50 replies to this topic

[sickagain]

I totally back the vote for sanjaya thing. Think about it this way. There are people that despise American Idol because of it's effect on the music industry. There are thousands of talented musicians, songwriters, singers, etc. that out there "grinding it out" and will never be half as famous as these american idol dorks. Granted some of them can actually sing, thats about all they can do. Think about the bands and singers that write their own music and make zero money but do it because they love to. Meanwhile 20 lucky people get instant fame and some successful music careers and essentially become puppets of their record label, producers, songwriters, and marketing team.

Also the show makes so much money it's sick.

[DanielNegreanu]

I just don't buy into that at all. It's a choice. Any one of those "starving artists" could choose to go on the show if they chose to. If they decide that they want to stay true to their music and not "sell out" than they could still make it if they are talented enough.

[Pot Odds RAC]

I totally back the vote for sanjaya thing. Think about it this way. There are people that despise American Idol because of it's effect on the music industry. There are thousands of talented musicians, songwriters, singers, etc. that out there "grinding it out" and will never be half as famous as these american idol dorks. Granted some of them can actually sing, thats about all they can do. Think about the bands and singers that write their own music and make zero money but do it because they love to. Meanwhile 20 lucky people get instant fame and some successful music careers and essentially become puppets of their record label, producers, songwriters, and marketing team.

Also the show makes so much money it's sick.

Give me a break.

AI is Entertainment. Why can't people get used to the fact that OTHER people may actually enjoy something that they don't? You're obviously watching it if you refer to one of the contestants by first freaking name. So what if they become "puppets"? So what if the show makes money? What is your point, that people should try and derail the show because they don't like its success?

[Pot Odds RAC]

I just don't buy into that at all. It's a choice. Any one of those "starving artists" could choose to go on the show if they chose to. If they decide that they want to stay true to their music and not "sell out" than they could still make it if they are talented enough.

Exactly.

I play guitar. Have been in several local bands and bust my hump to make NOTHING. I do it because I love it.

[sickagain]

Give me a break.

AI is Entertainment. Why can't people get used to the fact that OTHER people may actually enjoy something that they don't? You're obviously watching it if you refer to one of the contestants by first freaking name. So what if they become "puppets"? So what if the show makes money? What is your point, that people should try and derail the show because they don't like its success?

1. I like the show
2. It will never be derailed, the sanjaya thing might make it more popular
3. Carrie underwood's album was the highest selling album last year
4. America will buy anything thats shoved down their throat, while good music gets no exposure
5. Making it in the music business is almost like winning the lottery especially with competition from kelly clarkson

[Pot Odds RAC]

1. I like the show
2. It will never be derailed, the sanjaya thing might make it more popular
3. Carrie underwood's album was the highest selling album last year
4. America will buy anything thats shoved down their throat, while good music gets no exposure
5. Making it in the music business is almost like winning the lottery especially with competition from kelly clarkson

So...

...what is your point?

[sickagain]

I just don't buy into that at all. It's a choice. Any one of those "starving artists" could choose to go on the show if they chose to. If they decide that they want to stay true to their music and not "sell out" than they could still make it if they are talented enough.

Thats just why I can get behind "vote for the worst." It doesn't bother me that much, but some people are really opposed to AI. It's not going to ruin anything. I can understand their reasoning for hating the show even if I don't agree on the same level. The show could legitimately be damaging someone else's chances of "making it." American Idol to me isn't that significant, I get more upset when people say "homsexuality is a sin and they're going to hell" than when people vote for sanjaya.

[Mikey Ravioli]

American Idol is the number one show on TV, is a huge international franchise, and has made the producers (Simon included) extremely wealthy. In short AI is HUGE buiness.

If you watched it from the begining then you know that the final 20 are picked by the judges. Why in hell is Sanjaya even there?!?! Certainly not talent. Ratings? To appeal to a demographic?

You can't tell me that these people were in fact the 20 best. There were people let go from hollywood week that were much better. The reasons? To widen the appeal of the contestant pool to keep ratings high. There is no way to cut someone like a Melinda or Lakeisha but if the final 20 was to close to the same demographic, the show would only appeal to those within that demographic and hence the ratings will suffer.

If the producers of that show really cared about talent and not demographics, Sanjaya would not be there. Since they are more concerned with greed then talent, don't blame me for punishing them for their choice.

Sanjaya will win for the same reason Yao Ming is the top vote getter in the NBA All Star voting every year. 100% of the demo he appeals to votes for him. Try to get help from your IT department or a slurpee during the Idol voting.

sarcasm for that last line.

[Pot Odds RAC]

American Idol is the number one show on TV, is a huge international franchise, and has made the producers (Simon included) extremely wealthy. In short AI is HUGE buiness.

If you watched it from the begining then you know that the final 20 are picked by the judges. Why in hell is Sanjaya even there?!?! Certainly not talent. Ratings? To appeal to a demographic?

