REALITY BYTES

Millions of viewers tune into American Idol for a variety of reasons. The show has been on TV a long time. The viewers like to root for the contestants. People want to play armchair judge. Some Idol fans will tune in just to see what is going to come out of Simon Cowell’s mouth every week.

Of course their are rules to meet and be eligible to be a contestant in the American Idol game. This year in particular, the rules have left a lot of people’s hopes and dreams of ever being a contestant on this show, dashed.

This season of American Idol is focusing on the whole package. If you already have a professional career in the area of entertainment, then you have a distinct advantage over other people that turn out for the American Idol auditions. Experience in the entertainment field will get you through the audition gates faster than you can say, “I’m going to Hollywood!”This season has raised a few question marks among the hardcore American Idol fans and some of the media tabloids. What path is American Idol leading us down?

Joanna Pacitti was disqualified from this season’s Idol competition a couple of weeks ago, when it was discovered that she was friends with two of American Idol executives that are directly connected to this season’s production.

Yet, Pacitti already had a career and a couple of major recording contracts to her resume, before she auditioned for Idol. Joanna Pacitti’s career didn’t put her out in the cold and disqualified. It was the “insider” connection that was discovered, getting Pacitti tossed from the competition.

Consider that Joanna Pacitti already had a fan base to draw on, before she auditioned for American Idol. When you do a Google search for “Joanna Pacitti” the first return is in Wikipedia, for God’s sake! Yet, American Idol producers were well aware of Pacitti’s career, before she even auditioned. They welcomed her with open arms.

Now we have contestant, Adam Lambert. Adam comes from the musical plays “Wicked” and “The Ten Commandments”. Adam Lambert - actor singer and entertainer had roles in these plays that were very professional productions. These plays that Adam was in, were not by any stretch of the imagination, community theater productions.

Are there more contestants in American Idol this season that already have careers in the entertainment industry? Does anyone really care that some contestants have distinct advantages over others?

American Idol is a privately owned company. This show can do whatever they damn well please, without answering to anyones critique.

These lines between amateur and professional are being intermingled, if not blurred. Maybe American Idol is so big now that next season they can bring on Stevie Wonder to compete against new Idol hopefuls, and no one will really care. In all fairness, I would tune in to watch that one.

It’s interesting to note: Before Adam Lambert hit that live stage last Wednesday evening, no one really cared to mentioned that this young man already had two major, professional musical plays under his belt. Wouldn’t this be something to be proud of, that you would want the whole world to know? Adam did mention he had theater experience, yet stopped short of telling the public that he is a professional musical theater star.

American Idol obviously did not want America to know that Lambert was a professional entertainer. Why?
It does not look as if American Idol is going to be searching for the next Rueben Studdard, Taylor Hicks, or even Jordan Sparks any longer. If you listen to what comes out of the judges mouths, they are really capitalizing on a total package now. Simon Cowell has come right out and stated this more than a couple of times now.

What is a package? Someone who has the looks - that ever elusive appeal to the kids. The vocals seem to be, really a secondary consideration now.

By the time the contestants reach Hollywood, we know they all have half decent voices. Some vocals are better than others, but it is a “package” American Idol is trying to push on us to vote for. This is the American Idol, now.

A short few hours ago, American Idol had their results show for America’s votes. Of the three available spots out of 12, Adam Lambert received your votes to go on into the final 12, for the Idol crown.

Last night, Simon Cowell acted as if this whole process is beneath him. Actually, he acts as if everyone is beneath him. Simon barely looked at the stage and seemed bored, waiting for the show to end so he could leave.

I am pre-disposed and jaded in my opinion right now. Professional contestants in competition against amateurs just does not seem fair.

Fairness would be, America voting for the amateur contestant that can make it all happen for themselves; and earn that spot, because they deserve it.

Putting amateurs into the American Idol arena against experienced entertainers, then passing this off as an honest competition is not just unfair, it’s very deceptive.

Why should I expect reality show competition to be fair? Life is not fair. I am still waiting for the stimulus package to arrive at my doorstep. How insane is that?

Of course I will still watch American Idol. It’s my perogative to vote for whom ever I want to vote for. It’s your choice too! But, I won’t be voting for anyone in this competition that already has an established career in the industry.

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