Look, its the frustrated A&R exec in me that attracts me to shows that claim to mold a star and show the trials and tribulations new artists encounter. And yes, I have watched an episode or two or four of "Making The Band." Geez!
But "American Idol" is different in many ways from its predecessors. First and foremost there is Simon Cowell - the music executive from the UK that everyone loves to hate. And let me get this out right out front - I like Simon. Simon may have an all too nasty bite to his commentary, but 99% of the time he's telling nothing but truth.
If you haven't caught American Idol yet, you've probably missed a majority of the truly hilarious scenes. But there are 20 more candidates left to perform solo, so I'm sure there is no shortage of Simon bites to look forward to.
American Idol - like most music reality shows today - is on a quest to find the next big music star. While "Pop Stars" made it clear they were looking for the next Destiny's Child or N'Sync, American Idol is looking for only one shining star among the many, many, many hopefuls.
The first three days highlighted the judges going to New York City, Miami, Atlanta, Dallas and Chicago auditioning for talent. The judges are, Simon, Randy Jackson, a producer and Paula Abdul - un-huh Paula Abdul! Now there's a real eye for voice talent...in case you missed it, that's sarcasm!
What's interesting about American Idol is its ability to insert some really good scenes worthy of dissection by college classes across the nation, as a study of enormous egos! I could not believe some of these candidates. There was the bad, the God-awful and the "Am I really watching this on national TV" god-awful, bad!
My husband and I have had a ball watching it together - providing our own critiques and looking at each other in amazement as some of the truly bad folks actually get an attitude when told they can't sing.
