On The Air

The American public constantly fascinates me. I find it singularly amazing that American Idol viewers grew tired of Sundace and Antonella’s crap almost as quickly as I did. I mean, sure the both of them should have been gone the very first week, and I can think of at least four of the departed contestants that deserved to make it further than those two. But I really thought there was enough support for the both of them to keep them in at least a couple more weeks, especially given that Sundance was on top of the world so recently, and that Antonella had done an awesome job of getting her name out into the news. Just like in presidential elections, people vote more for the name they recognize than for the person they think will do a good job. I guess Vote For The Worst doesn’t have quite the pull they thought they had.

But even more surprising than those two getting booted, although not really, is the continued support for Sanjaya. I guess Sanjaya was able to catch the wave and ride it more successfully than the other two. If anything, I really would have pegged him as the one to go first out of the three of them.

But then there’s another puzzling phenomenon going on here, all the commenters who have bought into the fiction the show tried to sell us, that there was some kind of “bottom two” showdown between Sundance and Sanjaya, and that Sanajaya came out the victor there. And that their positions could have just as easily been reversed. And maybe during a normal show that all might be true, but this is still the semifinals, so there are two things being overlooked:

1. Nobody ever said that Sundance and Sanjaya were the “bottom two”. Those words were never spoken. The whole idea that the two people standing up on the stage are the two lowest-vote-getters doesn’t start until next week. During the semi-finals they can (and do) screw with people’s minds just as much as they want. Hell, for all we know, Sanjaya got the most votes of anyone, and they put him up there just to fake us out.
2. Sanjaya could not have been in the “bottom two” anyway, because there was this other person, with the name of Jared, who was actually kicked off the show. Remember him? Yeah, me neither, and that’s probably the reason he’s gone. But to say that Sanjaya “beat out” Sundance is only partially true, because he beat out Jared too. And you don’t hear anybody saying, “Boy, I really wish Sanjaya had gone home instead of Jared.” That’s because that’s not the story the show wanted us to talk about, so they didn’t pair up the two of them like they were going head to head.

Personally, my dream would have been to see both Sundance and Sanjaya go home this week. Because in spite of all the made-up rivalry the show tried to throw at us, this was the last week that two (or four, actually) people were leaving, and the last time we could have knocked out this particular double-threat of suckitude. But, it didn’t happen, and all the teenage girls who vote for this thing screwed us over again.

I also found it funny the reaction we got from the judges, this palpable disappointment not only that Sundance was leaving, but that Sanjaya was staying in. Dudes, you’re the ones who put him into the final 24, you only have yourselves to blame. But poor Sanjaya; even Paula Abdul hates him. Paula, who wants a competition where all 80,000 people who audition get triple-platinum record deals, this Paula is visibly upset that Sanjaya is part of the final twelve. That’s some rough stuff right there.

And Simon? He’s said that if Sanjaya wins he’s quitting the show. Ouch.