Just My Opinion

Is This The Future of Television?

By Alan Kleinfeld, 5-26-06

This week marked the season finale of another American Idol run, a jewel in the Fox Channel crown. It came down to 21-year-old Katharine McPhee from La-La Land (who has long, brown hair and reminds me of a beauty pageant contestant) and gray-haired, 29 year old Taylor Hicks, a southern boy with a slightly pudgy middle section.

Though I never wasted my money to call and vote (you could even text your vote, but either way, there was a fee involved), at the water cooler, I always gave my support to Taylor, even before he was a finalist. I, too, have gray hair and though I’m older than Taylor I’m not old enough to have gray hair. Yet. When AI started some five seasons ago, I think you had to be under 25 years old, so that was another reason I supported Taylor. He’s the old guy in the group.

The final show itself was so-so. Lots of surprise guests such as Prince, Dionne Warwick and Meatloaf. And, of course, lots of music, most of it pretty good. The show even spoofed the Oscars with its Golden Idol awards for joke competitions such as Best Impersonation and Best Male Bonding. Probably the most embarrassing part was when David Hasseloff, of Knight Rider and Baywatch fame, as an audience member started to cry when Hicks was designated the winner. Can you say, “get a life?”

But what bothers me about the show isn’t the outfits that were overdone in their simplicity or the snore-worthy presence of the three judges (who’s opinion’s don’t matter at a certain point because it’s the viewers’ votes that count), but the fact that the show, for most of the season and more so with the finale, is actually nothing but one big advertisement disguised as regular viewing.

The big sponsors for a few years have been Ford and Coke, so at each commercial break it’s no surprise when another 30 minute yawn-fest takes place for Coke or Ford. When it’s not those two giants, we saw previews of the Fox fall lineup and Fox produced movies (like X-Men 3).

As if that’s not enough, we’re forced fed more Ford and Coke placement by the judges when they drink from large classic red and white Coca-Cola glasses and the American Idol singers “starring” in a series of music videos, with the co-star being a polished, sparkling Ford automobile

In one case, a Coke ad even referenced the show itself with the line, “Now tell us the winner, Seacrest,” referring to the show’s Hollywood-quaffed host. It stinks of our TV viewing future (and maybe present), when a show’s “content” or “plot” is actually a well dressed commercial.

Even more disturbing (yes, it’s hard to be more disturbed than watching Hasseloff cry) is the fact that over 63 million people voted for American Idol. That’s more than any US President has ever received, according to show itself. Television, one. Democracy, zero!

Strangely, the only American Idol winner that seems to have been a true success in the past five years and has a career to prove it is season #1 winner, Kelly Clarkson. Everyone after her, I suspect, has been roped into some Fox/American Idol horror story and is forced to go on tour, do the talk show circuit or play mannequin for some Kmart-esque clothing line.

In some cases that’s probably okay because I remember one winner (I think her name is Fantasia) admitted to being illiterate. After she won. Now there’s a role model you want for your children, eh?

Thankfully, the season is over and the AIJs (American Idol Junkies) will have time to recoup, drive their Fords to buy Coke products and get ready for the next session of auditions (the most humorous part of the show to watch).

I’ll be curious to see what new advertising gimmicks they come up with by the next round. I’m sure it’ll be upsetting to me, like when someone wears flip-flops with a nice suit. But I’ll get over it. And will be there when the next American Idol is named.

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