Of all the reality television shows out there, American Idol seems to be struggling. They have responded by upping the ante on theatrics. For example we have incidents of fighting, fainting and even people who are only too happy to forget their lyrics. Perhaps they are hoping that we can forget that lack of talent in favor of the dross that they churn out in the guise of storylines. The trouble with most talent shows today is that they seem to be exclusively limited to people with very limited talent. Judges are selected for their looks and commercial success rather than their devotion to their art.
Will you be tuning in?
By contrast The Voice is proving to be a revolutionary force in the struggle to ensure that there is plenty of opportunity for various aspects of talent to be produced. The success of the show has been so significant that one of the representatives from American Idol had to come out and trash the program in order to sow seeds of discontent. There are now 185 contestants dying to become idols. The judges are going to ceremoniously divide them into group artists and soloists. It is quite clear that many of the contestants are simply not prepared for the challenges ahead.
In the first group we have Jennifer Malsch and Cari Quoyeser. They managed to beat no fewer than 5 contestants in order to stay in the race. Another notable performance was from Reed Grimm, Nick Boddington, Aaron Marcellus, Creighton Fraker and Jen Hirsch. The judges were suitably impressed by their ability to cope with all the circumstances. The show would not be complete without the occasional pushy parent and an unbelievable sob story. This is what the talent shows have come to and we have to find ways of dealing with them on those terms.
