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.

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.

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?

Exactly.

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

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?

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.

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.

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!

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

American Idol is ghey

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.

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.

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!!!

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?

Im still absolutely amazed people actually watch this program. As for the how hatefull can we be crap? no need to look any further than Simon Cowell.

If you don't watch this program, why have you formed an opinion that Simon is "hateful"? He's actually blunt, direct, and on target, not hateful in my opinion. And, yes, I watch the show.

the few times I have watched the program he is not nice, not in anyway trying to give good advice or constructive criticism.

You can't advise some one to be more talented.
The show is looking for a winner and the winner is going to make Simon a lot of money.
Sometimes the best advice is telling someone to give up.

Like when I ask a poker question and everyone tells me I suck at poker and should kill myself.
I would have saved alot of money if I listened.

LOL didnt even think of that i say that pretty much ends this topic.... the show itself is responsible for that they should be able to take it back right?

vote for the wrost rules!!!

daniel, i think you missing alot of good points that vftw(vote for the worst) make.

first of all, they love the show and they enjoing the performences, they have the right to vote for the people they want to see just like you do.
their main problem with idol is that its anyway not about the singing, in the auditions they are passing the worst to preform infront of the judges just so they can put them down, that is really mean, not what vftw is doing. if they can do that in the auditions, so why cant vftw continue to that in the show itself? btw they actually supported sundence and after he was elimnated they move to sanjaia.
they not just pick the bad they pick the most entertinaning one.
i think its kinda of arrognt to decide for Sanjaya that he is suffering, he seems to enjoy every minute in the show.
there are people that voting for him because they like him, and if he want to have a chance for a carrer he should try to make as far as he can no matter what the reason is. and by making the top 10 he already got in the idol tour which will bring him alot of money, so they are really helping him...
your comparison to terrorist is so ridiculous and not realted, i dont even know what to say about that.

wow....comparing international terrorists to those who would vote according to the worst...you make me laugh sometimes Daniel.

ask the family members of those who died in the twin towers how they feel about poor little Sanjaya
if making this comparison sems absurd...then WHY MAKE IT?

The show would not work at all if Simon were "nice". When someone is bad, he tells them, which is appropriate given his role as a judge. If the judges were worried about hurting the feelings of the contestants then there would be no judging, which is the entire
basis of the show. All the contestants know they are putting themselves out there to be criticized by the judges and the public when they join the show. It's a risk they knowingly take.

Paula's role is to be nice and to buffer what simon says with something more compassionate. Its a good cop/bad cop routine and it works.

Some of these other competition shows where the judges are afraid of saying anything too negative end up really sucking because of it.

The purpose of the show is to have America chose the winner! Sometimes the winner doesn't go on to have as a successful career as the runner-ups. How the hell can "a small group of people ruin things for the rest of us"? Millions of votes are cast each week. It is well within the rules of the show for this 'small group of terrorists' to vote as many times as they like for whoever they want. As far as wanting Sanjaya's "nightmare to be over", He is on one of the most, if not the most, popular show in America. I hardly think he is living a nightmare.

This show is and always has been about entertainment. Every year there are people who make it further than they should and the best singer doesnt always win. Look at the year when Jennifer Hudson, who was probally the best singer, went out way to early. That red haired kid crooner from a couple years ago sucked worse then Sanjaya and he made the top 6 I believe. If it were about picking the best singer the winner should be determined by a panel of music experts and not by a popularity contest. The producers of the show brought this on themselves by shocasing auditions of terrible singers who are dillusional about there abilitys and showing them breaking down after judging. Do they do it because they want to show us great singers? No they do it because its entertaining. The people who have been and will be voted off before Sanjaya had no hope of winning the competition any way.

Someone made that point before I could. The only reason the first few weeks are actually popular is because america enjoys to watch failure unfold. Nobody remembers the best, and at work the next day we talk about who sucked, because that is what is fun.

Which is sort of the point. Fun. Please, DN, taking this show seriously is a sin in it's own category. Have fun- revel in the delicious taste of superior competition leaving tonite when Sanjaya live son. You're a poker player-how can you not enjoy when someone hits a two outer to eliminate someone else?

