January 23, 2003 - 7:28 a.m.

American Idolatry

Well, I made the mistake of watching the first two audition episodes for this season's American Idol. I fear I may be hooked. There is some strange fascination in watching these people either make utter fools of themselves or really show their talent.

What I want to know is, did they let terrible people through the initial screening on purpose so that the viewers would be able to hear the truly awful as well as the actually talented? I know that in at least one of the cities (LA, I believe, where 11,000 people showed up to audition), some people didn't even get a chance to sing in front of Simon, Randy, and Paula. Yet, some of the people who did couldn't carry a tune to save their lives! I don't know, maybe the initial screening was just to make sure they were in the correct age range or something.

Honestly, it may sound cruel, but some of the folks I heard on the show last night and the night before made me wonder why they ever wanted to audition in the first place. Many of them seemed genuinely shocked when the judges told them they weren't good enough to make the cut. Lots claimed they were just having a bad day in the singing department. I admit that everyone makes mistakes and has bad days, but I personally don't know any good singers who cannot carry a melody on a bad day or who consistently miss notes. You might flake out on a high note or two or breifly go flat. Not being able to find a key throughout the song or forgetting words is unforgivable. I'd certainly be nervous if I were in their shows, but that's part of the audition process and it isn't right to blame the judges if you just messed up. They had thousands of people to audition, and these (for the most part) cocky teenagers expected to get a second chance when they screwed up.

By the end of last night's episode, I was beginning to sympathize with Simon and his insulting dismissals. If these people thought that they had even a snowball's chance in hell of making it onto the show, they clearly weren't in touch with reality. It's a waste of their time to be pursuing singing anywhere other than the privacy of their own homes let alone the time of the judges! Oy! I guess I just don't get it, because even though many people have told me I have a good singing voice, I occasionally question it. And some of the people auditioning truly sounded tone deaf or had painfully bad voices. Maybe it can't hurt to try out in general, but these folks had to sleep on the street for days to get the chance. And they CAN'T SING!

Okay, enough ranting. :) It simply boggles my mind that people could be so self-absorbed, delusional, or just stupid as to audition for American Idol. And to top it all off, some of them had their humiliation broadcast on national television. I almsot pity them, but not quite.

today's project: going out to dinner at the Olive Garden with the nanny crew. :)

musing about: whether hauling groceries for a family of six up the stairs counts as a workout

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