Let’s remember a simpler time. A time when we all had RAZRs and MySpace pages. A time when when we were dancing the Soulja Boy. A time when we were screaming about impeaching Bush. A time when were all obsessing over one reality TV show: “American Idol.” It was during the glory days middle school that if you weren’t watching “American Idol”, then, well, you were wrong. I remember walking to school talking about the week’s performances, speculating who’s going home, debating the accuracy of the bottom three and analyzing judges’ reactions. It was an obsession that possessed nearly everyone I knew of all ages, and finale night was the most emotional night of the year.
I decided to watch this season of Idol, because I enjoy good train wreck television more than most people find acceptable and because while I’m home for the summer, my parents made me. And ya know what, it just made me sad. Everything about it.
Over the years, right about when they added that fourth judge no one seems to remember, the show started to be not so hot anymore. Everyone was pretty sick of the same old show that, while giving exposure to dozens of amazing singers, produced very few commercially successful artists. Every season was defined by subjectively funny auditions, followed by crying during Hollywood week and then the live performances, which are either glorified karaoke or a stripped down acoustic version of a song that the judges praise for “making the song your own.”
Via: someecards.com
Rather than changing anything about what was really losing viewers–the predictable format and lack of success stories–”Idol” has decided to play politics with the judges panel. But relying on Randy, Paula and Simon for so many years made the show more about them, which only hurt ratings.
The new judges panel is depressing. Jennifer Lopez seems miserable, Keith Urban has nothing to say and Harry Connick, Jr. does his best Simon Cowell impersonation every time he speaks. Randy Jackson has been pushed back to the position of “mentor,” but he doesn’t seem to do much besides sit with the contestants on elimination night, and Ryan Seacrest keeps getting goofier in what looks like his attempt to entertain himself.
What the show lacked in chemistry in the core cast, it also lacked in talent of the contestants themselves. This year’s winner, Caleb Johnson, the 22 year old hair-metal rocker from North Carolina, is good. But let’s be honest, he wouldn’t be good enough to win, say, five years ago or even on the more successful “The Voice.” If the winner can’t even compete with other seasons, you can only imagine the sub-par quality of the rest of the contestants.
“Idol” and Fox both know the show will never get back to its glory days. Elimination episodes have been reduced from one, sometimes two, hours to just 30 minutes and next year the show will be reduced to just one night a week.
Via: zap2it.com
Desperate attempts to increase viewership this year included asking viewers to take selfies with their televisions while the contestants posed with black cardboard cutouts for where you were supposed to place yourself. Oh, and there was a “performance” (not enough quotation marks do it justice) from The Chainsmokers, where they just roamed the stage while taking, you guessed it, selfies.
Unlucky season 13 of “American Idol” made me ask myself “Who allows this show to be made?” more often that I should. The show continues despite its self-awareness of its own irrelevance. Fox needs to cancel it and fill the time slots with shows people actually will watch, but from this comes a lesson in knowing when to quit.
Watching “American Idol” got me thinking about recognizing your own peak. I had an engineering professor once explain reaching your peak in the form of graphs, and he explained that right around 30-35 years old is your absolute peak, between your fitness, social life and career. But every facet of our lives has a peak, and it’s important we realize when we’re peaking so we can maintain that for as long as possible.
Via: psychologytoday.com
Whether it be academics, fitness, your social life or whatever, you’re going to be at the top of your own personal game at some point, and you’re not going to want to go back down. No one wants to suddenly fail classes, get fat or lose all their friends. Or maybe you do, then you do you. But for those of us who don’t aspire to be on “Hoarders,” we need to be fully aware of which actions help, which hurt and what we can change to keep that upward trend going.
“American Idol” knows what’s wrong with itself. It’s not the judges, it’s the format. It’s not that you don’t have enough hashtags, it’s that you feature singers and not artists. All of these issues are addressed by the more successful “The Voice,” which is why it’s consistently outperforming “Idol” (all puns intended).
Don’t be like “American Idol.” Be the best that you can be.
Featured photo courtesy of: Access Atlanta
