‘American Idol’ auditions deliberately hurtful

The premiere of season five of ‘American Idol’ proved one thing: Fox continues to raise the bar for insipid programming. The program featured Idol hopefuls as they auditioned in Chicago. The tedious two hour show should be considered by the U.S. military for use in torturing suspected terrorists; it’s that friggin’ awful.

During the show’s opening Idol host Ryan Suckcrest proclaimed that Idol has become “an integral part of American culture,” and “a part of growing up.” Well f me sideways!

The Idol audition premise is simple: Show as many hopeful contestants who don’t really have a chance at becoming the next Idol and then belittle, degrade and embarrass them on camera. The manipulation of contestants’ feelings is wholly mean spirited and the intent to capture “real life” angst makes for lame TV.

The show hit an all-time new low during the audition of Charles Berry, from nearby Darby, Pennsylvania. Admittedly Mr. Berry’s audition illustrated that he is cut out for a career other than singing, as are many Idol hopefuls.

Instead of making a snarky comment about Mr. Berry’s singing, Simon Cowell used the opportunity to make deliberately derogatory statements regarding Mr. Berry’s sexuality, including advising him to become a transvestite. And to what end?

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American Idol 5 – The Year Of The Twins

What is it about twins and reality TV shows? First, Big Brother had its twin twist, where a set of twins secretly kept trading places in the Big Brother house. Then, Survivor had several contestants who had twins, even though it never factored into the show. Now, America Idol appears to be on a twin kick.

Only a handful of the contestants that made it through to Hollywood during the American Idol 5 auditions in Chicago were shown during the premiere. Of this select group of lucky contestants, there were two different sets of twins. Twins Derrell & Terrell Brittennum were told that they “have made the other twins in the competition pale in comparison.” Of course that was before Joshua & Jarrett Simmons performed and also made it through. Simon Cowell didn’t seem quite as impressed with the second set of twins, questioning if they would have made it through if they hadn’t been twins.

In addition to twins, there was also a set of sisters that made it through to Hollywood. Brook & Leah Barrettsmith were given a lengthy background segment. They were from a small town in Illinois that was home to the world’s largest corn maze.


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American Idol "scandals" raise some eyebrows

Who will judge the judges?

PASADENA, CALIF. - It would have been nice to ask all of the American Idol judges precisely what they were thinking when they allowed "Crazy Dave" to go on to Hollywood. But all the judges weren't in attendance Tuesday for Idol's session with the television press.

Paula Abdul was a no-show.

Abdul had been cleared of any wrongdoing by Fox, which looked into her involvement with Corey Clark, an Idol finalist who claims to have had an affair with her during competition, but she's still the target of journalistic inquiry.

A Fox publicist said that sometime between her appearance on Monday night's Tonight Show and Tuesday morning's press panel, Abdul developed an eye infection and was en route to a doctor.

Had she appeared, she would have gotten at least a question or two about Clark.

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