American Idol
 

I think the audtions are the best part of the whole damn show :p

agreed - tonight's was good too....

could you believe that one that ended last night's?

that was one unstable lady. if it weren't funny it would have been a little sad

Mary Roach

at's her.....

oh man... I forgot that it was on again tonight... I'm hooked on Lost and was watching that instead. I love the auditions, too, they're my favorite part, especially the horrible ones. :grin: Though usually I can find a reason to keep watching...

Mary Roach was something else for sure!

I have never watched the show until these past two nights......

Do you think some of the bad ones are for real or a set up to provide a laugh?

I found myself squirming in my seat feeling embarassed for some of them,

Oh..they are real alright BIBI! William Hung (from last year) is proof.

The first year "Idol" was on they didn't have as many of the bad as they do this year. It's even more this year than last. I think they've realized that bad can be good...for ratings. But truthfully...there are actually people out there that think they are good. They even have friends and family that might tell them they are good. They'll get so caught up in the compliments that they actually believe it themselves. And then there are people like Mary Roach, who go through this life with rose colored glasses on (to spare her my harsher thoughts). People might be teasing her into getting her to sing in her personal life...and she takes it as encouragement and trips her own trip.

bigmike01 said if it weren't funny, it'd be sad. I agree...though I think that if the Mary Roachs' of the world had some "true friends" in their life, instead of people encouraging them to get a laugh at their expense, we wouldn't have as many goofballs on the show. It's harmless fun...but it's sad in a deeper sense.

Then there are the peeps who are so full of themselves. They are my fave part of the show. I like to watch them get knocked down a peg or two!

I'm hooked again this year!

Lixy your post sort of touches on something I've been thinking about the show. Some of the people trying out show serious signs of mental or emotional handicaps (well from this Special Ed teacher's point of view). I worry about how some of them handle the criticism and I worry about how much we seem to enjoy the parade. If a local school for the handicap wanted to parade their adult students through town so they could be criticized and gawked at,with no possibility of achieving a goal or any point to the exercise, would that be allowed??? I'm not sure it should be entertainment even if it's entertaining.

Lilith...I knew a girl when I was young, who reminds me so much of Mary Roach. She went to our "rival" school and I knew her from church. I'd pass her house on my way to church (I walked 2 miles to get there) and I'd stop at her fenced yard and ask her mom (turns out it was her grandma...her "sister" was her real mom) if Linda was coming along. Usually she did...and all the rest of the way to church Linda would "entertain" me. I didn't encourage her, or even ask her to sing and dance. She just wanted me to like her and this is how she got attention from people she wanted to "hang out" with.

My mother always taught me right from wrong and I think I was one of the few who didn't exploit Linda's "talent" I was once told that she went to her school one day...sans underwear...in a dress, and got up on a desk and sang "I Left My Heart In San Fran Cisco". People where making fun of her and saying stuff like, "That ain't all you left in San Fran Cisco Linda"! When I heard this I was appalled! I went to her mother and told her what had been happening...that the "friends" that Linda thinks she has are really no friends at all. Her mother thanked me and from that day on Linda was a staple at my house. She'd come over everyday and we'd visit for a while till I finally had to tell her she had to go home now...otherwise she'd stay all day and night! One summer morning, I woke to find Linda in the baby pool my mom had set up for my younger sisters. She was "swimming" and splashing like a 4 y/o. I called her mom and she didn't even know Linda was gone. They eventually moved so the could get Linda into an appropriate school for her condition. She needed to learn protocol and ettiquette and manners (needed to learn how to live...actually) and her mother didn't think a regular school could give her that. I never saw her again...but I've never forgotten her.

It's a shame what some people use as an excuse for entertainment! I'm with you Lil...in saying tsk tsk to the producers of Idol...for some of the people they exploit!

BTW...I heard an interview (on Howard Stern's radio show) recently, with William Hung. Never fear Lil! He isn't mentally challenged at all. He's smart and funny and has snowballed the attention he has gotten from Idol into a money maker for he and his family. He's just really naive for his age and it's due to his overbearing mother!

((Lixy))...great story. I have had a few Lindas in my life too and some of them faired well and some have been exploited, duped, and abused because they could be. Because they often have the naive attributes that correspond to their cognitive/emotional age.

I think the producers should just be a little more wary of who they choose to place on exhibit. Just as it would be unacceptable for them to show a specific race of people and then point out all their racial differences while dashing their hopes, I think using mentally handicapped people on the show, and then pointing out that they are unacceptable by their standards, is just bad television..

I completely agree about some of the unkind remarks during the auditions. To make it even more horrific ( in honor of Simon, haha), some of the "saddest sacks" are shown again and again on commercials and in Mary's case, on the opening page of AOL. It's all about ratings, so there won't be any sensitivity shown... except by the families and loved ones of the contestants.

On a separate note- I love American Idol (once it really gets rolling) and am glad that's it's once again Idol Season!

I think that after the William Hung explosion of last year, Idol realized it could gain from the non-talented as well as the talented.

Thus begins another year of American Karaoke Star.

I'll not be tuning in.