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.