Fox's "American Idol"

I guess I must be seriously out of the American mainstream when it comes to music, because I was mostly confounded by the results of last night's voting. I thought that the bottom three, based on performance, would have been Camille, John S., and then maybe Amy. Amy is a very good singer, actually, but her performance last night was just safe, and for whatever reason, she didn't have a big fan base (having already been in the bottom 3 before).

America, in its collective wisdom, made the bottom three Amy, Latoya, and Jennifer. Latoya?!? The one that Simon was ready to crown as the American Idol at the end of the semifinals?

And I thought Jennifer Hudson did a good job last night.

Meanwhile, Camille, who was so terrible I couldn't even understand what she was singing, was deemed to be no worse than the fourth worst of the ten?!? About the only thing I can think of is that viewers mixed up Camille with Jasmine, who's also from Hawaii. . . .

I think this bodes well for John S., who managed to survive a terrible performance. He's got a lot of pull with some fans. Speaking of John S., on the results show, Ryan Seacrest had it down to John S. and Latoya, one of whom was going to be in the bottom three. My wife thought this was pretty ridiculous, as there was no doubt as to who it would be. And then Ryan announced that Latoya was in the bottom three. Even John S. looked shocked.

Now I have no idea who is likely to win. Maybe George, who while not outstanding, has been consistently good and who has an infectious and sincere smile. . . . To think he wasn't even among the original 32 semi-finalists.

UPDATE (4/1): Ann Althouse's thoughts:

I think what happens early on, when there are a lot of contestants, is that voters concentrate on helping people they like who they think might be in danger. They assume the really best people, like LaToya are getting votes from someone else. That's a real problem. Maybe each judge ought to have the power to bestow immunity on one contestant at this phase. But no, it makes the show exciting when the wrong people are voted into the bottom three. What fun it was for millions of people to watch the closeups of John Stevens, a sweet teenage kid, and look for a sign of a tear and impute thoughts to him ("I am so much worse then LaToya! The American people are wrongly favoring me and missing the true talent!").

UPDATE 2 (4/1): Oh yeah, I probably should have mentioned that Amy Adams was the one who was booted off the show.

Comments

[g]

The result tonight was a complete joke. However, the producers and judges really had no one to blame but themselves. They were the ones that let these no talent assclowns in to the competition while leaving out some more talented contestants (like Lisa L.). Remember, George didn't even make the original top 32. American Idol has always been about making good television, but I think this season they went too far in favoring good TV instead of good talent.

All I know is that if there is another AI, the producers sure aren't going to let through to the top 32 any more dorky white guys or Hawaiians.

[Jason Steffens]

Camille really has no business on this show. And that John survived his performance Tuesday night shows that there really are a lot of people out there who like his old-fashioned sound. I like that sound, too, but I'm not sure Johns cuts it.

As for Amy, I think it's possible the "looks like Jay Leno" comment from Simon hurt her.

[tom]

I have two possibilities to explain last night's vote: bloc voting, and conspiracy. As for bloc voting, remember last year, when Carmen was pushed way beyond where she should have been by her LDS supporters, and the Marine/armed services bloc put Josh in the top 5? Bloc voters don't care how bad their favorite sings, they'll vote for him/her anyway. I think that's what's happening here. Camille has her Hawaiian supporters on the islands, and Jon Peter has the 'tween girls who think he's soooooooo cute, and he has some of Carmen's LDS vote, too. And John Stevens? I'm not sure who his supporters are--high school kids and grandmothers, I suppose. Unfortunately, Jennifer and LaToya don't have any natural constituencies voting for them so they have to rely on their talent alone. And given the results so far, the people who vote on talent alone have, for whatever reason, been voting for Fantasia, George and Jasmine. The other possibility can be catergorized as conspiracy--that the producers want Jon Peter and John S. to stay in the competition to create a more Nielsen-friendly gender balance among the competitors so their demograhics aren't all out of whack, at least for the next few weeks. To maintain that balance, they rig the voting, or they ignore it altogether.

[Tung Yin]

Jason's point about the "Jay Leno" comment is a good one, but I wonder if it's more of a diagnosis rather than a cause of Amy's loss. Appearance may matter, and if you look like Leno, you aren't going to be attracting teenage male votes (which would go to the Kimberly Caldwells of the competition).

Tom's point about bloc voting is also good, but I still find it perplexing that Camille has survived, since Jasmine is also from Hawaii, seems prettier, and is a far better singer.

[Roger]

Hmmm...I'm not sure about the comments on race, geography, and ethnicity. Actually, my law school friends (at least those who are fans of the show) and I have been making similar remarks. But lately I've been wondering whether it's just a case of law and politics-oriented grown men projecting their beliefs onto the main demographic of female teenagers who don't ascribe such importance to race, ethnicity, and geography?

This isn't to say that image doesn't matter, and I agree that it's possible that Simon's "Leno" remark may have hurt her, but I do wonder about what criteria the "core" audience of viewers uses to judge the contestants. Then again, it's possible that more law students and law profs watch the show than I've imagined, in which case my little theory should be tossed out the window.

[KH]

I think theres a problem with the voting system. Last night I had my weekly American Idol party with six people and we all decided its time we started to vote rather than complain about the verdicts. Well we all started calling and three of us have Verizon cell phones while the other people used a home phone, nextel and t mobile. Well every time the verizon people called we couldnt get a vote in, but the other people were able to vote continously by using redial. Theres something not right about it because we were calling for 45 minutes and us Verizon's couldn't get through. maybe its a consipiracy by ATT wireless to have Verizon folks switch ATT

[Katrinia]

I think the results on tonights show was incorrect. Jeniffer, Fantasha, and Latoya are the best three on the show. I think that the votes should be shown on national television. From what I seen tonight its not what america thinks. I can see if one or two of the ladies were in the bottom three,but all three now comeon. They were the best three on the show. To top things off they did not let Jeniffer complete her final song they cut the show off but they let all the other contestants finish they song. It makes me think that its racest and they don't want another black American Idol because in reality thats what its supose to be.

[Chrcook]

With the viewership the show enjoys I find it hard to believe that rabid supporters could dictate the outcome. Too expensive, too much inertia in this large a population. Is it coincidence that the top and bottom groups were apparently swapped? What a reality-tv moment when George was asked to "join the losers" and went for the obvious loser group. Wrongo! Switcharooo!

Absolutely in-step with the reality show playbook. I smell a rat.

Rhetorical question: Would a reality show create it's own universe of rules that allow the producers to insert "drama moments"?

Second rhetorical question: Have you ever seen a reality tv show that didn't (i didn't think so..).

The *real* $64,000 question is why Fox would allow such deception to take place; forget the legalese, they'll get publically lynched when the truth comes out!

Of course the old $64,000 question tv show was staged too..

[Raillan]

Katrina, I couldn't agree with your comments more. You were on point, with every word in your posting. Paula Abdul said last night, that we need to buy automatic redialers, which is what I did, since last week!

[Rachael]

Latoya should of won.