life, South Park cycle 10, A Daily Show & Colbert Report, The Border, and Burn Notice, now available in Canada on Super Channel!), there are times when tee-vee makes me want to throw up in my mouth...read: American Idol.

Don't get me wrong...I know why Idol is a monster hit. I 'get' it. I just don't like it.

From ctv.ca

Always-quirky audition episodes kick off Season 7 of American Idol

With days to go before the premiere of American Idol, fans are smacking their lips in anticipation of the most humourous -- and often humiliating -- first episodes of the show, the auditions.

Commercials already airing for Season 7, which begins Tuesday, January 15 at 8 p.m. ET on CTV, have given the show's massive and ravenous audience a sneak peak into the over-the-top drama of a few unsuccessful competitors.

From insisting they sound like "Mariah Houston" to having backstage freak-outs at the camera, the show is looking as juicy as ever!

And I especially don't like Idol when it launches with the audition episodes.

You know, the ones where they touch on the lucky few that somehow made it through the gauntlet of singalongs and pre-interviews and callbacks and profiling (trust me, how good they can sing is so far down on the list - the show is looking for 'types' and 'characters'), but dwell on the auditioners who croak and squeak their way through a tune only to suffer insults from the panel of 'experts' sitting there with their giant Slurpee cups of Coke.

Millions upon millions of people tune in to laugh at the shortcomings and failures of others. It's the cornerstone of most reality TV programming, and it's just wrong.

And sooooo mean-spirited.

But it gets worse. The recent promo blitz on CTV goes one step further, presenting social and cultural stereotypes being ridiculed and humiliated. The overweight pseudo-diva black woman....the overtly gay interior decorator salsa man... I mean, C'MON!



What was once ads for genuine fame seekers tripping over their own voices is now promo after promo of what are clearly plants, I'm even betting actors, pretending to be wannabe's so they can sing badly, act ignorant, and storm out of the room in a rage.

And millions smack their lips in anticipation.

That's when I hate tee-vee.

4 comments:

Cunningham said...

I watch Idol, but only when they get down to the top 15. This is when it's a television show to me, and not a circus of freaks.

Kelly J. Crawford said...

Yeah, I'm not really a point and laugh kind of person. Everytime I say soemthing vicious or highly insensitive about someone who really doesn't deserve it, I can feel the cold clutches of Hell squeeze a bit tighter around my heart.

jimhenshaw said...

Just read in the Globe that Prime Minister Harper says, "Saskatchewan's Back".

Sorry, didn't know the whole province had been away and it's odd that none of us noticed. But I guess that explains the lack of Posts lately.

Hope you had a good time -- are there like 800,000 people with tans?

Tim T said...

I know this is off topic, but has anyone ever actually seen Harper in person?

I saw him when he was running for prime minister, held an elevator for him. All I can suggest is don't look into his eyes. It creeped me right out.

Maybe Will is working on a big post for Friday?