American Idol - What a waste it has become

[The Poet]

Originally Posted by neoflex

I'm just amazed that you guys can even stomach that show. I would rather poke my eyeballs out with a dull and rusty knife.

There it is, and so it goes for all this "reality" garbage. But to my mind the mentality of those who watch is not the worst of the problem; rather, it is the participants who are hoping to get something for nothing, without working for it. In the case of Idol specifically, these kids (and not always kids either) want to go from unknown to famous in 6 weeks. Time was that an artist, in music or whatever, had to toil for years to hone the craft and establish a reputation and a following. Now they expect to "win" a contract based as much on a personality contest as for any ability they may have.

This whole "reality" fad is nought but a scam run upon a guileless populace for the sole purpose of saving the networks money. The studios do not need to pay actors or writers, and production costs are much less than that of a scripted show.

It has been nearly 50 years since Newton Minow declared TV was a "vast wasteland", and even longer since Frank Lloyd Wright called it "chewing gum for the eyes". I wonder what they'd say today.