1 post tagged “television”
NYTimes just posted an article on arguably the most dominant television program thus far - American Idol.
http://news.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/02/28/the-idol-juggernaut/#comment-41860
As a person who watches American Idol religiously, I can say that people who do get it, are not idiots. American Idol has done more for pop music than any show since Ed Sullivan. When the music industry was at its greatest in the 60s, there was a number of stars whose success was from their god given talent. A perfect example would be Aretha Franklin. Ask any music critics, her's is the greatest voice of the last 2 or 3 generations. But sadly, the music industry has failed to produce a similar talent. In the industry's estimation, a star cannot be born unless they have the full package - Mariah, Whitney or Christina.
This season, American Idol has found a girl, Lakisha Jones, whose power and spirit reminds us of Aretha. Now visually, Lakisha is nothing like what the industry music dreams of. She's heavy set, dark, and could use some dental work. But when she sings, she sings with every ounce of her spirit. The very first song she sang on AI, was about one of the top performances ever on TV. It had Simon Cowell, the show's most vociferous critic, speechless.
Without AI,there is no question we would have never heard of Lakisha. We would never have heard of any of the talented singers on AI. And there is no question of the show's talent as Jennifer Hudson, an AI loser, has singularly proved by winning the Oscar.
