Wednesday, May 26, 2010

The Last Word on Idol


It's been so long, I almost forgot how to log on to Reid it and Weep.

So, my family sat down to watch the American Idol finale and within 10 minutes, our decision to abandon the the show earlier in the season was completely validated. I'm afraid American Idol's 15 minutes...is up.

We let the DVR get a good head start, but after fast forwarding through the commercials and the lame songs, we were caught up in no time (much to our dismay). I haven't watched a commercial in years, but it turns out, the Ford Fiesta commercials were the most entertaining part of the evening. I'm tempted to trade in my minivan for one of them babies, but I don't want one with sunflowers, thank you very much.

Alice Cooper can't sing. Was that a problem for anybody besides me? The Bee Gees looked like they were brought back from the dead. Hall and Oates? Really? If there is one singer that I dislike more than Big Mike, it's Michael McDonald. Would it have killed them to book a singer that had a hit after 1985? Maybe they were Simon's favorite singers when he was a teenager and this was a tribute to him? Lame.

Ok, Crystal and Alanis Morisette sounded great together and were a good match-up, but the best they could come up with for Lee was to pair him with Chicago because he's from Chicago? (and technically, he's from outside of Chicago.) Ridiculous.

At one point, I glanced around my den and my husband was doing some work on his laptop, my son was playing games on his iTouch, my daughter was Facebooking on her iMac and I was Googling "How to undo dreadlocks" on my iPad. That would not have happened a few seasons ago. And not because iTouches and iPads weren't around then, but because AI used to entertain us.

I could rant about the abundance of silliness, or about Paula's long-winded tribute to Simon (which was really all about her) or about how Janet Jackson is a has-been, but I won't. And I could go on about how much it annoys me that we sit through 2 hours of bad TV waiting for the announcement and Ryan finally acknowledges the winner with 30 seconds left on the clock, but I won't. Because I'm sick of sounding like a broken record.

(And just for the record, I'm pleased as punch that Lee won. Last night a friend texted me saying that Crystal had it in the bag. I told him that I wouldn't be so sure about that; the popular vote is a funny thing. And so we made a bet: if he won, that is, if Crystal won...I'd have to cook him Julia Child's beef bourguignon and if I won, that is, if Lee won...he'd have to cook me the meal of my choice. I need to get out my cookbooks and pick something delicious. I wonder what Lee would choose? The Idol producers would have me believe that Lee, who hails from Chicago, dines on pan pizza and hot dogs, but I know better.)

And...I could say that I will give it another try next season, but I won't. I'm officially done with Idol. Simon and I know when it's time to leave and it's definitely time to leave. But, I'm hesitant to wish for something new to blog about....because the last time I did that...I didn't like what the universe handed me. But I do miss blogging, so if you have any ideas, send 'em my way. But please don't suggest another television show...I'm turning my TV off for the summer (as soon as Glee wraps up).