May 25, 2011

"UN-COOL, UN-HIP, COUNTRY-FRIED SINGER WINS 'AMERICAN IDOL'..."

"SOURCE: SCOTTY TOOK NEARLY DOUBLE AMOUNT OF VOTES OVER RUNNER UP... DEVELOPING.."

Drudge, linking only to a general article about the season, purports to know the results.

But, he's right of course. Everyone who checks out DialIdol knows it and has known it for weeks. It's not some special inside knowledge. The finale show last night was terrible, mainly because they were desperately trying to make us believe it was a close competition. And they weighed Scotty down with 2 songs that had him speaking like a child — the original song "I Love You This Big" (ugh!) and some other song about schoolchildren. The guy is only 17, but his main feature is a deep voice that makes him seem much older. Why fight that with lyrics from the point of view of a child?

Anyway, speaking of old and young, the show tried to rejuvenate this season, with Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler (and without Simon Cowell), but somehow it ended up even more old fashioned. Maybe that's what happens when you don't have Simon there insulting the kids for seeming old and old fashioned.

33 comments:

Ricardo said...

Dear AI: You lost me at Pia Toscana.

Ann Althouse said...

"Dear AI: You lost me at Pia Toscana."

Yeah, she was awful. Caterwauling. Robot. Somebody's conception of perfect looks, dressed up in somebody else's conception of sexy clothes. Irritating as hell. But at least she got dumped reasonably early.

traditionalguy said...

What has Kloppenburg got to say about this appearence of voting fraud? A recount is the least the AI show should do.

RueMom said...

Don't be mean...I have loved AI this year! Talent was way better overall than in past years and I for one do not miss Simon!

Known Unknown said...

Simon is essential. The X Factor will be much better.

Lauderdale Vet said...

This was the first year my wife and I ever followed it. We enjoyed it. I was rooting for Haley, myself. She won me over with the House of the Rising Sun.

Ann Althouse said...

I liked James. And Paul. But they were old fashioned too. One was metal and the other was Rod Stewart-y.

MayBee said...

I saw the second day of auditions for the XFactor in LA. Paula was more mean than Simon.

I liked this season of AI, even though I had sworn I wasn't going to get involved. I think both Scotty and Lauren have a big country future. Lauren probably needs the win a little bit more than Scotty does.

BJM said...

I thought AI set Lauren up to win with the vocal cord pity party, that awful song and mom hugging on screen.

Will mom trump sex with the tweenies, moms and grannies? Hard to say.

I enjoyed this season much more than the last few. Tyler channeling Keith Richards was entertaining until he dropped the f-bomb and they dialed him back to Zombie status.

I do not miss Simon's smugness and dreadful tee-shirts a bit. He was only bearable when Paula was at her most whacked out.

Mick said...

I picked Scotty the first time I heard him on the auditions. Amazing poise and vocal maturity for his age. HUGE future in store.

Unknown said...

Wow, I thought for sure Lauren would get it. I thought Scotty was tanked with that horrible song. He looked chagrined too.

Phil 314 said...

The "mom" song was a big gimme for Lauren but lets face it the young girlies and the moms love Scottie (I know my wife does).

But a COUNTRY final!! C'mon Man

Superdad said...

"Simon is essential. The X Factor will be much better."

Nope - Idol's ratings went up this season.

Country music =/= old fashioned. Country is more popular now than at anytime in history. Country is a big part of the future of pop. (we can debate whether that is good or bad for country)

Also, look at the past idol winners and find me a star that is bigger than Carrie Underwood?

al said...

Our family is enjoying AI this year. Steven Tyler is far more enjoyable than Simon and JLo is, well she just is. :)

My wife picked Lauren and Scotty early on. Personally I thought that James was a lock but he continued to focus on screaming in every song and that was his downfall.

The play for the sympathy vote by Lauren was sad. She's much better than that. Near the end I saw Scotty lean in and tell her something (I think he told her she won) and she shook her head no.

al said...

Also, look at the past idol winners and find me a star that is bigger than Carrie Underwood?

In terms of record sales - Kelly Clarkson has sold more but, as your state, Carrie is a much bigger star.

galdosiana said...

I stopped watching AI a long time ago, but this season I have looked up every one of Scotty's performances after each episode. I love him--I'm a big country music fan, especially from the 80s/90s, which he definitely channels--so I would definitely be happy if he won!

PJ said...

Judging: Randy is still Randy, Steven is the new Paula, so it comes down to Simon vs JLo. In my opinion, they both know their stuff and often have something insightful to offer. Simon achieves a cheap edginess by taking obvious pleasure in insulting people who are under his power, and when he went that went with him. I say good riddance. The show was better with much diminished emphasis on humiliation of weaker contestants, especially in the early weeks. Of course, viewers who tuned in mostly for the Cowellisms were bound to be disappointed in the kinder gentler JLo.

MadisonMan said...

The problem with Idol this year is that the judges didn't judge, they only praised. Except for Haley: they judged her week in and week out. It was bizarre. The one time Lauren was criticized she burst into tears. No way is she ready for the real world of recording.

