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Mar. 29th, 2007
OT: Will Sanjaya Kill American Idol?
Mar. 29th, 2007 05:28 pmLike the rest of America, I am watching with horror as AI contestant Sanjaya Malakar plows forward like Napoleon's armies across Europe, seemingly invincible. Every so often on AI, there's someone who's maybe not the worst singer in the world but noticeably the runt of the litter. Yet he or she inexplicably sticks around week after week. Scott Saval, John Stevens, and Kevin "Chicken Little" Corvais come to mind. But Sanjaya takes bad to a whole new level. He KNOWS he's safe no matter how much he sucks compared to everyone else, so he can phone in a bloody awful performance like he did this past week and show up looking like a fool. (I heard Gwen Stefani was none too pleased Sanjaya took a chainsaw to "Bathwater.") He can dress up like a furry and perform purely through flatulence at this point. Meanwhile, I'm sure the show's producers are terrified of this guy winning. Not just because they'd have to market William Hung the Second to a credulous public but also because the show's genuine fans are frustrated. Allegedly, Simon has even come out and said he will quit if Sanjaya wins. Sanjaya is Freddy Krueger...no matter what you do, he just keeps coming back.
A lot has been made of votefortheworst.com, Howard Stern, and other shock jocks encouraging AI's haters to keep voting for Sanjaya. While I think these people ought to just ignore the show if they don't like it instead of trying to ruin it, Sanjaya's "base" is more than a bunch of pranksters. Much more. You have the crazy cat ladies who are voting for him just because he seems like a nice young man. And you have the Club Libby Lu girls (i.e. tweens) who think he's just soooo cuuuute. NEVER underestimate the tweens. They will cheerfully vote 500 times on their cell phones for the Tiger Beat hero who captures their hearts.
Regardless of the reasons, I think AI ought to consider for one thing, choosing contestants more carefully than they did this year. I also think they ought to consider a "Dancing With The Stars" type system where the judges vote with the viewers. It could account for 15% of the contestants' votes, but unlike "Dancing With The Stars," the viewers and contestants won't know the judges' scores until the elimination phase. It could help offset votefortheworst.com or any other effort to mess up the show.
In any case, I still doubt Sanjaya will win but he'll stick around until someone really good (like oh, Jordin or Blake) is eliminated while he's kept on.
Or perhaps someone ought to give Tonya Harding a call.
A lot has been made of votefortheworst.com, Howard Stern, and other shock jocks encouraging AI's haters to keep voting for Sanjaya. While I think these people ought to just ignore the show if they don't like it instead of trying to ruin it, Sanjaya's "base" is more than a bunch of pranksters. Much more. You have the crazy cat ladies who are voting for him just because he seems like a nice young man. And you have the Club Libby Lu girls (i.e. tweens) who think he's just soooo cuuuute. NEVER underestimate the tweens. They will cheerfully vote 500 times on their cell phones for the Tiger Beat hero who captures their hearts.
Regardless of the reasons, I think AI ought to consider for one thing, choosing contestants more carefully than they did this year. I also think they ought to consider a "Dancing With The Stars" type system where the judges vote with the viewers. It could account for 15% of the contestants' votes, but unlike "Dancing With The Stars," the viewers and contestants won't know the judges' scores until the elimination phase. It could help offset votefortheworst.com or any other effort to mess up the show.
In any case, I still doubt Sanjaya will win but he'll stick around until someone really good (like oh, Jordin or Blake) is eliminated while he's kept on.
Or perhaps someone ought to give Tonya Harding a call.