American Idol

We’ve been watching American Idol for all thirteen seasons, and nearly every year I complain about one thing or another—those irritating waving arms down front during a contestant’s song, that irritating audience noise during a contestant’s song, that irritatingly too loud band and backup singers during a contestant’s song, the inane and often meaningless comments from the judges, the nearly always awful song choices the contestants make. Then there’s Randy Jackson. I thought we were rid of him and his “Hey, Dog” when he stepped down, but this year he’s back as some sort of mentor to the contestants. I never did understand what his credentials were that qualified him as a musical judge or a mentor. And I still don’t. The judges seem to be more interested in how the contestants perform than how they sing, and this year they aren't singing very well. But despite my complaints, the final eight or ten contestants each season were always good enough to listen to. And despite Keith and Jennifer and Harry’s stock comments that this year’s group is excellent, I think that any of the top four or five from any of the previous seasons is better than any of the final twelve this season. Where is this year’s Jennifer Hudson or Carrie Underwood or Adam Lambert? Where’s Fantasia’s “Summertime”? Where’s Kelly Clarkson’s “A Moment Like This”? Where’s Katherine McPhee’s “Over the Rainbow”? This year, neither the quality of those past contestants nor the quality of the past song selections is anywhere to be found. And after last week’s set of stinky performances, we also aren’t going to be anywhere to be found.