I'm also suspicious that I always see her mother in her shots. Who is fulfilling their dream? Lauren or her Mom?

I wonder if they'll trumpet how many votes they received last night? I suspect not.

MayBee said...

Oh, and because we were talking about such things on another thread: J Lo is 41 years old.

marylynn said...

I really enjoyed the show this year. Did not expect to like Steven Tyler, but i did, he was a hoot. Didn't mind JLo either. I dont miss Simon's sarcasm.
And i like both the kids in the finale - doesnt hurt that i like county.... They appear to be sweet, normal kids from normal families. And wasnt that the point of the show to start with? Give some normal person with no chance at breaking into the music business that chance?

Titus said...

I watched Dancing With The Stars with my parents.

We would grade each dancer every show.

I am glad Hines Ward won.

BeachGal said...

The thing is, it's not that Idol is becoming more old fashioned, mainstream America is. The artists that the music industry are pushing down our throats as cool and hip are banal and annoying. I'm under 30 and most people I know in our age range cannot stand attention-starved Lady Gaga or half of the messed up hip hop artists out there. Most people who are shocked at country music's popularity tend to be pretty insulated in the pop culture bubbles surrounding New York/Los Angeles.

Sara said...

I thought this was the best year of Idol I've seen. Talent far superior across the board than in previous years. A big Idol plus to dump Simon, the tin eared, love the screechers, guy.

With 93 million votes to select the 3 finalists, I think America agrees. And everyone has known since Day One that Scotty would be in the finals. I did think he'd be up against either Durbin or Casey and not one of the girls, but Lauren did very well last night.

PJ said...

MadMan, I agree that they took a different approach with Haley, especially late in the season, both criticizing her more harshly and (usually later in the same show) praising her more effusively. I have two not-mutually-inconsistent theories about that: (1) they had reason to believe they could provoke her into disagreeing with them and they thought that would be good TV; (2) they were really annoyed with Casey and since he was gone they took it out on her. (BTW, I think Casey/Haley's "Moanin'" was the best duet in Idol history.) I won't defend Randy or Steven, but I do think JLo offered sound constructive criticisms as often as Simon ever did; she just refrained from non-constructive phrasing of them (even when arguably warranted).

Joe said...

Interesting, Sara, because I thought the opposite as did my ex-wife, who is an idol fanatic. I'd say the worse talent wasn't the worse of some years passed, but across the board, not a chance.

Still wasn't the worse season and like others, it was obvious to me that Scotty was the shoein unless the results were gamed. My idol-fanatic-ex is worried the producers just might try since men have been not only won the last three, the strongest contestants were men.

One thing that still startles me is how unprepared so many of the singers are. Do they not watch the show? Do they not understand the importance of preparing a catalog of songs and of understanding their own voice? This is one thing Scotty did masterfully.

Ann Althouse said...

"I watched Dancing With The Stars with my parents. We would grade each dancer every show. I am glad Hines Ward won."

I've watched the last 4 weeks... and Meade will usually watch with me. I liked Chelsea, but in the end, I thought it played out just fine. She was kind of a ringer. Not so much of a star, just young and energetic, and female... and all those things made it easier for her to achieve. Kristie was popular, dramatic, and played into the sympathies of the voters by falling, losing her shoe, and being fat and then less fat. Hines Ward had the most difficult task, because he was male, less attuned to dance and to entertaining. So I'm fine with him winning. Each of the 3 was doing something different. Each fit a niche. The show seems scripted. One Disney kid, one aging actress, one football player, etc.

Trooper York said...

American Idol has become the mainstream of pop culture even if Bob Dylan fans don't agree.

That is why they went country. That's where the money is.

I thought Pumpkinhead would win from the get go. His Randy Travis voice coming out of a skinny non-threatening kid wins all the moms and little girlies who are the Idol voters. That's why they put the thumb on the scale with the Mom song for Lauren.

Trooper York said...

I never like Steven Tyler before. I thought of him as another aging boomer octgenarian depends wearing rock star like Jagger or Dylan or Ozzie.

But he turned it around for me with wheelchair fiance guy early in the season when he went up and hugged and kissed the poor girl in the wheelchair who tried to wheel her boyfriend onto the show.

Trooper York said...

Nobody misses Simon. He was totally bored and contempous the last few seasons. Much like the blogger lady felt about idol since she stopped writing about it and concertrated all her efforts on the nonsense going on in Wisconsin. The new judges were not nasty douchebags. JLo knows her stuff and gave good techincal advice. They really replaced Simon with Jimmy Iovine who is a much bigger deal as a producer and record maker.

Trooper York said...

I don't think the X-factor will go more than 2 seasons.

It's like all of those shows where they take the stars of a former hit and try to make a new show but it never really catches on.

You know like Mary Tyler Moores variety show or George HW Bush's administration.

kimsch said...

Watching last night's Glee finale I thought that Thia Migia might be good as a new member in the fall...

I wanted Haley to win, but she's a local girl so I was biased.

wv: grugh

Trooper York said...

Congratulations Pumpkinhead.

marylynn said...

Good for you Scotty! And Lauren too. Nice couple of kids.

WV reand

us country fans has a hard time wit reand and ritin