>American Idol. I make a point not to watch it. Sometimes I will come upon it while using the remote control to find something worth watching – like a good commercial!
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>I cannot understand why American Idol will have people competing who have little or no talent? Then the “judges” cut them to the bone. Who needs that? Could it be a business decision related to “ratings”? Let me see – Paula is sleeping with one of the contestants. More attempts at increasing ratings? Seems like the wrong decisions to me.
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>Two nights ago I saw an Comcast interview of a contestant who appeared on American Idol. He said that you went through many interviews and tryouts in front of different individuals connected with the show, including the producer, etc., before being allowed to perform.
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>Last night there was a Comcast spot on television about American Idol allowing people without talent to appear, and the resulting negative comments made by the judges. The thought was that American Idol does this on purpose to “raise ratings”, and the thought was that it would have the opposite effect.
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>Bring on the commercials!


Everything you say is true. But I think the appeal of the show is easy to understand. One is that it is a rags to riches story, which never grows old. One day you're banging around in a bar band and seemingly overnight you are recognized by tens of millions and have a rich recording contract. The other is identification with the contestants, however untalented, who Teddy Roosevelt described:

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."