"American Idol" is over for the season and boy am I glad. I’m not a fan of the show. I have absolutely no interest in watching marginally talented people singing old pop songs only to be ripped apart by a sarcastic British guy. (I get plenty of British sarcasm from my husband Nigel, thank you.)
What infuriates me so about "American Idol" is that I have never watched it, not even for five seconds and yet I know so much about it. I know that Ruben Stoddard went off his diet. I know that Clay Aiken was bullied as a child. I know that Fantasia is a single mother struggling to raise a child on her own and really deserved to win.
How do I know all of this? It’s on the news of other networks. CNN, NBC, and NPR have all had segments on American Idol. And ABC News devoted an entire hour of Prime Time Live to an expose of the alleged affair between "American Idol" judge Paula Abdul and a former contestant.
North Korea has nuclear weapons. Fifty million people don’t have health insurance. Pharmaceutical companies can charge Americans exorbitant prices for medicine because they’ve bought every vote they need in Congress. States all over the country are cutting back on Medicaid just as more people become eligible for it. So what is it we’re all talking about? Whether it’s Bo or Carrie who wins on "American Idol."
I know in the end, it’s just a television show. This too shall pass. The people who can’t get enough now will eventually get enough and "American Idol" will go the way of all those other once wildly popular shows like “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” and “Trading Spaces.”
Sooner or later, Simon will walk off into well-deserved obscurity. I can only hope that when he does, he takes Donald Trump and all his little apprentices with him.
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Posted by judy5cents
at 7:37 PM EDT
Updated: Monday, 30 May 2005 7:46 PM EDT