fracas

Ethan Morris over at film.com got it right when he said, “the scandals are starting to be more interesting than the performances.”

Despite being a self-professed American Idol lover, even I can admit that it is what it is. I watch because I truly do enjoy the little thrill one gets from hearing someone you’re positive is going to be a big deal someday… and you can say that you “remember when.” Many people though, are just getting a bang out of the scandals.

And there always does seem to be one.

There were Antonella Barba, Sanjaya Malakar and Nikki McKibbon just to name a few. Barba with her racy photos “innocently leaked” to the internet; Malakar with his lack of talent for anything other than unique hairdos and being related to hooter girl sister Shyamali and McKibbon for not being tossed from the show despite her having been a stripper. 

Said Morris in his film.com review of last night’s performances,

“So maybe the best scandal is the “Robbie Carrico Dated Britney Spears” confession. Carrico, who used to be in a boy band, says he “once dated” Britney when his group Boyz N Girlz United opened for Spears in 1999.”

I’d have to agree with Morris’ further examination though, where he dismisses Carrico’s “scandal” as just another attempt to squeeze a few more minutes worth of blood out of the public relations stone. You know… the one that’s currently sinking his plans for a big career. 

As scandals go, Morris is correct in that this one just isn’t.  

Already this year, we’ve come to know that Amanda Overmyer was once arrested for DUI, there are photos out there of Ramiele Malubay grabbing a female co-worker’s breast, a video of Danny Noriega uttering some pretty nasty comments during a “Grinch” schtick, Carly Smithson has already had a record deal, and David Hernandez was a stripper at a gay club in Phoenix.

With all these little scandals to draw viewers to the show, it’s clear that the show’s producers have learned when one Nikki McKibbon brings attention this many years later, one Antonella and one Sanjaya in the same (though later) year will only be good news for their ratings. Is it any surprise then, that this year’s crop is already boasting multiple scandals Perhaps in the future, having a scandal in one’s past will be a requirement for making the cut?

It almost makes one sad to have missed a show. Fracas had to miss last night’s show in order to be with her daughter in the hospital. When choosing between family and television, family always wins.

So I’m not sad because newly found information about contestant David Hernandez had me itching to catch another look at him to see if he does indeed have, what the owner of the Phoenix strip club where he worked and performed lap dances for men, called… the look; I’m sure he knew what he was talking about. I’m just sad that I didn’t get to see the show as it happened. It’s just not the same watching it the next day after everyone else has already written about it.

And so goes the American Idol machine. While silly fobs like me tune in because we actually do want to hear some talent  and perhaps enjoy knowing that there are people out there who aren’t famous but are capable of entertaining us… the rest of the world tunes in to learn which scandal the producers have chosen to let “slip by” this year, in the name of ratings.

It’s been said, “There’s no business like show business.”

I however, prefer Dennis Miller’s quote.

“There’s no doubt about it, show business lures the people who didn’t get enough love, attention, or approval early in life and have grown up to become bottomless, gaping vessels of terrifying, abject need. Please laugh.”

On with the show. The girls are tonight.

This morning, EGossip reports that Patrick Swayze has pancreatic cancer and has been given only 5 weeks to live. Quoting the magazine having broken the story, the National Enquirer, EGossip writes:

“For the past month, Patrick, 55, has been traveling to Stanford University’s prestigious cancer center in Palo Alto for radical chemotherapy, but his doctors are no longer optimistic that the treatments will be successful,” states the magazine, which also reveals that the actor is not responding to the treatment.”

Following the lead over to the National Enquirer, fracas finds they add:

“The man who danced into the hearts of audiences worldwide in the 1980s in Dirty Dancing and then broke them in the poignant love story Ghost in the early ’90s has lost more than 20 pounds in the past few weeks and is restricted to a liquid diet because he has trouble keeping down solid food, added the insider.

“It’s time to start praying for a miracle.”

Now, whether or not the story is true remains to be seen, but what fracas does know, is that pancreatic cancer is not something to take lightly. Fracas lost a friend to it some twenty years ago. There is still a little spot in the fraccy heart for her. Kim.. we saw Dirty Dancing together, and if he’s coming your way, you’d best take good care of him!

Whether Patrick Swayze is indeed battling this ominous type of cancer or not, will clearly come out for certain in the next short while and fracas will keep you posted. If he is not, and the Enquirer is just behaving like… well… the Enquirer, we might still all find a moment or two to remember to keep in our thoughts and prayers, the people who are.

Perhaps make a donation to a local cancer agency, perhaps make a decision to pay more attention to someone you love. You never know when they might be taken from you and while movies like Ghost give us a chance to fancy that our loved ones don’t really leave us… there is simply nothing as good as making sure to treat them as though they might, while they’re still with us.

More Links:

1. Patrick Swayze IMDb page
2. Official Patrick Swayze International Fan Club
3. Patrick Swayze Pictures Google Results
4. Wikipedia on Pancreatic Cancer
5. Pancreatic Cancer - Mayo Clinic
6. National Cancer Institute - USA
7. Canadian Cancer Society