Tuesday, June 22, 2010

BIEBERAMA: In a misguided effort to further break something which already damaged the quality of the show, American Idol has lowered its minimum age for contestants from 16 to 15. The show has never been good at identifying under-18 male talent (Young David Archuleta and his Dead, Dead Eyes?), though it's done better luck with the ladies -- Jordin Sparks (17), Allison Iraheta (16) and Paris Bennett (17) -- and I can't imagine this pandering to tween girls will improve the quality of the show from an adult viewer's perspective.

Here's a list (in order of debut) of all the 16-year-old finalists in Idol history: John Stevens, Diana DeGarmo, Kevin Covais, Lisa Tucker, Jasmine Murray, Allison Iraheta, Aaron Kelly. And they want to go younger?

21 comments:

  1. isaac_spaceman10:36 AM

    I won't be happy until they pass the mic to Brazilian Baby Dancer. 

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  2. I agree lowering the minimum age is a terrible idea, but that list you posted actually isn't that bad. It includes a fourth-place finisher (Allison) who got a recording contract and was deserving of her spot plus a runner-up (Diana) who has managed to forge a decent career on Broadway.

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  3. I'd argue that Iraheta was the only one of the group who was entertaining while on the show.

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  4. lisased11:39 AM

    I'd second that argument. I was just telling a friend that the teenagers don't have much experience beyond school shows and pageants, which doesn't translate well to the AI stage or cameras. I don't want any more fake. terrified smiles on my TV.

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  5. isaac_spaceman11:41 AM

    The fake smiles and the terrified smiles know no age. 

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  6. I wish that they would raise the age to 18.  This season was Exhibit A for the reasons not to have young kids on who don't know themselves and don't have the experience to handle the show.  Literally, there were at least four contestants on this season whom you could just tell would have been better off being told to come back in a year or two with more experience under their belt. 

    And I don't know that I've ever been more annoyed with the judges than when they told Haeley Vaughn during the semifinals that she needed a couple of years of strengthening her vocal cords to be able to sing professionally.  Given how supremely annoying the Idol judges are on a regular basis, that really says something.

    Upon reading about this development, the boyfriend basically said that he will only watch next season if I force him.  [He was already leaning that way after Lee won, given Lee's notably bad relationship with notes.]  I don't know that I'm going to be willing to go to the trouble of arm-twisting him.

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  7. I don't think lowering the age will have much of an impact on the finalists--as long as they aren't also lowering it at the top end, too. The majority of 16-year-olds who audition are eliminated before we get to Top 12 anyway. I think we'll just have to suffer through more auditions from younger kids in the earlier rounds, but I don't think that will necessarily translate into too many more youngsters making it through. At least, I really hope not.

    I'm holding out to see who the new judge will be for next season. That may be the deciding factor for if I watch. Does X-Factor start next spring? If not that could keep me watching Idol for another season.

    Re: your headline -- Somehow the topic of Justin Bieber came up in conversation on Father's Day. My dad asked us, "Justin Beaver - is that the kid with the hair?" So yeah, as far as my brother and I are concerned, that kid's name is now "Justin Beaver."

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  8. Jim Bell1:21 PM

    Thanks a lot Jenn.  I had already convinced myself that Chrystal beat Siobhan in the final.  Now you go injecting reality back into my life.  Grrrr!

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  9. Watts1:28 PM

    erin - if you haven't seen this already, here's what the Beav could look like in 20 years: http://www.in20years.com/photo?st=4&fid=1006219&fname=aged_wb20100621044359783587.png

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  10. Jenn.1:29 PM

    I would say "mea culpa," Jim, but I actually voted for Crystal and, therefore, take no responsibility for the bad outcome of this season's Idol.

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  11. Jenn.1:31 PM

    X Factor starts in the fall.  I'm kind of over Simon Cowell, so I'm having trouble seeing me adopting that one.  We'll see.

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  12. bill.2:01 PM

    piss the mice....?

    cleans glasses...rereads...oh, that's better.

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  13. bill.2:05 PM

    My 8-year old daughter's review of Bieber: "I hate him, he sings like a girl. And it's annoying when everyone at lunch sings his song."

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  14. X-Factor starts in Fall 2011.

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  15. Oh ouch... poor Beav! Love it! Thanks, Watts!

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  16. Jenn.2:45 PM

    Ack---yes, I meant to say "the fall after the next Idol season."  D'oh.

    Heh, Bill.  I see that you are raising your daughter well.

    On a completely off-topic note:  I am very psyched to be going to my first New Pornographers concert.  The odds of Neko Case being required to curse out some bad concertgoer like she recently did in Boston are slim, but hey, I can always hope, you know?

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  17. bill.4:55 PM

    Something worked, she said this before I'd even heard of him.

    In other Neko Case news, look for her on Peter Wolf's new album, Midnight Souvenirs. Overall, the album is a little disappointing -- too ballad-y -- but Neko duets on the best track, The Green Fields of Summer.

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  18. isaac_spaceman6:13 PM

    Kind of bored with the new New Pornographers album, and also the last one, and also the one before that.  Until now, I thought that they just had two weakish albums.  It's looking more and more like I will always love the first two and then be unimpressed with the direction in which they moved.  Which is weird, because Carl Newman still puts out solo stuff that I like better than the NP stuff. 

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  19. StvMg6:38 PM

    I didn't think Diana was that bad. Diana was clearly inferior to Fantasia, LaToya and Jennifer Hudson, but I thought she improved quite a bit over the course of the season. I think of Jasmine Trias as the contestant from that season who lasted way too long until she was way too far over her head, but I don't know how old Jasmine was when she competed.

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  20. D'Arcy10:38 PM

    My three year old regularly corrects me when I say Bieber - "No, Mommy, it's Justin BEAVER."

    And is it just me, or does that photo age him a bit more than 20 years?  He looks like Elvis toward the end.

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  21. Just got back from the concert, which the boyfriend and I both loved.  My two favorite CDs of the NPs are Electric Version and Twin Cinema, btw.  Challengers had a couple of real highs in my book (title track as well as Adventures in Solitude), but was inconsistent to me.  Jury's still out for me with the latest, although I do like it, but EV and TC set a pretty high benchmark for me.

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