Comments on: I’m Glad A Stupid Talent Contest Is The Most Important Story In The World To Fox, NBC and USA Today

By: Frank_D

Frank_D — Sat, 27 May 2006 03:05:29 +0000

You’re probably being sarcastic, Hattie, but my answer would be “yes”.

By: Hattie

Hattie — Fri, 26 May 2006 19:05:08 +0000

Why, seeing all those nice kids starting out in life and trying to get a break–isn’t it heartwarming?

By: Frank_D

Frank_D — Fri, 26 May 2006 17:05:35 +0000

It’s a TV show, for crying out loud!

What are you expecting? Aristophanes?

Do any of you remember how many songs were made into hits because two pimple – faced kids said, “It’s got a nice beat to it — I give it a 90, Dick“?

People watching = people buying = money for sponsors = money for programming.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be.

By: Dana

Dana — Fri, 26 May 2006 11:05:25 +0000

Actually, 16, there are times that I do think that AI’s audience doesn’t have anything better to do with their lives. What a dumb show.

By: 16

16 — Fri, 26 May 2006 06:05:35 +0000

What makes anyone think American Idol is a talent contest? It’s a popularity contest in which you can vote an unlimited number of times.

There were not more voters than in any Presidential election; there were more phone calls made.

Don’t watch the thing myself, but what makes anyone think that calling American Idol’s lines on a Wednesday night is an indication that people aren’t engaged in anything lese in their lives?

Are you guys really that lacking in reasoning skills?

By: Dana

Dana — Fri, 26 May 2006 02:05:20 +0000

Well, as I asked on my site, why is it that we, including our liberal media in the form of The Philadelphia Inquirer, are more concerned about whether a horse lives or dies than we are about young black men being murdered nearly every day in the City of Brotherly Love?

Not that I’d pimp my own site, mind you!

By: JK

JK — Fri, 26 May 2006 00:05:04 +0000

On the 63 million vote thing….can’t people vote more than once?

Also, you have 10 year olds calling in.

I don’t care about that.

What I care about, is the fact that these people are made into “instant stars.”

In order to sing the blues, you have to pay your dues.

I heard the guy sing. By my ears, difficult to listen to.

Let’s not mistake any of these people for the second coming of Marvin Gaye.

Real talent comes from blood, sweat and tears….and a little bit of good luck.

By: duros62

duros62 — Thu, 25 May 2006 20:05:10 +0000

contemporary pop culture
I consider this an oxymoron.

One of the lead (LEAD!) stories on our local news channel (NBC affiliate) was a profile of the models on Deal or No Deal.

Gah!!!

By: drpedro

drpedro — Thu, 25 May 2006 18:05:33 +0000

the only possible good news is that maybe this will make pre-voting age young people more interested in voting, the idea that their vote counts (even if it is only for some warbling wanna-be pop star)

By: Todd B.

Todd B. — Thu, 25 May 2006 18:05:08 +0000

Meh, you checked it at 11:30 at night.. what did you expect to find? It’s not like it was at the cusp of a busy news cycle.

Millions of people watch idol, of course they’re going to run stories on it – it’s a business, you go with what people are interested in.

By: BD

BD — Thu, 25 May 2006 17:05:57 +0000

An amusing thing about the image above is the placement of the photo right above the headline “Retiree Benefits Make ‘Monster’”.

Yes it does. And that monster looks like Kelsey Grammer as The Beast.

By: buma

buma — Thu, 25 May 2006 17:05:31 +0000

This was the good news from Iraq we’ve been waiting for.

By: legion

legion — Thu, 25 May 2006 17:05:12 +0000

Bread and circuses, man. Bread and circuses.

By: Rheinhard

Rheinhard — Thu, 25 May 2006 15:05:51 +0000

Ah, so it was an election Florida-style!

By: Jay C

Jay C — Thu, 25 May 2006 15:05:47 +0000

BD is right. The fact that 63 million votes were recorded is a reflection of the priorities of Americans, not the media. Granted, many of those votes are from people not old enough to vote, but I don’t know why this comes as a surprise to anybody. Interest in contemporary pop culture is at an all-time high.

The fact that news media has become so transparent, predictable and lazy is another reason why so many people are tuning out.

By: TomY

TomY — Thu, 25 May 2006 14:05:00 +0000

There were more votes, not more voters.

By: White Whale

White Whale — Thu, 25 May 2006 11:05:35 +0000

This another example how mainstream media is not informative and is saturating news with entertainment. I only trust C-SPAN.