You can't tell me that these people were in fact the 20 best. There were people let go from hollywood week that were much better. The reasons? To widen the appeal of the contestant pool to keep ratings high. There is no way to cut someone like a Melinda or Lakeisha but if the final 20 was to close to the same demographic, the show would only appeal to those within that demographic and hence the ratings will suffer.

If the producers of that show really cared about talent and not demographics, Sanjaya would not be there. Since they are more concerned with greed then talent, don't blame me for punishing them for their choice.

Sanjaya will win for the same reason Yao Ming is the top vote getter in the NBA All Star voting every year. 100% of the demo he appeals to votes for him. Try to get help from your IT department or a slurpee during the Idol voting.

sarcasm for that last line.

You really need to work on your internal consistency. You begin by acknowledging that the show is about making Money. News Flash: That is what the Music Industry does too. But then you go on to imply that they need to be punished for their greed - and furthermore, you are the one with enough arrogance to punish them. Nice.

Not to mention make racist (racism is not the same as sarcasm) comments about a contestant. Nicer yet.

[vbnautilus]

Daniel --- while I agree that votefortheworst is a slimy thing, I do not believe it is the reason Sanjaya remains in the competition. You point out in your blog how sweet and nice the guy seems, and it's because of this that he has garnered such a huge following among the pre-teen crowd despite the fact that he can't sing. I have also heard he has large support in the Indian community.

I think the fact is people vote for who they like rather than for who the best singer is, and hey, that's part of the competition. It's not American Vocalist, it's American Idol. Strange as it may seem, Sanjaya is someone's idol... just look at that little girl brough to tears by his presence on stage!

[Mikey Ravioli]

I wasn't being arrogant. Did you ever watch that country music show Nashville Star? All of the contestants in the first week are capable of winning. They are all good and they are all talented.

The show is focused on one demographic so all they are concerned about is talent. People who like country will watch.

My point which I made poorly is if you put him up there (especially with an alterior motive) and set up a vote line for him, don't be surprised if I call. Lets face it, the kid was only included in the top 20 to widen the audience. They included him to have a contestant that appeals to the South East Asian community.

The racist thing, ok guilty. I thought it was acceptable for white guys to make Indians work at 7-11 jokes.
(Now that was sarcasm)

[WashaUffizi]

I think Daniel is making Sanjaya out to be way more of a victim than he is.

I mean let's be real, he is getting massive exposure (I would argue positive exposure) on the biggest show in America from week to week. Yes he is outclassed by the others, but the oppurtunity for him to perform on that large of a platform is surely something to be embraced if he has true aspirations.

If Sanjaya were the classy guy and victim Daniel makes him out be, he would have realized he was in over his head awhile ago and bowed out of the competition like many have in the past.

Plus, I'm sure there are thousands and thousands of Americans who for whatever reason are legimately supporting and voting for Sanjaya, surely much more than the ones doing it as a goof, who are only a small portion of the MILLIONS of voters , you are naive if you think votefortheworst etc. has the power to puppet string American Idol.

I mean did you see the way he had his hair last night? He doesn't care about scrutiny anymore lol, I would bet the farm that he's having a blast on the show right now.

And I also just want to add that if you do some research online into the history of the American Idol auditions and accounts from past singers etc., it is very apparent that the audition process is not fair at all from the beginning stages. Many great singers getting passed over because of looks, many bad singers making it through for the same reason. This whole Sanjaya-snowball effect is a byproduct of that and I'm surprised it didn't happened sooner.
'
The subject of someone better getting passed over and missing out on an oppurtunity is something I agree with, but like Daniel said, if they are talented enough they will make it.

[DanielNEGROnu]

Standard. Another blog entry where Daniel tries to play the role of humanitarian and only succeeds in illustrating his superficial comprehension of a situation.

Daniel obviously doesn't even understand the point of the show. The point is not to find the person with the most talent. If it was then they would have chosen a format where professional opinion dictated outcome. You're an idiot if you think that is the reason for the show. The point of the show is that Americans can pick who they want. The people involved with the show aren't as concerned with the most talented person being picked as they are the most popular person being picked. The most popular person is going to manufacture the most money regardless is they happen to be the most talented. The show is simply to determine who is the most popular, not the most talented.

I don't watch American Idol because I think it's a stupid program. I give the producers of the show a lot of credit though. They found a way to circumvent the costly hit-and-miss product development phase. Not only that but they're doing it in a way that gets millions of Americans involved and lets them create an incredible demand for their own product. The popularity of the show allows they charge advertisers a **** load of money. Millions of people even pay for the "privelege" of voting for their favorite every week. I don't know what they charge but considering that there are 10+ million? (correct me if I'm wrong) votes every week, it's not hard to see that they're raking in the cash. Oh yeah... when it's all over, they also have the music rights to the contestants. It's simply genius and the best part is that the average Joe thinks it's a contest to find the most talented singers in America. It's not. Shows are created to make money, everything else is just happenstance.

