Written on Thursday, May 21st, 2009 at 5:09am by Alan Bedenko | 5 Comments

Chacun à Son Goût

Kris won. Adam didn’t.

Now that that’s out of the way, I’d like to address the Facebook chit-chat about it, and other TV shows. It would seem that the “to each his own” principle is lost on a lot of people.

You know, on VWVortex.com, a lot of Volkswagen owners rice up their v-dubs with wings and 22″ rims, lower them beyond comprehension, tint everything that may be clear, and bolt on a bunch of other plastic crap that makes the cars look ridiculous, weighing them down. The threads usually go into “that’s stupid” vs. “whoa, cool” mode. But luckily, some reasonable people will comment, “not my cup of tea, but congratulations.”

I am a “not my cup of tea” person.

Occasionally, I’ll comment that I can’t imagine anyone thinking that, e.g., “Two and a Half Men” is funny, but I know that my sense of humor differs from others’.

But the cool kids all seem to hate American Idol. It rots your brain, it’s what’s wrong with America, etc. Perhaps all of that’s true. What do I know? But I know that it’s a show that pits contestants against each other in a singing competition, and the judges largely know that of which they speak. It’s a game show, and Fox milks it for all it’s worth. It’s certainly not highbrow information or earth-shattering entertainment, but it happens to be one of the very few prime time television shows I can watch with my 8 year-old and know it won’t be violent.

And you know what? In the end, American Idol is no more or less mindless and idiotic than 99% of all programming on prime time television. That includes shows about cooking, fishing in Alaska, evidence gathering in Vegas, NY, and Miami, the myriad Law & Orders, the doctor shows, Lost, etc., ad infinitum. Not to mention just about anything existing on prime time cable news networks.

So, unless you own no TV, or the only programming you watch is NOVA & Frontline, don’t whine to me about how dumb Idol is.

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5 Comments

  1. Jon Splett says:
    May 21, 2009 at 9:42 am

    I think you miss the point of the Idol hate.

    No one is saying the rest of TV isn’t just as mindless, it is. But the reason the rest of television is so mindless is that mindless crap sells and smart TV doesn’t. Television executives are an amazingly uncreative bunch. When they see Idol pull huge numbers, they say to themselves, “That works, let’s beat it into the ground” and all of a sudden, the entire prime time schedule is filled with not just a shitty talent show, but NOTHING BUT shitty talent shows. If it was just Idol, that’d be one thing, but instead we get Dancing with the Stars, America’s Got Talent, So You Think You Can Dance, and on and on and on. The same goes for the CSI shows, Law and Order, all that crap but Idol gets the most hate because it’s the flagship of the shitty shows. When garbage becomes popular on television the schedule gets chock full of crap and networks no longer take risks on things that might be too ’smart’ for a mass audience. I believe the frequently cited textbook example is Arrested Development getting cancelled.

    I know you have better taste than that, you watch too much British television not to. Why can’t we have well written, smartly done comedy and drama here like they do over there? The new incarnation of Doctor Who is a great example. It’s huge over there and it’s extremely well written and a perfect example of kid friendly television that still has an appeal to those of us who HATE kid friendly television. America could produce shows like that. Instead, we air 12 different talent shows because we’re lazy.

    I’m not saying I’m not guilty of watching awful, awful television programs. Hell, I spend 4 hours last week watching the sixth season of Night Court.(I’m modeling my future legal career after Judge Harry T Stone now.) But I just wish when I came home at the end of the day, I could turn my television on and watch SOMETHING that didn’t suck. Aside from The Office and 30 Rock, I can’t think of anything on the public airwaves even remotely worth my time.

  2. pauldub says:
    May 21, 2009 at 7:58 pm

    Not much of a network television man myself. I prefer the intellectual stimulation of cable movies. Who can pass on the gripping drama of The Octagon with Chuck Norris, or Arnold Schwarzenegger’s incredible portrayal of an undercover cop in Raw Deal?

  3. Christopher Smith says:
    May 21, 2009 at 10:08 pm

    Roadhouse, whenever Roadhouse is on, you stop and respect the movie.

  4. Red says:
    May 21, 2009 at 11:42 pm

    Wade is the best supporting character ever. EVER.

  5. The Humanist says:
    May 22, 2009 at 9:10 am

    Ben Gazzara is pure evil

 

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