One thing the people behind American Idol have counted on in the past is the ratings racked up by the early-in-the-season audition episodes, which devote just as much airtime to the biggest sets of pipes as they do to those hopeless hopefuls who seem to aspire to become nothing more than the next William Hung. But one wonders if the news that a former contestant on the show–one who had three minutes of airtime during Season Five devoted to her slightly manic Paula Abdul fandom and her not-all-that-great rendition of “Proud Mary”–committed suicide outside Abdul’s home yesterday isn’t going to give the producers at least a little bit of a pause when they start editing the audition episodes for next season’s first episodes, which start back up on Jan. 13.
Thanks to the Internet, Paula Goodspeed’s audition package is still around:
Without the horrible context of the past 24 hours, Goodspeed’s appearance seems like your boilerplate bad Idol audition: Overconfident singer, barbs from Simon, really bad vocal performance, sorta-snarky Ryan Seacrest kicker. (Simon Cowell’s jokes about her braces may be a bit over-the-top, but they’re nowhere near the “bush baby” bit he would drop a year later.) But you have to wonder if, given that Idol’s audition numbers were down this year and ratings on the show have been dropping in general, the producers were planning on filling more airtime with “funny” bits like the one above. Are the antics of Alexis Cohen going to be funny to a viewing public that spent at least an hour at work searching for Goodspeed’s MySpace page, on which she claimed that Paula Abdul was her secret crush?
Paula Abdul fanatic Paula Godspeed found dead near singer’s home [NY Daily News]
Paula Goodspeed - Proud Mary [Dailymotion]
This whole situation is just sad. It’s like something out of a bad movie. I’ve always actively avoided the first weeks of Idol, until they get to the Hollywood round. I’m just not that into schadenfreude.
I hope this doesn’t sound too insensitive but people with the number of delusions like this are not long for this world. Especially if they subject themselves to the most public of criticisms in order to try to confirm their deluded beliefs about themselves.
It’s sad but it’s been a couple of years now. I’m sure this woman had many many experiences like this before and since then that eventually led to her suicide. The Paula fandom is just another symptom, not the cause here.
@sicksteanein: it doesn’t sound insensitive at all. but i mean it does seem like the audition episodes of idol want those sorts of personalities, you know?
The woman didn’t kill herself because of embarrassment from being on the show (it would certainly be a delayed reaction if that were the case), so I’m not sure why it would impact the way they edit the auditions. And it’s not as if the show needs the threat of low ratings to pile on audition filler during the first few weeks; they have been steadily adding more and more of it since season 1.
@Maura Johnston: Thanks. that’s good to know. Sometimes it’s difficult to convey things on this ol’ internet.
As for the personalities that this show showcases, we’re gonna have weeks upon weeks of seeing the good singers do their thing. Who else are you gonna show? The boring ok singers?
People want to see the freaks and sadly, the freaks are more than willing to oblige. Usually it’s win-win. The producers get the ratings; the freaks get some more attention.
Sometimes reality comes and messes it all up.
@sicksteanein:
You can’t fix crazy.
here’s some insight:
“Shocked family members denied Goodspeed was obsessed with Abdul, although cops found a photo of Abdul hanging from the rearview mirror of the car, which had a vanity plate that read ABL LV.”
i think if my own goddamn family didn’t care enough about me to notice my most obvious defining characteristics, i’d off myself too.