Why Has Simon Given Up?

The 2008-09 television season is more or less over, and summer is upon us. That means we viewers get to watch bad reality shows and weak-scripted programming that has been banished to summer because no one would watch it during the prime viewing hours.

So I cannot, with a straight face, suggest programming to you each week. Instead, we’ll use this space to keep you updated on big news from the important shows that you won’t see new episodes of until fall.

And though I have already lambasted reality programming and rarely acknowledge its presence, it is time for the annual evaluation of the only reality show that matters – “American Idol.”

It has been a weird year for “Idol” – controversy about the addition of a new judge, the failure of a few new gimmicks and an impossible-to-break, pre-determined final two that has made the show feel ... standardized. Sure, “Idol” has always been a product of the Hollywood, mainstream elite, full of safe song choices, lame guest “mentors” and classic music industry politics, but this year has left many fans, including this one, frustrated.

Think back over this season – has it really been interesting, whatsoever? Since Hollywood week, we’ve been beaten over the head so much with the Adam Lambert-Danny Gokey final-two showdown that it is sickening.
 
Even worse, this year the judges, especially the increasingly bored and antsy Simon Cowell, have been unwilling to waiver on that matchup, going as far as not recognizing the talent in certain competitors (Kris Allen for one) that almost everyone else in America obviously does.

No one in the audience expects any groundbreaking critiques from “For me dawg” Randy Jackson  or “Your spirit was on display out there” Paula Abdul, but Cowell has always delivered realistic (and hype-free) feedback – until now.

Cowell, who has done numerous interviews during the past month about how he is probably leaving the show after next season (which is probably a positioning for more money and power), has seemed bored with the competition and unwilling to change his mind on certain competitors this year.

In the past, we expected the show’s producers to highlight the personal lives of certain contestants like they’ve done with Danny Gokey this year, but always counted on Simon to spite the “Idol” machine bullshit with true critiques of the music – but not anymore.

Aside from telling Gokey one week that his movements on stage were “awkward,” Cowell has repeatedly praised the goofy wonder for over-the-top karaoked performances, while consistently giving Kris Allen lukewarm praise.
 
Last week was a prime example: Gokey oversang and showboated his way through the weak duet with Allen, but Simon’s only critique was that “Danny was better.” Then, after Allen delivered a solid, but not memorable performance of the Beatles’ “Come Together” and Gokey murdered the end note of Aerosmith’s “Dream On” (now known as the scream that haunts my dreams), Simon still said Gokey would be safe without question. 

What the hell, Simon?

And if you’ve paid attention to any of the analysis of this season, you know how bad Kara DioGuardi has been. From her constant sexual ogling of ousted Matt Giraud to her flat-out wrong statements – like telling Gokey that he should have chosen “older” Aerosmith like “Crying,” which came out in 1993 (“Dream On” was released a full 20 years before that) – her appearance has been nothing short of a train wreck. Not to mention, her involvement has pushed the show into a place where we can’t even hear from all the judges one week and not see the top four perform more than one song in another. Simply put, Kara sucks.

“American Idol” has always been a manufactured Hollywood talent competition, but with some intrigue. This year, that was taken away from us way too early – and the guy we usually look to for common sense analysis became complacent, bored and gave up. When Adam Lambert wins, it will be the outcome we all expected back in February, but what made this year lame is that we all knew no one else had a chance.