The sad part isn't that people are voting for this Sanjaya kid. The sad part is that people will pay to vote for people on this show every week but don't even bother voting for their elected officials. In every other blog entry Daniel lists a litany of people from television shows. Without having to Google it, can he name the US Secretary of State? The Secretary of Defense? The Attorney General? The Speaker of the House? His Senators from Nevada?

People get so involved with these mindless television shows it's sickening. It's certainly within their rights to do so, but at the end of the day what difference does it make? If they want to ignore their communities and not get involved with them then that is their choice as well. It's laughable though when these same people ***** about problems with the system. They only actually care when something directly affects them and even then they're still usually so misinformed that their comments usually consist of nothing more than "elected official" is an idiot.

[KUPoker5]

American Idol itself is a fun social experiment, so why not have a social experiment within another? All votefortheworst people are doing is tweaking the variables in an entertainment equation. (Most) people at home could care less about the success of each singer; hell, I'd like to know how many of you remember the third place finisher from the first season...off the top of your head. People watch it for entertainment. So, if it is more entertaining to watch a bad singer try his damndest, then that's what we're gonna watch. Sick and twisted? Yes...welcome to American media.

Sometimes I wish William Chung would have won the whole thing a couple years ago. Would have been the highest rated season ever. It might have even made Ricky Martin popular again? America gets bored easily and likes to change things up. It may keep the show from getting stale, like some of you have already said.

[pslarrylegend1]

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I find Daniel's reasoning to be inconsistent when he calls voting for Sanjaya to be hateful.

The show American Idol thrives on being hateful. This is why the show is so popular. They have the judges degrade the contestants. In the opening rounds, better singers are turned down while poor singers are brought on camera to make fools of them. And though it is sad, this is why a good portion of viewers watch the show. These are the same viewers getting on board with Vote for the Worst. A lot of the viewers could care less who wins, but if keeping a bad singer on the show a little longer makes the show more enjoyable for them, so what is the big deal?

It is not ruining the show, and for many of the viewers, it is making it more entertaining.

[Sportsmack]

American Idol is ghey

[Pot Odds RAC]

American Idol itself is a fun social experiment, so why not have a social experiment within another? All votefortheworst people are doing is tweaking the variables in an entertainment equation. (Most) people at home could care less about the success of each singer; hell, I'd like to know how many of you remember the third place finisher from the first season...off the top of your head. People watch it for entertainment. So, if it is more entertaining to watch a bad singer try his damndest, then that's what we're gonna watch. Sick and twisted? Yes...welcome to American media.

Sometimes I wish William Chung would have won the whole thing a couple years ago. Would have been the highest rated season ever. It might have even made Ricky Martin popular again? America gets bored easily and likes to change things up. It may keep the show from getting stale, like some of you have already said.

Hung.

...actually your post is well thought out and internally consistent - I still think VFTW is just a bunch of bitter college kids with nothing better to do than be disruptive for the sake of being disruptive. Geez turn off the TV get off your butts and protest the war or something.

[nutzbuster]

A I is fun entertainment. E N T E R T A I N M E N T.

Cracks me up how some want to take it soooo seriously, like it's something more than that. I like the beginning episodes where the delusional are enlightened, it's reality. Simon is right when he says that some parents ruin their kids by telling them they have talent when they don't.

And the show gives some lucky talented folks (not all obv.) get to have a once in a lifetime shot. But who cares in the end? It's escapism and nothing more, and it's fun to watch.

Sanjaya is clearly the worst of whos left and I think that no one is more embarrassed than he himself about all this. It is uncomfortable to watch the past few weeks his reaction as the clearly better talent gets voted off. I feel bad for him.

My bet is that Jordan and Dolittle make the top 2, with Dolittle taking it all. The good news is that the top 6 will most likely all make a good living when this is over.

[benpatt]

oh boy where to start.... #1 thing, this group is what america is all about, they are in no way comparable to terrorist, in america you have civil rights, thus you can start funny a$$ groups like this and god it is funny. Second, although these people may be able to sing, i dont think they are doing anything musically innovative and are garenteed to be just as bad as every other manufactured idiot before them. As for this "poor" guy that is part of this sick joke, **** he should be so lucky, daniel should know as well as anyone, TV time=$$$$ and if this guy has half a brain he will be able to strech this out a few weeks after the show is over and make some real cash and obviously if you are on american idol you care a lot more about the loot than the music anyhow so why not? As for daniel, ive read your blog forever and you seem like a pretty cool guy, your a millionaire, live in vegas... stop watching tv!!! go do some **** that the rest of us dream about TV is usless!!!

[cwik]

I have no problem with DN taking his stance on how he feels about the Sanjaya thing. AS LONG as he also does not enjoy the first week of auditions (also known as the best part of American Idol), I mean we'd hate for someone to be ridiculed because of their lack of talent, right?