From wikipedia:

Top rated shows over the last five years:

2001–2002: Friends (NBC)
2002–2003: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS)
2003–2004: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS)
2004–2005: American Idol (FOX)
2005–2006: American Idol (FOX)

There was a TV show not too long ago (or maybe I dreamt this up) where they convinced these horrible singers that they were actually winning a singing competition similar to American Idol. They basically exploited their lack of talent...and it was hilarious. Does anybody else remember this? That was quality TV, and it's basically the same concept as what VFTW is doing. I don't see the problem.

Actually, the purpose of the show is to make money. Simon's personality, keeping bad singers in the top 10, having Haley dressed like a sex kitten, Blake spitting all over the place while he beat boxes... has nothing to do with changing the music industry, having someone win or defining the music industry. It's all about the $$$ and AI doesn't need a winner to get that $$$.

It's entertaining fluff that has made AI the juggernaut it is and unless Sanjaya has been living under a rock, he knew exactly what he was getting into and judging by his hair-do last night, he's enjoying and having fun with it.

Since this is the first year that Daniel has watched the show in it's entirety, I will cut him some slack (however not in the terrorist comparison). The fact is, almost every year there is one person in the top 10 that shouldn't be there. Why are they there? Is it because of websites promoting voting for the worst and the nasty heartless people voting for the worst? Is it because of Daniel Stern doing the same thing? No. It's because of little tweeny bopper girls and little old ladies who see these young things and think "awwwww". Anyone remember "Chicken Little" Kevin? Why is it such a big deal this year?

I tell you what though; this vote for the worst site is having a blast with all the publicity it's getting! The site has been around since Jennifer Hudson got knocked off I believe before Chicken Little. It's only gained in popularity because of blogs like Daniels and news stories about it, which has spread the word to a wider audience.



I obviously watch the show and have since the second season. I find it to be a nice fluffy entertainment. Half of my enjoyment of the show is hating some of the contestants. I guess that makes me a cold hearted.. whatever!

Daniel's waayyy off on this one. How many good singers got axed early so some horrible singers could slide through and get shredded by the judges so everybody could see them cry? Voting one of them through isn't a terrorist activity. It's justice. Do you really think Melinda and Lakisha won't get record deals if they lose? It'd actually be in their best interest to get voted off because they could get to the studio quicker.

Voting for Sanjaya isn't hateful. It's poetic justice. Which is what this country is all about. Americans love the underdog, so vote this one through.

Not to mention that losing is the best thing that can happen if you are good. Anyone remember that bulsshit movie that Kelly Clarkson had to do after she won? Ugghh. The Idol brand name absolutely owns you if you win.

Ive never watched one episode of American Idol.....am I missing something? All I hear about the show is from girls...kinda like Dancing with the Stars. I dont want to come across sexist but arent these shows catering to women?

I think the point that some people are trying to make about American Idol not picking the best musician is lost on non-musicians. American idol finds genetically gifted people when it comes to actually singing, and that's the extent of it. The actual winner of the show, as mentioned before, is an interesting social science experiment.

There's a lot more to being an all around musician if you want to earn the respect of another musician. Look at the overproduced drivel being put out by a lot of previous idol contestents / winners. Frequently, it's formulaic manufactured pop that's not even written by the singer (or if it is, it doesn't even make sense - hi carrie underwood). That kind of thing has the tendency to upset musicians. I'm not saying the Sanjaya thing is justified, and I feel sorry for the guy 100%. However, I can easily see why the show as a whole upsets some people.

Personally, I have a thousand times more respect for someone like Jason Mraz. The kid easily has one of the top five male voices I've ever heard (and i've heard him live at a small acoustic venue) and is a fantastic overall musician. He earns every single record he has sold by getting out there, pounding the pavement and working his butt off for it (playing tiny coffee shops, shows in the parking lot of larger bands concerts while people tailgated, etc.).

