AI Officially Sucks (IMHO)

(What? Artificial Intelligence sucks? That’s a weird thing for a Star Trek loving wannabe nerd like Yel to say. She must mean American Idol.)
Yes, dear Blog Reader, you’re absolutely right – I do think that Artificial Intelligence is cool and frightening, and that American Idol has suddenly begun to suck tremendously.

(Suddenly? Now? Hasn’t it been sucking for years?)

No, Blog Reader, not in my humble opinion. American Idol has been my delicious guilty pleasure for years – it has been, with one exception, the only reality TV I watch. Furthermore, I’ve been obsessed with it to varying degrees over the years, ranging from absolutely having to watch every second of every episode with no distractions at all, voting every time I could, and taking notes while watching to make good voting decisions, to watching casually with the pre-existing mind-set that I won’t vote that season because I don’t need the stress. I watched both for the contestants, and for the judge’s remarks, valuing Simon Cowell’s thoughts above the rest. I would inevitably fall in love with at least two or three contestants, and I am still a huge fan of some of them (most notably Adam Lambert, Chris Daughtry, Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, and David Cook).

When I learned of Cowell’s departure from the program, I wondered if I would continue to enjoy the show. When I learned that Jennifer Lopez would be one of the new judges, I thought that would surely end my love of American Idol. I know everyone seems to love her, and I kind of like her as an actress and sometimes as herself, but I really, really don’t like her music or voice at all, and I often find her personality irritating and fake. I almost didn’t watch the current season of Idol, but I couldn’t help myself for two reasons. First, I realized that I usually watch primarily because of a few contestants each year. Second, I learned that the second new judge would be Steven Tyler. I love Aerosmith and Steven Tyler, so I had to watch, even if it was just for him.

So I did, and I have been enjoying it, even the parts where J-Lo talks. I haven’t been feeling those annoying fake vibes from her too much, though they are definitely present at times. I’ve been enjoying a few of the contestants a lot. I have been enjoying Steven Tyler, who has surpassed my high expectations of him and who shows his musical genius and rock star qualities. I have also been enjoying Randy Jackson as I always have. However, I have missed Cowell’s blunt honesty and musical judging abilities, Too many contestants are praised far too much, as is evidenced by the larger than normal group of Hollywood contenders. Idol acts like that large group resulted from the allegedly amazing talent that has allegedly surpassed the talent of previous years, but to me it is obvious that it has simply resulted from the less-than-Cowell judging of the new judges. Too many contestants have been extolled as I stare baffled at the TV, as I wonder if something has gone wrong with my musical taste or my brain or something.

These are not, however, the reasons why American Idol now sucks. I didn’t expect the judging to be of the same Cowell caliber of the past. I knew things would be different, and I was accepting of this. Even when it became clear that too many people made it through the first round of auditions, I thought everything would work out in the end, since they would have to be whittled down to the much smaller group of contestants, which, I assumed, would be the really, truly talented group.

That whittling has happened during the Hollywood episodes, and it was Wednesday’s (and Thursday's) whittling that initiated the sucking Idol.

SPOILER ALERT - American Idol Top 24

To put it simply, Chris Medina did not make it to the final 24 and Clint Jun Gamboa did. Chris, the guy who dedicates his life to taking care of his car-accident-surviving fiancé, might be one of the kindest human beings on earth. On the other hand, Clint, the contestant that kicked a sweet young boy (his fellow contestant, 15 year-old Jacee Badeaux) out of his group during the preparations for one of the big Hollywood eliminations, might be, at worst an evil a-hole and at best a d-bag. More importantly for this American Idol singing competition, Chris Medina sings well, and Clint Jun Gamboa does not. Chris sings with emotion, which, in my opinion, is the most essential part of singing. Clint is one of the people whose praise I couldn’t comprehend.

I hate to seem insensitive, but I can’t help but wonder if J-Lo was told to cry about Chris Medina’s elimination. They probably realized that if she cried, America couldn’t possibly think badly of American Idol for eliminating Chris Medina. Perhaps I’m reading too much into it.

I don’t know if I’m gong to continue to watch American Idol (I most likely will because there are a few remaining contestants that I do like). If they had eliminated both Chris and Clint, I wouldn’t be so bothered, but the fact that they actually think Clint is better than Chris is simply unsettling. Perhaps even more unsettling is that American Idol thinks the barely talented Clint Jun Gamboa is a better singer than Colton Dixon.

American Idol forced us to compare Colton Dixon and Brett Loewenstern and it’s obvious that the former is vastly better than the latter. However, American Idol’s decision to place Brett rather than Colton in the Top 24 is not as troubling as their hopefully ill-fated decision to keep Clint in the competition (to clarify, by “ill-fated” I simply mean that I hope he is the first of the 24 to be kicked out of American Idol by America). Brett is obviously a sweet and kind young man and clearly does have some talent. The funny thing is that the judges mentioned that Brett has had a difficult life so far and Colton is simply a great singer. Chris also has a difficult life, and is also a sweet and kind man, yet he didn’t make it into the top 24 despite the evidence that those qualities do matter.

I am certain that Chris Medina and Colton Dixon will do well in the recording industry with or without further help from American Idol.  However, since American Idol obviously helps move things along for people’s music careers, hopefully the two of them will return as wild cards, assuming the wild cards will return this year.  Perhaps that was the plan all along.

UPDATE March 1, 2011
They have confirmed that there will be wildcard contestants this year.