The Rob’s ‘Idol’ Thoughts

OK, so over the past 15 years (I can't believe it's actually been that long) I've been one of American Idol's biggest critics.  At first I thought the show was lame.  Then when it started producing legitimate stars, I gave it another chance and thought it was bad.  Recently I think it has fallen off the ledge of importance and would describe it as irrelevant.  When they announced this season, the show's fifteenth, I decided I would give it one last shot...  Strangely now, I would describe the show as good!

The only reason I'm watching is because I know there won't be another season.  And as always, Idol got off to a really rough start with me.  The seemingly endless weeks of auditions have never been my thing.  We have no relationship with the performers yet; They rarely perform with music; The unbearable "hard luck case" story vignettes...  I hate all of that crap.  Also, I felt like the judges weren't up to snuff.  I don't care AT ALL about Keith Urban or Harry Connick, Jr., and I've seen J-Lo judge before and hated it.  She never offered criticism, only praise, and I just resented her presence.  Also, my biggest complaint of the show of all is the SONG SELECTIONS.  For a show that's mission statement is that they're going to create a POP STAR, why as a lover of pop music do I either not know or not like most of the songs I'm hearing?  Oh, because they're country songs.  Or even worse would be their unwatchable "theme weeks" which seemed to happen every week some seasons.  Even if I like the artist whose week it is, I don't need THREE HOURS of Stevie Wonder tunes this week (for the record, I do like Stevie)!  Or worse, they'd occasionally do COUNTRY MUSIC WEEKS...  First, I just can't when it comes to country music; Second, not everybody on the show needs to be able to sing country music or Stevie Wonder music!!

Anyway, I was down on the show by the time they got to Hollywood, but this was when the show started to turn around for me.  Just about all of the problems I have with the show began to fall away.  The judges actually have been fairly critical (even Jenny from the Block) and I've come to enjoy them.  The songs have seemingly all been drawn straight from a KISS-FM playlist or my iPhone.  Some singers began to stand out as people I was rooting FOR and people I was rooting AGAINST, even forming some favorites.  By the time they whittled it down to 24 contestants, I realized I was actually enjoying what I was watching!

So basically, after 15 years of talking about how bad the show is (13 of those years on the radio), I wanted to say that this season has been largely enjoyable.  I'm not going to go as far as to say I will miss it when it is gone, but I WILL enjoy it while it is here.  And if you're wondering, my favorites right now are La'Porscha, Dalton, and McKenzie...  I was also a little bummed when that weirdo Jenn was unfairly sent home!