Comments on: “American Idol” Fix Exposed?

By: Manola

Manola — Sat, 03 May 2008 03:40:12 +0000

Most likely you are right that there is a lot of manipulation of votes, of outcomes, etc. But to give any credit to the allegations of meathead Josh Gracin is a little thick. It sounds like a serious case of sour grapes. But to top this off, to pretend that Fantasia was not a legit win is beyond ludicrous. I don't know what you were hearing at home, but there's never been a more unique and deserving Idol, ever.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 02 May 2008 02:34:16 +0000

@kimberlywq: Absolutely the show is scripted and I don't think anybody would deny that. (Trust me. I'm still ticked off about Clay Aiken getting the shaft in S2 just because TPTB did not want another white winner and definitely did not want a possibly gay winner.) Former co-host Brian Dunkleman said in a recent interview that even as far back as the first season, TPTB would sit down with R/P/S after the dress rehearsals and go over the basic judging script for the week (e.g. no heavy criticism for Jason except from Paula so that casual viewers will think he MUST be bad because the "nice" judge couldn't say anything nice). In S2, Josh Gracin bluntly told any interviewer who cared to listen after his elimination that the final 2 had been picked back during the semi-finals and it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who the Chosen One was. S3 was so obviously scripted in favor of Fantasia that it turned a lot of viewers off; the finale was one of the lowest-rated episodes of that season.

So, yeah, the judges come in with a general script for each episode, but it's at least based in part on the rehearsal performances because even TPTB know that the comments have to at least SOUND like they relate to the actual performances or the jig is up. But Paula--either because of better living through chemistry or because she really IS that stupid--lost her place in the script and, for lack of a better phrase, delivered the wrong lines.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:08:34 +0000

I think its more plausible that its not a matter of Idol trying to bring down Jason Castro, but that it just shows that Paula is in such a drug induced stupor that she just have cards of comments ahead of time which she just has to read. She is incomprehensible reading off of a card so they are probably just trying to reduce the painful gibbrish by as much as possible.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:46:57 +0000

This debacle has nothing to do with the rehearsal notes or Paula being “spacy,” as some people are trying to claim as excuses.
She explained it all on Ryan’s radio show this morning: Paula: “I was reading the critique of what I was writing for Jason Castro, and on the same page that I wrote, was also David’s, and I got lost on my notes, and that’s as simple as it was. I did catch the last minute of Jason Castro” (the rehearsal she watched on the monitor). Ryan: “So what you are saying is, you were talking about two different people, but accidentally you said ’second song.’ ” Paula: “Yes.”
Obviously it was not David Cook’s note she was reading. “I felt like your usual charm was missing for me. It kind of left me a little empty. And the two songs made me feel like you’re not fighting hard enough to get into the top 4,” but then David is “fantastic” and she’s looking at “the next American Idol”? She was reading a script. C’mon.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 04:46:02 +0000

As a longtime AI watcher, I can verify that judges do indeed sit in on rehearsals (Newsweek had a story about AI during the Ruben/Clay season, and one of the paragraphs mentioned Simon telling Ruben to take off his hat and re-do his number during the morning dress rehearsal because the hat was distracting). Not only that, the “recap” footage at the end of the show is actually shot in the morning dress rehearsal (to save time during the airing of the live performance). Given this, we know that Paula probably did take notes from the morning rehearsal–she admitted she had cards in front of her–and was too confused/stoned/your-guess-here to pull it together for a quick one-liner first song critique.

That said, from Top 5 on out, generally The Powers That Be are not subtle about who their Chosen One and Chosen Runner-Up are; in the Newsweek article six years ago, Simon admitted point-blank that “you’re not going to get honest judging” at this stage of the competition.

By: Maura Johnston

Maura Johnston — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 04:31:48 +0000

@Kurt's Krap: that was the case up until i think the top 10.

By: Kurt's Krap

Kurt's Krap — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 04:20:30 +0000

@Maura Johnston:

I thought the performance shows were taped on Saturday nights and the results shows were live on Wednesdays.

By: Kurt's Krap

Kurt's Krap — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 04:20:30 +0000

@Maura Johnston:

I thought the performance shows were taped on Saturday nights and the results shows were live on Wednesdays.

By: Kurt's Krap

Kurt's Krap — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 04:20:30 +0000

@Maura Johnston:

I thought the performance shows were taped on Saturday nights and the results shows were live on Wednesdays.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 04:19:44 +0000

@Thierry: I hadn't thought of the down side to Paula's World(TM). Last night I said to the husband, "I want a job where I can get over paid after rockin' the medicine cabinet."