Ameican idol is an entertainment show, it is not considered a game show nor dos it have to follow guidelines established for game shows.
That being said. Who are any of you to tell me what is the "right" way to be entertained by AI. Personnally i think it would be histerical if Stern/Votefortheworst succeeded and Sanjaya won. Why? Cause it would be Funny!
If any of you think that AI or Sanjaya for that matter disliked the attention they are getting due to this "vote for the worst" campaign you are sadly mistaken. Sanjaya and AI will make/have made alot of money of of this suposely unwanted attention. Dont feel bad for Sanjaya he WANTS to be the american idol.
As for the other talented singers in the competion that may get voted off before Sanjaya because of this. If they truly are talented they will succeed anyways, and may be better off in the long run because their names will not be "owned" by American Idol.
So I say keep voting for who YOU want as this is YOUR American Idol and for me that means Sanjaya all the way.

It's rigged.

If no one else will say it, then I will.


Sanjaya = American Idol doomswitch


There, I said it. Continue.

QFT!

Brilliant analysis Daniel on the willingness of some to destroy that is good. My favourite philosopher, Ayn Rand, had similar insight on the Academy awards streaker in the 70’s.

From ‘The Voice of Resaon – My Thirty Years With Ayn Rand’ by Leonard Peikoff:

‘ “Here,” she said in effect, “is a nationally acclaimed occasion replete with celebrities, jeweled ball gowns, coveted prizes, and breathless cameras, an occasion offered to the country as the height of excitement, elegance glamour-and what this creature wants to do is drop his pants in the middle of it all and thrust his bare buttocks in everybody’s face. What then is his motive? Not high spirits or TV coverage, but destruction-the satisfaction of sneering at and undercutting that which the rest of the country looks up to and admires.” In essence, she concluded, the incident was an example of nihilism, which is the desire not to have or enjoy values, but to nullify and eradicate them. ‘

absolutely not true. American Idol is first a reality TV show before it is a Talent Show. Plenty of exceptionally talented singers are not allowed an audition.

Try atleast hearing the otherside of the story by visiting votefortheworst.com.

Anyone with an interest in this kind of show should read "Chart Throb" by Ben Elton. It's a British book that takes a satirical look at these kind of "reality" shows. Due to it's comedy roots I'm sure things are exaggerated but it also exposes the likes of Simon Cowell and what they're doing here, which is not finding talent. It's about making money by providing entertainment.

One of the funniest things in the book that is blatantly obvious is that in the UK version of Pop Idol (called X Factor) Simon, Sharon Osbourne and Luis Walsh claim to audition 100,000 entrants before eventually leaving us with 1 winner (who tends to get about 1 year of fame the dissapears I might add). Ben Elton takes the reader through the maths of this and you can see they'd need about 3 years of doing 10 auditions an hour everyday. Considering Simon does the UK and US shows once each a year! lol

Basically my point is this kind of show should not be taken seriously at all and comparing these VFTW guys with terrorists is laughable. Hell I wouldn't be surprised if Simon started the damn website to get more votes, more attention and MORE MONEY.

just a couple of things

if people want to vote for the worst why can't they? isn't it taking away peoples rights to not let them vote for who they want to?

funny that DN mentions sundance... he was vote for the worst.com's first choice before sanjaya, until he got kicked off.

also how is sanjaya the victim if it weren't for this movement for him he would not have gotten to the top 10 and would not have been on the tour which wll make him money

First of all, I think this is just American Idol's chickens coming home to roost. I'm supposed to feel bad for this show that it's being derailed by people voting for the worst performer? This show makes millions exploiting "the worst " performer. The first episodes of every season show people, who get paid absolutely nothing ( granted, they signed over their right to be shown freely), who are absolutely terrible. We are told this is to "show a sampling of the spectrum of american idol contestants, to understand what it's like, the good, mediorce and lousy." but that's a farce. The first episodes of ever season are a freak show, plain and simple. They take the absolute worst, and put them on the air for us to all laugh at and mock. And we all toon in, to see Simon be as cruel as he possibly can to these people But then ,when the show gets "serious" and the "serious" competition takes place, we're supposed to respect the integrity of the competition?


PAH. I've seen enough people be absolutely humiliated on AI to have little sympathy for it. I have not voted in this "Vote for WHoever" award, because, frankly, I can't stand american idol, and don't care enough to vote. But I do think this campaign is hilarious. Daniel calls this campaign mean spirited.. well, AI is one of the most mean spirited shows in television history, so.. what goes around comes around.

amen, brother.

This gets my vote for best reply EVER in any thread.

Vote For Pedro